Why I collect CDs and vinyl in 2020
Most people understand my fascination with vinyl. But not so much my CD collection. Yet there are still many logical reasons to collect.
In recent years, people have stopped asking when I’m getting braces. This annoying question that haunted me for over 14 years was replaced with a new, even more irritating question: “What’s the point in collecting CDs?”
Generally, most people understand my fascination with vinyl. The sound quality is better, and it’s fun to use. But when they find out about my shelf overflowing with compact discs, that when the judgements start pouring in.
I love collecting physical music. Honestly, I feel that CDs give me more of a dopamine rush than vinyl because I can buy more of them at once than vinyl (Addictions, yay!!!), and there are so many indie albums that never existed on vinyl or even the internet, while pretty much any song on a vinyl record can be found online or on a CD.
But I still pay for streaming. Namely, my service of choice is Spotify because of the discovery radios. I have a personal rule for myself: while I am at home, I listen to albums I have paid for. When I am out-and-about walking or at school/work, I wouldn’t be caught dead without my trusty pair of headphones. Additionally, as a music critic, paying for every album I review isn’t convenient, especially if I like only a select few songs by any one band.
But how did I get into collecting music? The first CD I ever got was from a small, local band that played at my elementary school in Colorado in 2013. When I really got into music, I received Cage the Elephant’s Unpeeled as a 16th birthday present, but it wasn’t until I first paid for a CD with my own money (The White Stripes’ De Stijl) that I started to call myself a collector. I had never seen a turntable in my life, so when curiosity got the better of me, I got my hands on a ION turntable and The Beatles’ Help! in June of 2019.
Copyright is a beast, and you never know if your favorite music will always be available.
There are a lot of reasons people buy CDs and vinyl. Some of us are audiophiles. Some of us don’t want to pay for streaming services. Others are stubborn to adapt to technology or classify as “hipsters.”
One reason I commonly agree with is that I want to have the extra surprises that come with the CD/vinyl. I love lyric booklets, band photos are fun to have, and I have even found myself fascinated with reading the credits. And a few of us collectors, including me, want to more directly support artists by buying the album instead of just listening over streaming.
It’s great that it gives me fulfillment, but why not buy digitally if I want to support, you may ask? Well, in most cases, it’s cheaper to buy CDs than it is to buy digital albums. Because most of the albums I am searching for are not new releases, a 10-song CD in very good to mint condition is generally priced around $3–9. However, that same album bought digitally costs $0.99 per track; a total of $9.99. If I buy a CD, I can plug it into my computer and download the songs digitally, anyway! (Don’t pirate, kids.)
As for my favorite CDs: indie albums/EPs usually go for $5 at a show (or online if it’s used) or $10 online, maybe less if you happen to stumble upon it in a record store. Considering how many indie albums I own that aren’t available online, these CDs are particularly special to me.
And this is another common reason for collecting music: you never know what is going to happen in the future. Copyright is a beast, and you never know if your favorite music will always be available on Spotify or Apple Music. You may think that’s only true for small bands, but even more established bands like The White Stripes, Kula Shaker, and Cage the Elephant have had albums not be available to stream, in my country or otherwise.
I don’t want to pay attention because there are a million other things I could be doing.
But it wasn’t until recently that I really started to appreciate the physical format of music. Last October, I was given a CD from a band I had never heard before, The Pacific. I listened to the album without any prior knowledge on the sound or personality of the band, and I quickly fell in love; not just with the band, but with the idea of this tangible disc that I could hold in my hands and call my own.
When I’m listening to Spotify or even my purchased music on iTunes, I’m more compelled to want to skip songs or gravitate back towards whatever is more familiar to my ears. I don’t want to pay attention because there are a million other things I could be doing; whether that be working on my next story, Googling every article about how Imagine Dragons are going downhill, or listening to “Now As One” by Plastiscene on a loop for the next three hours.
But when there’s a disc or vinyl spinning in my player or on my turntable, not only is the sound quality from my speakers a significant improvement in sound quality compared to my iPhone or earbuds; I am more likely to let an album play from start to finish. There’s no other temptation directly in front of me, so I might as well. Not only does this make me less biased and judgemental towards new albums, but it enhances the experience of the music over hearing it via streaming. There’s a special art to be appreciated in the tracklisting of an album.
When I’m listening from my phone, it’s either through tiny speakers or my headphones. Listening to vinyl or CDs forces me to hear it through my speakers, which is not only better for my hearing, but is also more pleasant to my ears. And when the music is digital, I’m always thinking about what I’m going to listen to next instead of what I’m listening to in the moment.
So as of recent events, when I’m cooped up at home, I don’t even need to pay for streaming. I have my pair of speakers, my CD player, a turntable, and my extensive collection of albums. Have you seen the statistics lately? I’m contributing to that. Digital platforms are killing the music industry: it’s affecting artists, it’s affecting copyright holders, and it’s affecting critics (probably most of all). And as a journalist, myself, I feel so much more comfortable knowing that if I use an excerpt of a song in my videos, I have already paid the artist upfront for it.
