Why I Listen to Vinyl in 2024

I've been an active Spotify user since around 2011. Having seemingly endless access to music felt like a net positive. For the price of a single CD each month, I could explore what felt like all the music in the world. I discovered new artists and rekindled my love for some forgotten favorites.
Being able to access any song at any time was especially great when I was teaching guitar on the road. But over time, something changed in my listening habits. I found myself often playing music while doing something else. It made sense at first—you get older, take on more responsibilities, and don’t always have time to sit and enjoy music alone. This was my justification for a while.

One of my all time favorites: Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park

However, I noticed that I somehow always had time to browse YouTube or scroll through social media. Even when I made a point to listen to an album, I’d open Spotify on my phone, and two songs into the album, it would become background noise to my Instagram feed.

This became more and more obvious as a problem, but I didn’t have a solution—until late 2022. One of my bands, Daughter Chaos, was recording drums for our album Noble Rot at Mark Lewis's studio in Tennessee. One night, after wrapping up for the day, Mark put on a Slayer record he had on vinyl. I was into Slayer when I was younger, but I didn’t listen to them much anymore. Yet when that record played, I found myself really getting into it. The experience wasn’t the same as streaming on my phone. There was so much more detail—it sounded almost like the band was in the room with us.
Shortly after returning home, I found myself rushing out to buy some records. The first three I bought were Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning by Metallica, and Dirt by Alice in Chains.

The experience of listening to these albums on vinyl felt like discovering them for the first time again. One of the main differences was how intentional the experience felt. I wasn’t skipping around or switching albums with the rapid pace streaming services allow. I was completely immersed in the album. With this level of immersion, you start to appreciate the fine details in a recording. Certain songs that you might typically skip over become an essential part of the whole album experience.
Collecting and listening to vinyl has helped me reignite my enjoyment of music over the last couple of years. I've decided that, for me, streaming services won’t be my primary method of listening anymore. While they are useful, I prefer to listen with intent and, not to mention, higher quality.
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I'm curious—how often do you find yourself passively listening to music? Have you ever tried to change that, and, if so, how did you do it and how did it work out? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!