Even with virtually every song ever released available to stream at the tap of a screen, many people still choose to drop their phones and instead drop needles to listen to their favorite albums.
Whether it’s the tactility of playing a record, the ability to support their favorite artists directly, or the nostalgia for a time they may or may not have lived through, physical media has created a tightly knit community of analog music fans. Lately, artists, store owners, and a growing community of collectors have come together to share a common value: ownership.
Kacey McNamara, a second-year journalism and English combined major at Northeastern and avid media collector, said the thing that drew them to records was a desire to safeguard their favorite music.
“When you stream something, you don’t own it,” McNamara said. “ that aspect of being a form of media preservation and making sure that this music you really love is something that you now own and will have for the foreseeable future. It can’t be stripped away from you.”
Songs can vanish from streaming services for many reasons: copyright issues, distribution disputes, or simply because an artist doesn’t resonate with their older releases. In November 2025, for instance, The 1975 removed the track “Human Too” from its latest album to better fit frontman Matty Healy’s taste. Those who own a physical copy of the album still have access to the track, which is why more people are promoting investing in vinyl.
“The physical media push is making sure that, years down the line, we don’t lose access to this great music,” McNamara said. “These streaming services definitely won’t always be around.”
Many vinyl enthusiasts also highlight the exploitation artists face from streaming services. Spotify, in particular, has been criticized for failing to fairly compensate artists for their work. Small artists who don’t have a platform to financially support themselves through other avenues often can’t earn a livable wage from streaming services alone, which is why many in the record community choose to put their money directly in artists’ pockets by purchasing vinyl.
Aaron Wetjen-Barry, a collector and specialist at the Somerville-based record shop Vinyl Index, assumed responsibility for preserving artists’ work and supporting the industry when he started selling vinyl.
“I don’t trust any of the ,” he explained at the counter of the Somerville shop, surrounded by shelves of musical history. Wetjen-Barry condemns the “gross injustice that was done to all musical artists when their record labels negotiated Spotify and digital contracts,” he said.
On average, services like Spotify and Apple Music remunerate artists less than a tenth of a cent per stream, and most of the revenue ends up back in the hands of record labels.
“It means nothing compared to investing in a title,” Wetjen-Barry said. “You vote with your dollar, and the same thing is true of what you’re supporting musically.”
An investment in physical media, Wetjen-Barry said, is an investment for the entire music industry, including artists, labels, and record stores like Vinyl Index.
Combined with directly investing in artists, for physical media collectors like Olivia May, a third-year music and communications combined major at Northeastern, owning a vinyl brings the listener closer to music creators.
“There’s something so cool about being able to actually hold a piece of media by this artist you feel so connected to,” May said.
While vinyl is still far from its glory days, sales have slowly but surely been increasing in the past few years, according to Taylor Corp., a global print and graphic communications company. In 2024, the U.S. music industry sold 43.6 million records, marking the 18th consecutive year of growth.
After the phonograph, vinyl was one of the first formats through which artists shared their work. As early as 1948, records have served as showcases for musical projects, with everything from the track order to the vinyl sleeve and lyric booklet being canvases for artistic expression.
While many of today’s collectors were born after the advent of digital formats like MP3s or iPods, using an analog format like vinyl symbolizes a specific intention: to be present with the media they consume.
“I often stream my music for convenience. But that’s why one of the things for me about my physical music is the ritual of it,” McNamara said. “I try to intentionally put Spotify away for a little bit and sort of increase the friction. It just makes you think more deeply about what you’re listening to.”
In the record community, vinyl creates a lasting relationship between listeners and the music they love, and it’s one that won’t vanish within the ever-changing landscape of streaming.
“Music is a whole ecosystem of passion and connection,” May said.