Music has been more accessible than it has been for the last several decades, especially with Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music. Of course it was not always like this, because there used to be a couple other ways for people to listen to their music. 

Most artists from big to small stream their music on one of several streaming platforms. However, just like the artists of the 50’s and 60’s, modern musicians are still using vinyls as a source of physical releases. Hardcore band Knocked Loose released several vinyl variants for their last album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. Even going so far as in a deal with Target to release a special variant exclusive to the store. Rapper and singer Childish Gambino released a vinyl for his last record Bando and The Stone World. His 2013 record Because The Internet, which landed number seven on Billboard 200 at the time, also had an exclusive Walmart variant for the vinyl. 

Both artists big and small are current living proof of how vinyls are still around. But joining vinyls, CDs are still present too.

Not only does Childish Gambino’s website have its own section for vinyls, but there is a section designated to CDs. Going to modern shows you can see them on display tables, usually able to find the artist’s latest and previous LPs on CD. Some artists, like Trivium, released box sets for their upcoming albums. These box sets can include a shirt and depending on the set you bought, they can come with a vinyl or the band’s CD.

In stores like Target they have a dedicated section to vinyls, ranging from Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, or Taylor Swift’s 1989. Target and many stores alike use this space to share with CDs, where you can find just about the same records, in their siblings’ more compact and easily traversal form. Even spots in the Altamonte Mall like Fye, have areas solely dedicated to displaying and selling both vinyls and CDs. 

While we can still enjoy these physical outlets to listen and try to support some of our favorite artists, we also have access to another dying form of physical music, in the selling of cassettes. 

Record Labels like Fearless records and the artists they have serving contracts with, sell cassettes along with vinyls and CDs in their store, from bands of old like Underoath whose first record came out 1999, and their latest record that came out 2022, along with newer bands like Movements whose latest record from 2023, came out swinging for all three physical forms to be enjoyed.  Even bands like Ice Nine Kills who transitioned from a ska band into a modern metal band, sold cassettes and vinyls in different variants for their last LP.

Whether it be for their novelty and a way of being retro or hip, collecting them for maybe a more personal reason someone might have, or you really want to support your favorite artist, it is safe to say that the physical ownership of music is still alive today.