Vinyl was first commercially available from 1931 and only available in black because record companies felt that the color would be universally familiar to their customers. Later on, colored vinyl first appeared in the 1940's as a way of differentiating the genre of 7" vinyl singles called 45's (because they played at 45 rpm).

Today, colored vinyl has exploded in popularity because of the wide range of customization and the fact that consumers often prefer the colorful variants meant to match or contrast the artwork featured on the album. However, at the speed of its increasing popularity, misinformation has spread widely—most of the time just out of unintentional ignorance. The hope today is to share as much information about the colors we see on our discs as much as possible!