Record collecting: a cool hobby or fetish?

My record collection: CDs on the left, vinyl in the center, and playback equipment (AKA stereo) on the right.

I am having an existential crisis: as a musichead*, is my record collecting a cool hobby or a fetish? A few things got me thinking about this:

• The recent box set from the Replacements – Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) – more about that in a minute
• A tour of Copycats vinyl pressing plant
• Contemplating NFTs and owning digital assets
• Having two homes – my record collection is too big to be transporting across the country twice a year
• Being closer to death than birth (I turn 65 in January) and leaving my hoard of records behind for my heirs to deal with (inheritance or hassle?)
• Streaming, especially high-resolution streaming, is my preferred listening format

*A musichead is someone obsessed with listening to music and being knowledgeable about the music they listen to. In general, they are constantly discovering new music. Although they have a broad taste, they have a handful of artists they obsess about (see every show, listen to every recording, collect every recording, follow every spin-off, know every lyric, know all the gossip, etc.).

For most of my life being a musichead was synonymous with being a record collector. There were only two ways to listen to recorded music: on the radio and on records (vinyl, tape, or CD). Radio is not enough for a musichead, you need to buy physical media to satisfy your need: play what you want when you want, play artists that are not on the radio, etc.

Streaming allows you to be a musichead without owning physical media. My kids, who are in their 30s, are musicheads and they are not record collectors (they do have some LPs and legitimate turntables). Streaming makes it easier to be a musichead: it is portable and provides convenient access to an extensive catalog and immediate access to new releases. The downside of streaming is that most artists don’t get properly compensated, but most artists have never been compensated properly. At least the friction to get music in the ears of their fans is gone. I love streaming – especially high-resolution streaming – it is my primary way of listening to music.

When I toured Copycats, which is a new vinyl pressing plant outside of Minneapolis, I was struck by the fact that the decade-and-a-half vinyl renaissance is real enough that serious capital is being invested to meet the demand. Vinyl does not appear to be a fad. I personally contribute to this renaissance in that I mostly stopped buying CDs about 10 years ago and almost exclusively buy vinyl. However, 50% of LPs are sold to people who don’t even have access to the equipment to play them. Even a musichead and audiophile like me barely listens to vinyl.

When I saw that The Replacements were releasing a box set of their classic album Tim (one vinyl record and four CDs), I immediately started obsessing about acquiring it. I have original releases of Tim on CD and vinyl. I was super intrigued by the fact that there was an Ed Stasium remix of the album as the remix of Don’t Tell a Soul was so revelatory – I had to hear this new remix! New releases come out on Fridays at midnight Eastern time on streaming services. I listened to it as soon as it was available on Tidal Thursday at 11:00 PM (thus a high-resolution stream) and holy shit it is amazing! Now I had to own it!

I would legitimately listen to a vinyl edition of the Ed Stasium remix of Tim and I am sure it would sound amazing on my audiophile gear. However, I don’t need a CD of a new remaster of the original mix and I only need to hear the bonus material once or twice so I don’t need those CDs either. Do I need to pay $90 to possess a vinyl edition of the Ed Stassium Tim remix when 90% of the time I listen to it on streaming?

I am fascinated there is a market for various digital art (visual, music, etc.) where ownership is managed on the blockchain (non-fungible tokens – NFTs). I am starting to feel like my record collection is like a primitive NFT. Instead of my ownership being documented on the blockchain, it is “documented” by vinyl or a CD sitting on my shelf. Granted I can play those physical albums on my stereo – but I rarely do.

I am starting to feel like owning physical media is more of a fetish – I am obsessed with owning the physical object (e.g. the vinyl record) and yet I don’t need that object to listen to it. I mock people who spend money on digital assets like NFTs, but am I any better? I mock people who buy LPs and don’t have a turntable and buy the LP as a souvenir, but am I any better?

I can try to use the argument that buying physical is supporting the band, but bands don’t make that much off their recordings and I support other ways like concerts and merch. Plus I have a long history of supporting my artists (I have spent a small fortune on The Replacements for example).

Many people say that vinyl is the best way to appreciate music – it sounds the best. I would agree that with the right gear and a good pressing vinyl is the best. I have a nice audiophile setup to enjoy listening to vinyl. But that same setup is also optimized for high-resolution streaming. I would argue that high-resolution streaming rivals vinyl and – especially when the artists are recording and mastering in digital – thus the vinyl record is sourced from digital. So I am hard-pressed to argue that my audiophile taste demands that I listen to vinyl.

Most box set reissues are well done. The music is reinvigorated, great visual art and packaging, well-articulated liner notes, etc. In general, they are pricey, but there is value. They are nice collectibles, but they mostly just sit on the shelf.

I was recently reading an article in the New York Times by Denise LuWant with the headline: Enjoy Music More? Stop Streaming It. In the article, she says “I don’t like how streaming feels — like I’m only borrowing something for a while, rather than having a handpicked library of albums (digital or physical) that I’ve vetted and can keep forever.” I don’t feel the same way. So I return to the original question: is my record collecting a cool hobby or a fetish? Most days I choose not to think about it and just enjoy the grooves. I don’t like the possession obsession I get for recorded albums – it doesn’t seem healthy and has nothing to do with my love of music.

I have not come to a conclusion on record collecting: cool hobby vs. obsessive fetish. But I often come back to something my old general practitioner physician used to say to me: “If you love something, do less of it.” I take that to mean if you are obsessive about something, you don’t have to quit it, just back off a bit. So concerning vinyl, I am not going to commit to not buying anymore, but instead, I will cut back. For example, I am not going to buy the $90 Tim box. If someday it shows up as a single vinyl LP on Record Store Day, I will buy it. Buying the box at this point would be just a fetish. But buying an LP of an artist that I love and want to support, well that is a cool hobby.