For those of you who buy both digital music and physical copies

How do you decide what you will buy on vinyl and what you buy on Bandcamp or wherever you get your digitals from. I can never establish a solid rule.

I follow the Chris Duckenfield rule - if I agree that I’ll get a couple of weeks out of it then it’s digital, if I thin in I’ll be listening to it for years to come then it’s vinyl,

Obviously if it’s only on one or the other format then that’ll be the deciding factor.

4 Likes

Pretty much only buy LP’s and 7” now on vinyl. And either older stuff I love, or new releases that I know I’ll still be listening to in 10 years.

Most straight up dance stuff is digital these days.

4 Likes

I buy digital as the default nowadays and my first choice is to get it from Bandcamp. I only really buy vinyl if something is not available on digital, which usually means it’s older stuff. I’ve got plenty of space for more records on the shelves it’s just very expensive to buy vinyl and I’m a bit of a magpie (addict?) who tends to buy music most days. The ability to buy one track for £1 as opposed to having to get a £10-15 12” has been a game changer for me.

6 Likes

only old 2nd hand stuff on vinyl. Can’t afford new. Esp imports etc

Digi stuff just to make mixes for home listening.

1 Like

Pick up old records and bargains in the sales on vinyl. I really enjoy DJ’ing digitally. More so than with vinyl. I suspect that is not the case for many.

1 Like

I had a swing at all digital the other night and honestly, I liked it. I definitely was more active after the mix with effects and looping etc. Probably sounded like an absolute nightmare but it was fun. Going to a gig with a small bag with headphones and USBs would definitely be appealing.

1 Like

I treat it as I would with turntables or CDJ’s. I bought a controller specifically with turntable mode so it sort of has the vinyl feel. I am able to plug turntables (or CDJ’s if I wanted to get some) into it and I ignore the BPM, in fact I can turn it off which is a great option to have for people learning. Looping is very handy at times I agree and the filters are really nice. When using them it almost feels like rotary mixing haha. Other effects I use sparingly. To be honest I was starting to get a bit bored with just turntables so it sort of gave me a new lease of life. Now I can’t stop doing mixes! It’s so relaxing it is a version of meditation for me.

1 Like

I love the additional creativity that digital has brought to the table. Being able to edit on the fly is a like a whole new dimension for me. I agree, I find it much more fun.

2 Likes

this is definitely the one although it’s sometimes hard to know when that will be the case. i buy enough music that I don’t want to buy the digital if I then will want to buy the record later. can’t deny that I have a different relationship to stuff I have physically though. less forgotten about.

1 Like

for me i also got rid of streaming service subscriptions. i hated the fact that i would listen to something once and then never listen to it again. it stopped me falling love with music like i used to and we all know some of the best albums took some time to get into. sometimes it needs a little work. trying to listen to less but more with more intent.

1 Like

Never used one apart from YouTube to save playlists of stuff I have played on my show or stuff I want to buy

1 Like

If it’s on vinyl, I’ll buy it on vinyl, unless it’s something prohibitively expensive, even then though I might save up for it.

With regards to djing digitally I find the unlimited freedom stifling, listening back to the mixes I made a few years ago with a digital setup make me realise that the ability to loop and run 3+ tracks at once are not always a good thing. With hindsight they sound cluttered and the musical selection homogeneous. I find the same with producing artwork digitally. I can be much more creative using physical materials as the limitations you encounter force you to solve problems in unexpected ways.

4 Likes

This :point_up_2:. And the artists get paid, so more good music gets made…

So, I bought the new Mercury Rising comp on CD (believe it or not) but not at Bandcamp because they wanted like ÂŁ6 for postage.
TBH I was a bit disappointed, found it a bit meh. And I realised that some of my favourite tracks weren’t on the CD and because it wasn’t Bandcamp I didn’t get a free download.
Then my brother bought me the vinyl for my birthday.
Then the other day I was like fuck it, might as well get the download so I can listen on the Bandcamp app.
So now I have something I don’t like that much on every format it’s possible to buy it in.

4 Likes

2021 in a nutshell…

2 Likes

Ha that’s insane. Yep this last comp was a bit dull. To be fair there has been no mercury rising for a while so not sure he quite knew what to put on it ha.

2 Likes

This is really good on how streaming services (inc TV) can leave us overloaded, like we’ve got to get through it all

1 Like

Screenshot 2021-12-20 12.37.25

Grabbed from this article https://thehustle.co/the-insane-resurgence-of-vinyl-records/amp/

Those numbers are insane.