But be real, does it really belong on vinyl other than as a gimmick?
No. Not on vinyl.
Some folks like “retro”.
Face it, with the advent of mp3 and other digital formats, a CD is a limiter when thousands of tunes can be put on a USB for use anywhere - like cars...
Why not? If the person likes that kind of music, and they like vinyl there’s no reason they shouldn’t have the music on vinyl.
I think the vinyl thing will stick. But not for a “good news” reason. The fact of the matter is the music industry is dead. A lot of things played into it, bad management, advancing technology. But the days of culture defining multi-platinum albums are gone. It’s just a casual product now. Not that there isn’t lots of good music (and not so good) being made, but the consumption curve is bottomed, nobody feels the need to get music anymore. Except for some people. As with any art there are those of us who are just addicted. We have to go get it. And the fact is we’ll always get it in physical form, because when you’re a deep catalog guy you know the streams can’t be trusted. We might use them, but we know that’s like borrowing from a friend, stream music isn’t “ours” and we want to OWN.
So we’re going to buy CDs. But we’re also going to buy vinyl. Because there’s a mystique and ritual to vinyl that no other medium has. The large form, the full liner notes, the examining for dust, the dropping of the needle. It’s not a gimmick, not to the music junkie. And we junkies are now most of the market.