Because it's all about embodying a certain lifestyle... as well as having another excuse to go further down the rabbit hole known as consumerism.

I grew up with analogue music formats and I have no desire to go back there. Digital formats may not possess that 'warmth' but at least the recordings don't degrade.

This is true. Analog formats degrade with each use. Hipsters deny this, but it is true. Digital plays perfectly each time (assuming you're not deliberately scratching up the discs).

I love to own vinyl LPs of albums that I hold dear. It's not about embodying a lifestyle, it's not about projecting an image, it's not about consumerism. It's not even about the sound. Hell, many of them, I just keep sealed.

It's more about the authenticity - the feeling of owning a piece of something meaningful to me and also supporting the artist. Some day, when my kids are forced to divvy up my records and decide what to do with them, you bet they're gonna know that my autographed LP copy of the Manic Street Preachers' Holy Bible meant something to me.

I love the convenience of digital formats and streaming - but when your hard drives fail, your subscriptions to streaming services run out, or the company that you own purchase rights on digital songs folds, you don't own that music any more. It's gone.

Is there vanity involved in this? Sure, probably. Maybe my kids won't give two ****s what albums meant the world to me. But in a time when music is as expendable as a piece of bubblegum, it's nice to give something back to an artist that provided you something meaningful - to have a memento of this experience in the physical world. A piece of art, truly.

I'll get off the soap box now. Whatever way you love to own and consume music, just support the artists you love, somehow, even if it's just buying some merch or attending shows. They deserve it.

It's mainly the love of everything vintage, that causes hipsters to like things analog.(See also, 80s and 90s nostalgia and to a lesser extent, 60s and 70s nostalgia)

When it comes to supporting artists, you can buy digital releases.

For small artists, printing LPs or whatever is going to cost money that they're probably not gonna make back, so even for them it's more or less a vanity project.

I mean, technically apple music does something like that and even then, it's not giving the artist a whole lot of money anyway...
https://www.orpheusaudioacademy.com/...ay-per-stream/

The best way to support artist is to see them live, since most artist now make money by performing their songs live(some even make money by selling their catelog, or have jobs in other fields outside of music).

As a small artist, digital buys from google play or whatever is very noticeable in a digital landscape where most consumption comes from streaming.

As you mention, gigs are the main source of income.

For us, we make like 0,3 cent or so from a single song streaming. Selling a digital EP is more like 7 dollars or so? A small gig pays about 1200 USD. Roughly.

Split 3 ways in a band.

That may not be the case for you but that doesn’t mean everyone else is the same.

I’ve been on music forums where members are clearly more into owning two dozen versions of the same album, or are more into acquiring (or hoarding) as much hi-tech gear as possible. In both cases, I gained the impression that their supposed love for music is secondary (and often very limited or conservative).

What was did you say about consumerism again?

If you knew anything about the music industry, you’d realise that most of what you spend on music goes into the pockets of the music labels and not the artist. But I hear you – I miss owning music formats myself.

Not if you invest in regular back-ups and upgrade your hard drives every five years.

Agreed.

The funny thing about analogue and vintage music formats is how the general public was very quick to forsake them, as soon as something new and shiny started gaining some traction (e.g. iPods). Now that these ‘obsolete’ formats aren’t household staples anymore, they’ve become more desirable. Go figure…

I’ve always been a late adopter, because of my scepticism of the corporations. It took me years to get into MiniDisc and I still use that format. However, around 15 years ago, everyone was dumping their MiniDisc gear on eBay for next to nothing. As a result, I ended up buying quite a bit of MiniDisc gear for very little. Now, the same stuff I purchased is going for at least ten times the price I paid for them!

Sorry but I find most humans to be fickle creatures, who are easily swayed by whatever’s fashionable at any particular moment in time. In other words, most of the interest isn't actually genuine.