HBO’s music industry drama Vinyl, created by Martin Scorsese comes to a close after previously being announced as renewed. The first season was just recently released on Blu-Ray and Digital and takes place in 1970s New York and focuses on the life of a record executive trying to remain independent while dealing with the difficult struggles of the industry.

Vinyl is an 2016 drama series, it is produced by Paramount Television and aired on HBO. The first and only season is now available on Blu-Ray and digital HD.

The life of a record executive; as wild and crazy as the musicians themselves.

While Vinyl’s storyline is that of a record executive and his struggles to keep his record label independent, main character Richie Finestra’s life mimics that of an actual 1970s musician. With all the sex, drugs, and heart ache coming from the industry and blowing up in Finestra’s face. As he tries to redeem not only himself and his label, he finds a bit of success by taking chances on other genres, new talents and ideas.

A record executive struggles as much as a musician.

THE GOOD: When watching Vinyl the first thing one has to appreciate more than anything is the amazing as hell soundtrack, featuring spot on tracks from the 70s, Vinyls soundtrack provides a sense of realism and aura to the storyline and time period. The writers really knew how to respect the music of the timeline, despite it not being the entire focus of the series plot, and actor performances were pretty solid. Multiple character focus is another strong suit I found of Vinyl.

Everyone in the music industry parties hard.

THE BAD: While the writing is solid for what it is, Vinyl can feel a little “been there, done that”. this is mainly due to the 70s music premise being done to death.

Character focus and attention to detail are Vinyl’s most powerful elements.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While a lot of Vinyl feels familiar, what keeps it alive is the soundtrack, the characters, character focus, and some of it’s storytelling. The perspective from a record executive is a nice alternative from the premise, but it still gets weighted down due to familiar territory. Otaku Dome gives Vinyl Season One Blu-Ray an 73 out of 100.