Vinyl vs Spotify

From the archive. Originally published on migmol.com on 2019-04-06, recovered and republished here in 2026 at its original address. Unedited except for formatting.

I finally got into vinyl this year and have started my modest record collection. As a Spotify geek, I wondered how this new dimension would affect my music listening behavior.

Three months after, I find that I have adopted an interesting dynamic between the two mediums. What’s the use-case for vinyl vs Spotify?

I listen on Spotify when:

• Looking for new music. Discovery Weekly is one of the best services ever created for music lovers.
• I’m mobile. And yes audiophile friends, Spotify Premium on mobile can stream at 320 kbps.
• I want to listen to a mix of singles from different artists and not necessarily a whole album.
• I want to see if an album is worth checking out on vinyl.
• Music is just in the background and I’m doing something else.

I listen on vinyl when:

• I have time to sit down to music.
• I’m willing to listen to a whole album. The inconvenience of vinyl demands you listen to the whole album.
• I want to be immersed in music. This also works when I’m in a particular mood and just want to indulge it with full quality music.
• I want to appreciate the music of artists I love. But I’ll only buy vinyl if the album is mastered well and not created for streaming.
• If you really want to listen with high fidelity. Beautifully pressed vinyl will always trump digital if the record was mastered well.

I use Spotify to easily find new music & artists and continue to expand my musical universe. Then when I find artists/music that I really love, they graduate to the vinyl collection.

I love H.E.R. (Grammy-winning artist!) and I can listen to her whole album on Spotify, but it didn’t make me want to buy the album. The beats were nice, there were several outstanding tracks, most tracks were good, but as a whole, the album was just okay.

In contrast, right after I finished listening to the H.E.R. album, Spotify continued playing music until I was listening to a Bruno Major song. I’ve been finding a lot of his songs in my Discover Weekly in the past few months so I decided to check out his A Song For Every Moon album. Was totally not expecting it, but every song was a smash. After listening to the whole album, I added his vinyl record to my shopping cart.

If you hear music you don’t recognize and you instantly want to Shazam it, it’s a sign that you’re moved by it. Using Discover Weekly and Song Radio on Spotify, I can have music playing in the background and when I come across those songs that really catch my attention, I add them to my monthly playlist. When a whole album is exceptional, when most of the songs demand my attention, then I try to look for the album on vinyl and check if it’s a great pressing.