I’ve noticed lately that every Indie music artist seems to release their singles on 7″ vinyl these days. I see full LPs on vinyl too but this appears to be the predominant trend. Can please someone explain this to me? I just don’t get it. Aren’t we living in a digital age and still fighting for the rights of digital music? I understand the nostalgia for vinyl, cassette tapes and 8 Tracks. But if you’re an emerging indie rock band, what is the practicality of having a merch table full of vinyl singles? I never see anyone actually buy them. I don’t own a turntable anymore, do you? And if you are a band that only has two songs, wouldn’t it behoove you to make them available for download online?
Someone, please help me understand.
the OCMD 
Have you read the reports that vinyl sales are growing at a pretty high rate? I feel like there’s a new article every couple weeks. As the most simple explanation, bands are simply following the market.
I don’t see putting out 7″s as something new at all. All through the 80s and 90s, a lot of important tracks came out that way in the indie rock world. The Sub Pop singles club is a good example. The Archers of Loaf’s “Web in Front” 7″ single basically made that band. If you go to a good radio station, you’ll see they have a ton of 7″s–KZSU has maybe 4000 of them.
I buy 7″s and still play them on my turntable. Who knows why vinyl sales in general are going up, but it seems that to both to bands and fans, there’s some cache about making vinyl. They’re collectible. What’s your CD collection look like? Mine’s random pile of CDs tossed there as soon as I ripped them to my computer, never to be looked at again. Except in cases like the Complete Motown Singles box sets, which has amazing packaging and liner notes, very few of my CDs have any value to me once they’re ripped. On the other hand, people, it seems, place some value in the physical media and packaging when it’s on vinyl. A lot of labels are splitting the difference these days, where the 7″ or LP comes with a CD-r or mp3 download code for the songs on the record.
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