why do people buy records? For some, it is the higher quality recordings and the warmness of the sound. For others, it is the artwork and being able to see the backside of an album, lyric inserts and record sleeves. The process of dropping the needle, flipping the record over, and putting it away. For others, it is less so for use and more for display. according to the data given by the BBC, it states that 41% of people who buy vinyl records have a turntable but don't use it, and 7% of people who buy vinyl don't have a turntable at all.

This could be in part to several reasons. First is that vinyl is an acessesable way to get a high quality print of the art of an album. In certain albums, some may have a poster inside the sleeve already. Another reason why people may buy records without using them is the liner notes. Albums may have notes written by the artist, such as the lyrics, dedications, and other secrets that may be inside the sleeves, that would otherwise go unnoticed if it were streamed digitally. One last factor that could've contributed was the increase in popularity of special pressings, as shown here. These special pressing help make the record itself become a work of art, and more importantly, a desirable collectable. Manufacturers can make limited releases of special pressings, making the record itself desirable, and encouraging the consumer to get it before it's gone. This creates artifical scarcity, and increases demand. There are industries that rely on this buisness model such as hypebeast items such as supreme clothing. According to the article, revitalizing vinyl, it states, "But then came a shift. Headlines started to reference vinyl and how it was holding on to a share of the market, being sought by audiophiles and serving a market for independent artists." Further exapnding upon this, part of the reason why vinyl has had such a resurgence is because of the increased market of audiophiles. Some believe that vinyl records are one of the best formats for recorded music because of it's capabilities as a lossless format, in which there is no audio compression, so the recording sounds as close as possible to how it sounded within the studio. Vinyl is an analog medium, which means the sound that comes from it is from the soundwaves etched into the grooves of the disc.