Document Type

Presentation

Date

2-27-2026

Language

English

Disciplines

Digital Humanities

Description/Abstract

The Flexi Disc, popular between the 1960s and 1990s, was an innovative product which brought decades of cheap music distribution to the homes of many Americans. Within the Plastic Artifacts Collection at Syracuse University are several flexi discs used as advertising, ranging from current musical artists to large food chains preserved in mailing envelopes from several decades of the 1900's. Observing these artifacts provided data and information to answer the question: how were flexi discs able to be manufactured at such low costs while maintaining a profitable market? Multiple sources, including physical flexi discs and chat logs, from the Special Collection Research Center were studied through a comparative lens to collect data on manufacturers, materials, dates, and modes of advertising to answer the question stated. Information pertaining to the vinyl record, made with the same material as the flexi disc, was used to answer several questions regarding the manufacturing process while preserved packaging gave intel into the distribution aspect of the market. The material of the flexi disc, polyvinyl chloride, is a nonbiodegradable plastic left to circulate in natural environments leaving unknown impacts that may be further studied. Apart from the environmental impacts of the plastic materials used, a recent resurgence of physical media brings the question of whether flexi discs will ever make a return to manufacturers or if the market design is incompatible with the current economical state. The study of flexi discs dives into a music media outlet not heavily considered and inspects past and future relevance.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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