Lógicas institucionais e o renascimento do mercado de discos de vinil no Brasil

Abstract

This study aims to identify and understand the institutional logics operating in the Brazilian vinyl record market from its decline in the 1990s to its recent resurgence, within a context marked by the digitalization of music. Grounded in the interpretivist paradigm, with an intersubjectivist ontology and a constructivist epistemology, the research adopts Institutional Theory as its theoretical framework, articulated with the Market System Dynamics (MSD) approach, understanding markets as dynamic institutional systems composed of multiple actors, practices, meanings, and structures that transform over time. Methodologically, this is a qualitative study that combines documentary and historical analysis of the phonographic sector with in-depth and ethnographic interviews conducted with various actors in the vinyl record market, including consumers, record store owners, label owners, DJs, factory managers, enthusiasts, and historians. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis, enabling the identification of patterns, recurring practices, and institutional processes that sustain market dynamics. The findings indicate that the resurgence of the vinyl record market in Brazil is supported by institutional pluralism, in which three central institutional logics coexist and interact: the Materiality logic, associated with the valorization of sensory experience, nostalgia, and digital detoxification; the Resistance logic, related to symbolic opposition to the ephemerality of digital consumption, the preservation of cultural practices, and the professional survival of certain actors, such as DJs; and the Reverberation logic, which expresses the articulation between the digital and analog realms, both through the symbolic circulation of vinyl records on digital platforms and through the generation of cultural, social, and identitybased contexts arising from the consumption of the record as an expanded object. The analysis demonstrates that these logics not only coexist but are also historically reconfigured, assuming different degrees of centrality over time, thereby contributing to the maintenance, adaptation, and growth of the market. As a theoretical contribution, the study advances the MSD literature by offering a processual reading of market resurgence, emphasizing the transformation and recombination of institutional logics, in contrast to approaches focused exclusively on market creation or transformation. Furthermore, it extends the application of Institutional Theory by demonstrating how cultural practices, symbolic values, and specific materialities influence the dynamics of market systems. From managerial and sociocultural perspectives, the research provides insights into the strategies of actors in cultural markets and highlights vinyl as a material artifact that promotes authenticity, belonging, and the valorization of musical heritage in contemporary society.