You've all heard by now that people buying records is on the rise. Us folk at CPRW love the vinyl and are constantly adding to our collections. Personally, I check my wanted list on Discogs at least once a day to find some favourites. Whenever I go to a new town I will always do a little bit of research beforehand to see what record shops they have and whether they're likely to have something I'd want. Buying records is great. To show you how great, I've put together a top ten reasons why you should start your record collection (if you're one of the few who haven't already).
Supporting Bands
Continuing to buy physical music is one of the best ways to support a band financially. Sure, we all love a stream for convenience but bands make next to no money on them. Why not splash out and buy their record instead and help them to continue making music?
It Is Nice To Have A Physical Copy
Isn't having something you can hold in your hands just a million times better than something that just exists on your PC, laptop, tablet, phone or whatever else you listen to music on? Especially if you're handing over some of your precious pennies, surely having something physical is just better than digital!
The Whole Package
Something I really love about owning physical music is the whole package that you get. I love the artwork, I love reading the lyrics and the thank yous in the inlay. I love when the vinyl is coloured and watching it spin around on my record deck. These are things you just don't get with downloads.
It Feels Less Like Background Music
Listening to a record feels much more like an event than listening to a music digitally. I find it's easy for digital music to become like background music that I don't really absorb in the same way that I would when listening to a record. To listen to a record you would usually set aside a part of your day to sit, listen and really take it in. There's no skipping to your favourites, you have to listen to the body of music how it was originally intended.
Collecting Things Is Fun
Pretty much self explanatory really – collecting things is fun. Records are a thing that you can collect. That exciting thrill when you find a record you've been searching for for a long time. Maybe it pops up in an online distro or, when you are working your way through a records in a store, you find a gem you've forgotten all about – it never gets old.
It Is A Conversation Piece For House Guests
Emma and I have found our record player set up and collection to be a conversation starter in our home. Whenever we have guests around it's not long before they're checking out our collection looking out for anyone they've heard of. Often non-record collecting pals have been amazed by how you go about playing the record (our record player has a start button so you don't need to position the needle) so there's a nice feeling of seeming cool when you're looking like you know what you're doing and how things work.
Supporting Record Shops
Are there any shops that are more exciting than record shops? Whenever I visit somewhere new, I try and check out whatever record shops I can find. Sometimes you don't find anything you want but so often you can find gold (which is what happened in Japan). Record shops play a big part in helping people discover new bands. How often have you been flicking through the stacks at your local record shop and seen some artwork that you think is cool and gone on to check out the band?
Memories
Sometimes it's fun to go through your record collection and dig out some old classics, something you probably wouldn't do on Spotify or wherever else you stream your tunes from. Music has this great quality of soundtracking certain times in your life. Odds are you can remember exactly what was happening in your life when you play your favourite records from 2002.
You Make New Friends
A fun thing to do when you're listening to your records is to share them on your social media accounts. Not only does this give the band some valuable coverage but it also allows you to strike up conversations with people you don't know about them. More often than not, you'll probably have a few musical tastes in common with them and you could make friends. Music does have this great way of bringing folk together. I bet nobody ever made pals through digital music.
It Is An Investment
I imagine most people don't like to sell their records unless they absolutely have to but in a lot of cases you could potentially make money. If you manage to get your hands on some rare, special coloured or first pressings of a record, there's every chance that in a few years down the line it could be worth more than you paid for it. So, in a way, buying records can be seen as an investment for the future. You definitely can't say that about a stream or something you've downloaded!
This top ten was written by Colin Clark.
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