Photo // Rafael Tortolero
PHYSICAL MEDIA IS RESURGING. In 2023, vinyl records accounted for 8% of U.S music revenue.
By: Rafael Tortolero & Cienna King
Photographers and Staff-Writers
In recent years, there has been an increase in the consumption of physical media. A lot of people have turned to physical media to fight the drawbacks of streaming, like content jumping from one platform to another due to licensing issues. There has been a resurgence especially of vinyl, CDs and DVDs, but more media, like cassettes and VHS, are also regaining popularity.
There are multiple reasons why someone would prefer to consume media this way. When it comes to music, fans of physical media often mention the sound quality or the overall feeling of being able to touch and display your music. Additionally, streaming services are not totally reliable – one day your favorite song might simply be unavailable.
Listening to music through physical media might even have a benefit for artists. Spotify pays artists between $0.003 and $0.004 per stream, while for vinyl or a CD sale, they could get anywhere from 10-25% of the revenue.
Another reason why physical media has resurfaced is because it creates a connection with the music and strengthens local music cultures. Orbit Music has been in South Bend since 1989, owned by Doug Zimmerman, and it is one of the only record stores in the area.
“It’s kind of neat to be able to own your music and hold it in your hands,” Zimmerman said when asked about why physical media is resurfacing.
Unfortunately, due to the decline in the use of physical media, many new enthusiasts don’t know how to preserve their music, especially vinyl records.
“Buy the nicest turntable you can afford, because the cheaper turntables really take their toll on vinyl,” Zimmerman recommended. Suitcase record players tend to wear your records faster due to the lack of a counterweight, which does not allow you to control the tracking force of your needle, therefore giving you a lower sound quality, damaging your record and even causing skipping.
DVDs and Blu-ray discs have also regained popularity in recent years. Like vinyls and CDs, these discs provide the most fidelity to the creator’s vision.
“A lot of streaming services will just alter things, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Zach Gates, a freshman at IU South Bend and passionate DVD and BluRay collector.
One well-known example of this is in “Back To The Future: Part II” on Netflix, where the streaming platform removed a scene with profanity.
Like many physical media users, Gates said discs offer a consistency that internet media cannot.
“When you’re streaming, the quality is less consistent because it’s based on your internet connection,” Gates said.
Some versions of DVDs also come with special bonuses, like extra scenes, a director’s cut, behind the scenes footage or even unique packaging like a slipcover or a steelbook. Sometimes they also have artbooks worked on by different artists in collaboration with the director.
For example, the collector’s edition for “The Lighthouse” includes a documentary, a commentary, a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and a book containing storyboard excerpts, drawings and photos from the behind the scenes.
Video games have also been a very popular form of physical media for a long time. The world’s first video game console was called the Magnavox Odyssey and was released in 1967. Since then, there have been numerous other consoles, from the Atari to the Super Nintendo to the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2. Some consoles, along with their respective cartridges and discs, have become collectors items, with some like the Super Nintendo’s Earthbound selling for over $2,000.
Consoles have recently begun to indulge more on the digital side, with games being released physically and digitally simultaneously, and some strictly digital-only. This started happening in the late 90s and early 2000s with the introduction of online shops on consoles like the Wii, Xbox, 3Ds and others. As of 2023, the Nintendo eShop has shut down on both the 3Ds and WiiU, but it is still available on the Switch. In 2018, it was recorded that a whopping 83% of video games sold were purchased digitally. There was also a 30% decline in games released physically from 2018 to 2021.
Sony also recently released the Playstation 5 Digital Edition, which only allows users to download digital games and doesn’t include a disc drive.
This isn’t anything new to PC gamers, however. Steam has been around since 2003, and has allowed people to purchase games directly from the platform. People are concerned, though, that they don’t actually own the game, and that it could be deleted from their Steam library at any moment. This fear plagues many digital media platforms, so it’s no surprise that the same concerns exist in the gaming community.
Books have also been a big part of physical media, and although they haven’t quite gone out of style there have been different forms of consumption. E-book readers, like the Amazon Kindle, have become more popular recently.
“If you have that item in front of you, the book, the CD or vinyl, you can really pay attention to it and spend some time with it,” said Scott Shoger, a librarian and archivist from the Schurz Library. One of the purposes of the library is to preserve media, like original DVDs or copies of books.
While digital media will likely continue to dominate most entertainment spaces, you aren’t alone if you prefer to have your music collection on a shelf rather than on a screen. Even if you are a digital media lover, trying out physical media can open doors into your local community, from game stores to independent bookstores to record shops.
Cienna’s opinion: I really enjoy physical media. I collect things like CDs, vinyl records and video games. I feel like with digital media, you’re missing out on the true experience of the media. I love being able to open new CDs and flip through the little booklets they come with, and I especially love it when they come with little surprise posters. You don’t really get that with digital media – you don’t get the full experience. I have so many memories that are connected to certain physical media, and it’s fun to look through them all and reminisce. While I do often use streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, I much prefer putting a new CD into my car or picking out my favorite movie/video game from my shelves. I think physical media is a very important part of our culture and society.
Rafael’s opinion: I’ve been collecting records for a while and just recently started getting into CDs as well. Personally, the reason I’ve connected the most with these types of media is because I’ve noticed sort of a media overload over time, especially with streaming services. I can open up Apple Music and have access to millions of songs, but it does not feel as real as holding a record or CD in my hands. Even though the process tends to be less convenient, I feel like we have to embrace it. In times where we have some of the world’s smartest devices in our pockets and have access to whatever information we want in just a couple seconds, we must allow ourselves to enjoy these tiny rituals away from screens and connect with what truly matters, like sharing the experience with friends or family or simply forming that deeper connection with an album or artist.