One year our friends got a very fancy record player and we loved listening to it as a group so much that they bought us a little record player for Christmas. We love to listen to new vinyls but I’ve also found a lot of fun looking in thrift or secondhand shops for old records (mostly holiday related) and found some lovely albums I wouldn’t have considered. Big fan of record players and switching away from streaming media (I say as I have a YouTube lofi channel playing 🙃)!
This was a lovely read - and I will be doing a Spotify deep dive now!! They always kind of gave me the ick (I'm that rare person who hates Wrapped haha), but now I feel I really wanna ditch them. My husband loves vinyl, so maybe it's time to play our records more (and grow our collections)! Personally, I've always been in love with CDs and tapes 😂 Enjoy your new record player!
Thanks so much Jessie! CDs and tapes are definitely a wise choice 🦉 I'm still so nervous handling the records lol, it feels like the stakes are so high. For your deep dive, there is a book on the subject which has been on my reading list for a while – Mood Machine by Liz Pelly, maybe check it out.
Oh, snap! Hybrid Theory was the first CD album I ever bought too!
Back in the Napster era, my friend and I used to share songs with each other and he recommended the song One Step Closer. I downloaded it and fell instantly in love with it. I then went out and bought the CD single (anyone remember those?) and loved the B-sides too (My December and High Voltage). I decided I'd download the whole album to see if I liked it - obviously I did, so I went out and bought the album.
I get such mixed feelings about physical media - I've been worried about their environmental impact for ages and don't want them to just end up as landfill one day, but since I started buying vinyls (and the occasional CD from small bands at their shows), I've found that I've started to have a real "relationship" with the music that I listen to again.
Nice! Did you buy new speakers with it? I’ve got a very bog-standard turntable from Amazon that cost £50 that has a built in speaker that is really rubbish. I’m wondering if I just need a decent set of speakers, or if I need a whole new setup.
Things that happened to me while reading your post:
1. I actually read the linked post on The Ugly Truth About Spotify... by The Honest Broker and my mouth literally fell open.
2. I sat in still silence after realizing the “gentle acoustic morning” playlist I’m constantly encouraged to listen to is likely hot-garbage-AI.
3. Mid-way through the post I paused and ordered the vinyl of a new album I’ve been listening to on a loop via Spotify. I’ve invested roughly 10 hours of listening time into this album over the past few days and I bet the artist is going to see about $.25 of that. Take my $28 for the vinyl my friend.
This just unlocked memories of how much I loved reading the lyrics on CDs and how much that inspired me to write or develop my own creativity. Definitely the direct contact with art and life itself is what we need most now.
So glad you're here! :) Records are the best.. hey if you really want to get sad about the streaming system, read Liz Pellys new book Mood Machine. Or if you don't have that in you then read her Harper's article called Ghosts In The Machine (but read her book if you can, it's incredible) x
Yaaaassss Linkin Park! how many memories! I've read that article too, and it was mind-blowing. I like your perspective on it, I think physical media is underrated
Caoilainn, this is a great post, sobering the everyday people including me about the state of the music industry. I'm not particular about any musicians and I haven't watched big concerts, but my impression about any popular icon in the entertainment is they must make great money based on the number of followers or fans on tours. How was I wrong . . .
I then remember from the post-concert videos or any recommended by YouTube, that these musicians singing, dancing, interacting with fans on stage, with their big energy and even bigger smiles. I didn't know they might suffer financially once the stage light went out.
Your post is another piece in the tapestry of mental framework I've been growing about the current economic state: workers are bled dry by those in the top—billionaires, if I must say, who own the platforms. Artists are these workers as well, no different than us.
Centralisation, which at one time provided ease and service to the digital users (we can find all types of entertainment we're drawn to, and more, on a platform of choice). Like James Blake, I once had thought the numbers/emails and other collected attributes were "just" a minimal sacrifice on my side, in exchange for the convenience. But knowing the service is predatory to other fanbases is eye-opening.
Centralisation, or I'd rather say, convenience in collating the information, is without doubt life-changing. It started with Google (that became a verb already), to view all websites related to your search at your fingertips. And then social media presence and streaming services came shortly after. And now I'm also guilty of asking GPT summarising information for various questions.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment as always, Sekar! I have a book on my reading list called Technofeudalism which I think explores some of what you're thinking about in depth – maybe check it out https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75560037-techno-feudalism
This was a great read, thank you! I’ve been thinking about going back to analogue music too but still struggling to decide between vinyls and CDs! I do have a lot of my favourite albums on CD already so would make more sense but I have a few vinyls too and they are indeed beautiful objects.
Vinyl is indeed great and beautiful, but horrendously expensive. I generally can’t afford more than 3 or 4 albums a month. Something to be aware of if you’re not rich. But they add up soon enough and it’s a wonderful experience. Great value to be had with secondhand CDs at the moment though. You’d get not far off 10 CDs for the price of a new record.
the ick you describe is literally how i feel towards streaming services for movies and shows now
Starting to feel the same! God speed.
One year our friends got a very fancy record player and we loved listening to it as a group so much that they bought us a little record player for Christmas. We love to listen to new vinyls but I’ve also found a lot of fun looking in thrift or secondhand shops for old records (mostly holiday related) and found some lovely albums I wouldn’t have considered. Big fan of record players and switching away from streaming media (I say as I have a YouTube lofi channel playing 🙃)!
That's such a lovely pastime to enjoy together, wow 🫶
Wow! I never thought about vinyl as a way to support artists more directly, but you're totally right! Yet another great reason to love vinyl :)
It's an amazing investment into their work! I highly recommend it, if even for all the beautiful notes they leave on the casing.
