I’m tired of this argument. Every few months, someone publishes an article about how streaming is killing vinyl, or how vinyl proves streaming is hollow, and the comments section turns into a tribal war. Both sides are wrong because the premise is wrong. Streaming and vinyl aren’t competitors. They’re different experiences that serve different purposes.

Let me explain why this matters for anyone who cares about music.

How I Actually Use Both

I’m a record store owner who uses Spotify every single day. There, I said it. My audiophile friends can unclench.

Here’s my typical day. I wake up and check Spotify’s new release radar while making coffee. I flag anything interesting. At the shop, I play vinyl all day — whatever the mood calls for, whatever I’m trying to sell, whatever a customer wants to hear. In the evening at home, I might stream a playlist while cooking, then put an album on the turntable after dinner when I can actually sit down and listen.

Streaming is for discovery and convenience. Vinyl is for intentional listening and ownership. They do different things, and I get value from both.

The Discovery Pipeline

Here’s what streaming has done for my business: it’s turned casual listeners into buyers. Someone hears an artist on a playlist, falls in love, and comes into the shop wanting the physical version. That journey happens in my store every single week.

Before streaming, music discovery was harder. You had to listen to community radio, read magazines, get recommendations from friends, or dig through shops blind. All of which I still love and recommend. But streaming has democratised discovery in a way that genuinely benefits physical music sales.

The data supports this. In markets where streaming is dominant, vinyl sales have been strongest. The UK, US, and Australia all saw vinyl growth coincide with streaming maturity. Correlation isn’t causation, but the relationship is undeniable.

What Vinyl Offers That Streaming Doesn’t

Let’s be honest about what vinyl does better.

The listening experience. Putting on a record is a deliberate act. You choose the album, handle the physical object, drop the needle, and commit to listening. There’s no skipping, no shuffling, no algorithm deciding what comes next. That commitment changes how you hear music.

Sound character. I’m not going to claim vinyl is objectively “better sounding” than high-resolution digital. That argument is more complicated than either side admits. But vinyl has a character — warmth, presence, the subtle organic quality of analogue playback — that many listeners prefer. It’s a subjective preference, and that’s fine.

Ownership. When you buy a record, you own it. No one can remove it from your library. No licensing deal can make it disappear overnight. In an age of subscription-based everything, owning your music feels increasingly radical.

The physical object. Album artwork at 12 inches is magnificent. Liner notes you can actually read. Gatefold sleeves you can explore. Records are objects that exist in your space and become part of your life in ways digital files never will.

What Streaming Offers That Vinyl Doesn’t

And let’s be honest about the reverse.

Access. Spotify has over 100 million tracks. My shop has maybe 8,000 records in stock. If you want to hear an obscure Zambian psych-funk album from 1975, streaming has you covered in thirty seconds. That breadth is extraordinary.

Convenience. I can listen to music while running, driving, cooking, or working. Vinyl requires a turntable, a room, and attention. There are many moments in life where streaming is simply the practical choice.

Cost. At $13 a month for Spotify Premium, the per-listen cost of streaming is essentially zero. Vinyl is a premium experience, and not everyone can or should spend $40-50 per album.

Discovery tools. The algorithms aren’t perfect, but they surface things I’d never find on my own. Release Radar has introduced me to artists who now sell in my shop. That’s genuinely valuable.

The Both/And Approach

The people I know who get the most from music are the ones who use both formats without apology. They stream broadly and buy selectively. They discover on Spotify and commit on vinyl. They build collections of albums they truly love while maintaining access to everything else.

That’s what I recommend to anyone who asks. Stream everything. Buy what matters. And don’t let anyone make you feel like you have to choose a side.

The music is what matters. The format is just how you get there.