Corrupted Vinyls: Artists who advertise “bonus songs” exclusively on vinyls are taking advantage of their fanbase

As much as I would love to be the type of person who goes home after school and picks a vinyl from their collection to pop onto their vintage record player, my bank account simply won’t let me. 

Collecting vinyls from your favorite artist can be an expensive hobby as new ones can cost about $40. With the cost of the record player, the actual vinyls and proper display, storage and preservation materials, you’re out hundreds of dollars before you even have a chance to listen to a single song. 

And with popular artists like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo hopping on the trend of releasing exclusive tracks only on records, it seems that record collecting has become everyone’s new favorite hobby. 

Fans now have to spend hundreds of dollars just to listen to one extra song from their favorite artist while the already successful musicians receive even more money. It feels wrong for artists worth millions to entice their loyal fans into buying whole new records just to listen to an extra song that they refuse to release on streaming platforms.

While I understand the appeal of the exclusivity that comes with these bonus tracks and admire the hustle from these artists, I feel that they are manipulating fans with these tracks. 

I would absolutely love to be able to afford every color of the “Midnights” vinyl and listen to all four bonus tracks on the limited-edition “GUTS” record, but I simply can’t afford each $40 piece of plastic. And neither can lots of other fans. 

Artists should be prioritizing the accessibility of their art and their loyal fanbase, not the extra money they can be making off of selling bonus songs.

So while I love Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo and would jam out to a bonus track any day, I won’t be purchasing each “Target Exclusive ” or limited-edition vinyl.