In this era of technology, the idea of not being able to listen to what you want is vague although it wasn’t always this way. Nowadays you have the choice to listen to an artist’s music for free and then decide to purchase their music on a variety of platforms and mediums.
Most music listeners are multi-channel listeners. That means that you can listen to music throughout many different platforms as its available in various formats. Streaming sites such as Spotify give you the possibility to discover so many artists from all eras at a reasonable price or for free through ad funding. Multi-channel listeners will say that they purchase the music they love on CD or vinyl after having discovered it by streaming it.
The fact that now music is so easy to have gives purchasing CDs and vinyl meaning, like having a possession of art, that art being the artist you love. Not only you are helping the artist directly but by owning the CD you have the artwork and usually better sound quality of the music that may be a sort of collection piece for you, not unlike collecting art.
As streaming is taking the stage as the platform for music, CD and vinyl sales usually increase around Christmas as it is still one of the most popular gifts. And with the event of Record Store Day in 2006 and every year since, the sales for vinyl have increased as it is more of a collectible with limited edition versions or exclusive tracks making the tangible and physical something very special and quite distinct from the digital.