This was a lovely read - and I will be doing a Spotify deep dive now!! They always kind of gave me the ick (I'm that rare person who hates Wrapped haha), but now I feel I really wanna ditch them. My husband loves vinyl, so maybe it's time to play our records more (and grow our collections)! Personally, I've always been in love with CDs and tapes 😂 Enjoy your new record player!
Thanks so much Jessie! CDs and tapes are definitely a wise choice 🦉 I'm still so nervous handling the records lol, it feels like the stakes are so high. For your deep dive, there is a book on the subject which has been on my reading list for a while – Mood Machine by Liz Pelly, maybe check it out.
Ooh thank you so much for that recommendation, I will definitely be checking it out!! 🥰
Oh, snap! Hybrid Theory was the first CD album I ever bought too!
Back in the Napster era, my friend and I used to share songs with each other and he recommended the song One Step Closer. I downloaded it and fell instantly in love with it. I then went out and bought the CD single (anyone remember those?) and loved the B-sides too (My December and High Voltage). I decided I'd download the whole album to see if I liked it - obviously I did, so I went out and bought the album.
I get such mixed feelings about physical media - I've been worried about their environmental impact for ages and don't want them to just end up as landfill one day, but since I started buying vinyls (and the occasional CD from small bands at their shows), I've found that I've started to have a real "relationship" with the music that I listen to again.
Also, what model turntable did you go for from Audio-Technica?
It's the LP120x – it's awesome!
Nice! Did you buy new speakers with it? I’ve got a very bog-standard turntable from Amazon that cost £50 that has a built in speaker that is really rubbish. I’m wondering if I just need a decent set of speakers, or if I need a whole new setup.
Things that happened to me while reading your post:
1. I actually read the linked post on The Ugly Truth About Spotify... by The Honest Broker and my mouth literally fell open.
2. I sat in still silence after realizing the “gentle acoustic morning” playlist I’m constantly encouraged to listen to is likely hot-garbage-AI.
3. Mid-way through the post I paused and ordered the vinyl of a new album I’ve been listening to on a loop via Spotify. I’ve invested roughly 10 hours of listening time into this album over the past few days and I bet the artist is going to see about $.25 of that. Take my $28 for the vinyl my friend.
Thanks for this!
You're awesome, Ashley! Knowledge is power 💪 and thank you so much for reading
This just unlocked memories of how much I loved reading the lyrics on CDs and how much that inspired me to write or develop my own creativity. Definitely the direct contact with art and life itself is what we need most now.
Couldn't agree more! Thanks for reading <3
So glad you're here! :) Records are the best.. hey if you really want to get sad about the streaming system, read Liz Pellys new book Mood Machine. Or if you don't have that in you then read her Harper's article called Ghosts In The Machine (but read her book if you can, it's incredible) x
Ah this has been on my reading list for several months! I need to get around to reading it :)
Please do and then I can have somebody to talk about/commiserate about it with!
Yaaaassss Linkin Park! how many memories! I've read that article too, and it was mind-blowing. I like your perspective on it, I think physical media is underrated
Linkin Park really went wild when they recorded that album. It is perfect.
Think this just convinced me to buy a cd player and start collecting cds… Lovely piece!
Do it!!!
Caoilainn, this is a great post, sobering the everyday people including me about the state of the music industry. I'm not particular about any musicians and I haven't watched big concerts, but my impression about any popular icon in the entertainment is they must make great money based on the number of followers or fans on tours. How was I wrong . . .
I then remember from the post-concert videos or any recommended by YouTube, that these musicians singing, dancing, interacting with fans on stage, with their big energy and even bigger smiles. I didn't know they might suffer financially once the stage light went out.
Your post is another piece in the tapestry of mental framework I've been growing about the current economic state: workers are bled dry by those in the top—billionaires, if I must say, who own the platforms. Artists are these workers as well, no different than us.
Centralisation, which at one time provided ease and service to the digital users (we can find all types of entertainment we're drawn to, and more, on a platform of choice). Like James Blake, I once had thought the numbers/emails and other collected attributes were "just" a minimal sacrifice on my side, in exchange for the convenience. But knowing the service is predatory to other fanbases is eye-opening.
Centralisation, or I'd rather say, convenience in collating the information, is without doubt life-changing. It started with Google (that became a verb already), to view all websites related to your search at your fingertips. And then social media presence and streaming services came shortly after. And now I'm also guilty of asking GPT summarising information for various questions.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment as always, Sekar! I have a book on my reading list called Technofeudalism which I think explores some of what you're thinking about in depth – maybe check it out https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75560037-techno-feudalism
LFG Hybrid Theory! The gateway album of a generation.
Absolutely no notes. I listened to it and cried because it's literally such a perfect piece of work.
Yaay amazing! Can’t wait to listen to it when I come visit you soon!
This was a great read, thank you! I’ve been thinking about going back to analogue music too but still struggling to decide between vinyls and CDs! I do have a lot of my favourite albums on CD already so would make more sense but I have a few vinyls too and they are indeed beautiful objects.
Vinyl is indeed great and beautiful, but horrendously expensive. I generally can’t afford more than 3 or 4 albums a month. Something to be aware of if you’re not rich. But they add up soon enough and it’s a wonderful experience. Great value to be had with secondhand CDs at the moment though. You’d get not far off 10 CDs for the price of a new record.
I’ve started to collect CDs. I thought about vinyls but I wouldn’t be able to play them in my car,
Ike a cd. I’m currently searching for a 2000s CD player?