> Most music today is digitally recorded, digitally mixed, and digitally mastered. It's at the end they distribute it on vinyl and sell it for a fortune. They're literally fleecing people.
Most vinyl record buyers buy records as a collectable to show that they like a certain album, not because they're deluded audiophiles who are trying to eliminate everything digital from their audio path. Half of all record buyers don't even own a record player: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/50-of-vinyl-buyers-do... . When you look at it from that lens, I think it makes sense that records are so popular. They're the largest music format so you get the biggest version of the album art and the most extensive set of liner notes compared to buying a CD or something. Audio quality or "analogness" doesn't matter, since they're probably going to be listening to the album on Spotify instead anyway.
I buy vinyl because I like the tangibleness if the medium. Seeing the tracks on the record, the liner notes, lyric sheets, photos, etc. It's great when the artist really embraces the format and goes all out. My player is a low end unit with built in speakers, but my youngest can listen to his records easily. We go to a local record store once a month and walk out with random records, some new some used.