Music Banter - View Single Post - Emerging From the Vinyl Collector Passion

innerspaceboy · 01-07-2023, 03:47 PM

OP Note: I tried publishing this sincere thought piece elsewhere to get a thoughtful response. Most of the feedback was centered around the vinyl format's perceived superiority rather than addressing the existential element and questions I pose at the end of the piece. I appreciate the MB community and hope I might get some valuable insight from our members. Here goes...

I'm finding myself at a curious place of late. I'm 41 years old and actively collected rare vinyl for the past 12 years. I poured substantial sums into building a quality audiophile hi-fi setup and invested heavily in rare, signed, limited edition, super deluxe box sets, and import first-pressings.

But in May of 2022, I began to reevaluate the amount of happiness vinyl collecting was bringing to my life versus the monthly expense of the hobby. Comparatively, my digital library comprises several hundred thousand tracks, including countless demos, b-sides, extended mixes, unofficial live sessions, and non-commercial recordings not available physically at any price. And all of them are meticulously tagged, inventoried, painstakingly catalogued, and enjoyed from my personal media server, which offers an unparalleled convenience over vinyl. Of course a portion of my rarer LPs have never been officially issued in a digital format, but the dedicated audiophile community has worked diligently to provide quality unofficial rips now and again, so it's been ages since I've queued up an actual LP.

I'd been actively blogging about music for those 12 years, which culminated in a book series I'm presently reviewing with potential publishers. Closing that chapter of my life so-to-speak is satisfying and I feel like I've written all that I had to say on the subject.

Every few years I try out the major streaming services, but each time without fail I find they offer nothing that I don’t already have commercial-free from my own server, and they lack hundreds of beloved artists from my personal library so I’ve seen no reason to use their services. I understand that there is a social element to the world of streaming, but they fail to cater to my preferred style of listening and to the content I enjoy. And the notion that material may be modified or withdrawn at the behest of the service provider, vanquishing the content ownership of the user does not sit well with me.

It's almost daunting coming out the other side of this often all-consuming hobby. I don't feel the compulsion to purchase records anymore. Maybe I'll pick up an album here or there in the future, but I no longer seek them out. My want list is dwindling and I find myself searching for other ways to invest my time and energy. After ravenously collecting for all those years I felt that perhaps I needed to sit down and actually *listen* to all these albums for a change. That's what I'm doing presently. (I've experienced strong parallels to this behavior in the book-collecting community!)

There's a feeling of void or absence when one no longer subscribes to their collector culture environment. I've lost interest in all of the record collector social media communities I formerly frequented. I used to spend weeks carefully photographing and sharing my latest crate-digging treasures and the corresponding articles I'd authored. Without that sense of community, I'm left feeling a bit lost and admittedly lonely, not knowing where I "fit" socially without those groups. There's an existential element at play here, as I was committed to that previous identity. Who am I if I am no longer the dedicated collector I was for over a decade?

I'm interested in hearing from others who have found themselves in a similar place. How does it feel? How have you adapted to stay engaged and stimulated musically? And what have you found to replace the social component of this once-beloved hobby? Please share!