I have been getting into collecting vinyl over the last half year. I have been realising how social music can be, and how streaming services present music in a way different way.

Appreciation Of Music

Getting into physical media means there is a stuck price on everything you purchase. It makes you consider what to get much more precise, and exploration of genre's is more limited. But physical music also brings along more appreciation for the music itself. Instead of scrolling through albums on Spotify having a set of albums on physical media makes you appreciate it much more, also teaches you more patience with listening, since skipping songs is unpractical on vinyl. I enjoy the social elements around psychical media a lot too. Bringing along a vinyl to a friends house is much more fun and a conversation point instead of just hijacking a bluetooth speaker and playing your playlist. But there is place for both.

Both Worlds

Not always am I in the mood to have to carefully handle a vinyl and then listen to an entire album. Sometimes you just want to listen to your own dumb playlists and mixes. Physical music has a lot of upsides. But the downsides are also there. By having both the physical and the digital mixed gives the best of both worlds. And my speaker setup reflects that. I have a vinyl player on a little table next to my couch. It's a place where the vinyl can be a conversation. My player uses bluetooth, so I have a big bluetooth speaker (A teenage engineering frekvens one) on a stand behind my couch. So I can switch from the vinyl player to my phone whenever I feel like it, and whenever I want. It serves both purposes amazingly.

Social

I've been collecting vinyls for about half a year now. And most of my money has been going to it. I've been getting vinyl's from friends and family too. My dad tries to show me some of the best music he's heard by giving me vinyl's from time to time. He gave me the on the day that me him and mom went to the hospital to hear if my transition was approved after a long time of waiting and psychological examination's the album 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd. One of the best albums I've ever heard. And I didn't even give it a chance before he gave it to me. Psychical media helps you explore your taste in a super unique way where it's more a social thing than just a music thing. That's another point. The sociality of going to a vinyl shop with your friends. Vinyl shops are amazing social gathering points. I love them so much. It's always a amazing vibe and you make a little talk with the other people in the shop and it's just nice. I try my best to only buy vinyl in local shops, so it's also part of the fun in hunting down specific records from artists I like! And having the actual album cover art in your hands is just cool in general. Every record feels like a display piece! It becomes more then just good music to listen to, it becomes a hobby. You begin taking time out of your schedule to listen to it. It's great! But, it is very very very time consuming and money consuming. Not to mention if you want to take care of them properly it is a lot of effort. But at the end of the day. It makes me happy. And I love spreading that happy-ness. So that is why I poke all my friends to go buy a vinyl player and get some records. Because giving psychical music as a gift is one of the best gifts, it can help people explore new genres and bands and give stuff a chance they usually wouldn't!

Emotion

It's hardly cost OR space effective to collect vinyl, but it makes me happy! There is so much positive emotion towards physically collecting. It just feels great to have something you enjoy physically that you actually own. The biggest thing when listening on Spotify that I have is that it doesn't feel like I actually own it. It does when it's physical.

Modernisation

Not to mention how streamlined collecting is becoming with things like Discogs which help you track what versions and whatnot of the vinyl you got. You can even use the Discogs integration with a website called Vinyl Scrobbler to have your vinyl's scribbled on last.fm (last.fm is a website for music nerds like me who enjoy following and tracking whatever they listen to, it's pretty fun here is my account) Discogs is also great for if you want to give your friends or relatives something and you are not sure if they do or don't have it yet! My Discogs is here if you want to see what I have and whatnot.

I honestly recommend everyone who enjoys music to start collecting physical media, whether it's cd, vinyl, cassette, 4 track, 8 track, minidisc whatever you want to collect. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Remember to support your local music shops!

Till next time <3