Iāve always said buying vinyl has little to do with music or its quality, but i didnāt know 50% of buyers just put it on the wall.
To be fair, probably a lot of gift buyers in the numbers.
Iām amazed that vinyl has had the resurgence itās experiencing.
Itās a dead, obsolete medium. I used to collect a lot of vinyl in my youth, but Iām amazed that it has such traction in the twenty-first century.
I have a large vinyl collection (1k albums) and still buy the odd vinyl release. Thankfully, I have a Linn LP12 to enjoy it with.
But if I was āstartingā (collecting music) today, I wouldnāt give it a second thought.
Nostalgia, ehā¦ 
I wonder if they sold CDs in the vinyl packaging if they would sell more.
Vinyl is not obsolete. A lot of people prefer analog over digital.
The obsolescence of a platform isnāt the same as personal preference.
Jim, NOTHING has been recorded/mixed in analogue in the last thirty-years.
Pure āanalogueā just doesnāt exist anymore, apart from a few bespoke issues/pressings.
Analogue doesnāt sound better than digital. Itās just full of imperfections and distortions, that people naively describe as āwarmthā.
Donāt get me wrong. I LOVE playing vinyl. But digital playback trumps it at every single level.
Itās essentially an NFT, and one of the better versions of that
If a case can be made for digital cables to sound better then a case for vinyl to sound better can certainly be made!
People (not me) still buy turntables and records. That doesnāt meet my definition of obsolete. 8 tracks might be obsolete.
If 50% of people buy vinyl to put on a wall, who knows, maybe a good percentage of people buy turntables as furniture. If IKEA picks up on this and starts selling āSKIVAā wall decorations, we might have a real vinyl revival.
Well, IKEA have already jumped on the bandwagon and sell a ā ā ā ā ā ā turntable:
I think that you are a little out of touch Martin, there is a core of professional musicians and engineers who continue to both buy up analogue equipment and stocks of tape.
This link may help Bands or Artist that Still Record Analog | Steve Hoffman Music Forums
And itās not the only source available.
The Rolling Stones Mobile is also still in use for both analogue and digital recording.
Thatās because there are still out-of-touch buyers out there who have a need to stand out somehow and are willing to pay for it.
When I said NOTHING had been recorded in analogue in the last thirty-years, what I meant was that the overwhelming majority of music recorded in that time was recorded digitally.
The list you refer to is minuscule compared to the total amount of titles recorded in that time. There will always be diehards.
Actually Steve Albini for one is convinced himself, he does not care about buyers at all and never did
The only way you donāt care about buyers is if either you donāt sell anything or you donāt depend on those sales. Also, why is this album for purchase on Qobuz?
Itās possible to produce what you want and then offer it for sale. He also offered Big Black albums for sale in the 80ies, but didnāt make music to sell it. As for the album being on Qobuz, itās there because people want it, so why not. He threw CD copies into the vinyl bags 20 years ago, doesnāt change his opinion. Iām not going to retell the story of Albiniās career and work, itās there on the internet.
And yeah, he probably doesnāt depend on selling anymore, nothing wrong with that either.
Not just vinyl, which I can kind of understand but cassettes? Shudder.