From the perspective of an independent musician, Vinyl makes sense. Streaming pays artists next to zero. You can't give away CD's, CD's are obsolete. Bandcamp is a good model, if you actually have fans / supporters, they will buy your music even if they can listen to it for free and you will get a good percentage of what they pay. Many of these supporters probably also want to buy vinyl if it's available. No one thinks Vinyl is sonically superior to digital, but that is not the point. It is a cool piece of art that you can own/collect that shows your support and it is fun to play records. A lot or new records are also multi-colored splatter vinyl etc. which is even costlier to produce and doesn't effect the sound but just adds to the uniqueness. It's the same as paying extra for a hardcover copy of your favorite book. No one is going to get rich by selling vinyl, but any other alternative is a just a joke.
Vinyl Album Sales Jump 108% in First 6 Months of 2021
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Re: Vinyl Album Sales Jump 108% in First 6 Months of 2021
#12I had a lot of album's in the 70's so I get the appeal - to have a 12 by 12" object to hold with artwork and liner notes to look at. It adds another dimension that digital audio lacks. You can't touch, feel and smell a web page that has the same material, nor see them all on the shelf to admire. My question is, do people actually listen to the vinyl tracks or do they listen to the much higher quality digital file whi…
I didn't think digital files have higher quality than vinyl. Do they?
Digital has a far greater dynamic range and precision, especially if you include high bit-width or double floating point & high sample rates. There is no limit. You could model any sort of 'analog distortion warmth' which is often what is appealing about analog sound. On the other hand, someone who is willing to put the effort and money into printing vinyl will likely have it mastered specifically for vinyl. So my feeling is that there is a lot of low-effort digital music pushed out into the world that is just shite. And maybe overall, vinyl music has good quality just because people are more careful? I'm sure it also depends what you are listening to. Soundcloud rappers don't even need quality if they've got Gucci shoes.