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Why Everyone Is Buying CDs Again

Rhett Shull

155,067 views

Streaming is more convenient than ever, but at what cost? After years of using platforms like Spotify, I realized something had to change. In this video, we dive into the surprising 2026 Luminate mid-year report showing CD sales surging to 16.3 million units, why I'm stepping away from streaming algorithms, and how buying physical media is the absolute best way to support the musicians you love.

We also talk about the massive amount of data streaming platforms collect on us, and my plans to unplug by setting up a home media server using Plex or Jellyfin.

Let me know in the comments: Are you still buying CDs or cassettes? And if you have recommendations for a solid CD player or tips for setting up a Jellyfin/Plex server, educate me down below!

🔗 Links Mentioned:
Forbes Article / Luminate 2026 Report:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradmoon...

https://luminatedata.com/blog/luminat...

🎸 Learn Guitar With Me:
Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced player, I have video courses designed to meet you where you are. Check them out here:

https://rhettshullguitarcourses.com/

🎫 Catch Me On Tour:
I'm hitting the road again in a couple of weeks with The Midnight! We are doing another run of the U.S. and Mexico for the second leg of the Time Machines Tour 2026. Get your tickets here:

https://themidnightofficial.com/#LIVE

⏱️ Chapters:
0:00 - Digging through my old mix tapes & CDs
1:10 - The 2026 Luminate Report: CD Sales are UP!
3:25 - Why I finally canceled my Spotify account
5:50 - The real cost of streaming for touring musicians
7:15 - Data privacy and missing the analog days of 2006
8:30 - Unplugging: Plex, Jellyfin, and home media servers
9:15 - Guitar courses & The Midnight 2026 Tour

20 Comments

@brandonpratt9353 1 month ago

I can’t even tell you the amount of relief I feel knowing that I’m not the only one that feels this way about how the digital/online/social media landscape has changed in the last decade. What used to be exciting and useful feels increasingly more predatory and even sinister.

I’m under no illusion as to whether or not things will ever change back to the way they once were, they simply won’t but focusing on controlling what I can control: where and how I listen to and support the artists I love is something I have full control over and physical media is the way to go!

@Nut-ml5wc 1 month ago

I never stopped buying CDs. Welcome back, man!

@bradenclancy3818 1 month ago

“i want to make space for the artist in my home” very well said and i think many of us relate

@kitoyobeni1 1 month ago

We're in a world where flock cameras are tracking your vehicle's every movement, stores are shifting pricing live, etc etc. Orwell was off by about 40 years. Skynet is live.

@rawpower8669 1 month ago

I collect vinyl, but still have all my CD’s. There something magical about putting a vinyl record on and sitting reading through the jacket.

@addystontuckerray2054 1 month ago

One thing I’ve started to try and do is on the weekends to make a cup of coffee and listen to a record or two on vinyl before i touch my phone. Since then I’ve been obsessed with trying to find a combo CD/Tape player so i can have a vinyl set up and a cd/tape set up so i can get back to listening to music with a purpose, and not just mindless consumption

@Septimius_Band 1 month ago

CDs is how I listened to music growing up, and though I mostly collect vinyls now, I am tempted to get that CD collecting going again

@guitarnerd_luke 1 month ago

I never got rid of my CDs and vinyl and alwys bought the albums to support my favorite bands.

@christianmotos 1 month ago

Another reason why CD's are back is that vinyl is now ridiculously expensive. Now that it's resurging, CD prices will rise again. It also doesn't make sense to go vinyl for analog purity when most recordings were tracked, mixed, mastered digitally.

@valdochez25 1 month ago

I have a friend who owns a record store that also sells CDs, cassette tapes, VHS and more. Physical media still has a appeal and its growing

@johnwyrosdick5817 1 month ago

For a decade, two of my sons gave me guff over my love of CD's. My eldest son was on a couple of streaming services; then he received an entry-level vinyl player for Christmas and thought it would be "cool" to start buying vinyls of his favorite albums; still gave me guff over my CD's. After much discussion and experience, I am proud to say that we have since become a CD family! We always try to buy CD's of new music and we're excited whenever we find ourselves near a good used CD shop. Vinyl is still in the mix for my eldest son, but mainly for collectability. While I love the nostalgia of vinyl, I greatly prefer the sound quality of clean, uncompressed (data compression) digital audio with no pops or scratches. Sound quality and the ideas of ownership and musicians better-benefitting from their art are what helped my kids make the switch.

@kenknolljr1 1 month ago

I just bought a Hi Fi portable CD player, a Fiio DM13 and I absolutely love it!! I bought a few of my favorite teenage CDs and have been listening to them.... it's such a different, and better experience. It's a fantastic CD player and it's bringing me such joy to unplug from Spotify and just sit down and listen to a CD. Not to mention that it's got me going to used record stores and going through their CDs and that has been so much fun and it's getting me off my phone. Im actively unplugging and going backwards, and I think it's a very very important thing to do right now. Love this video. And yeah streaming has gotten totally out of control.

@NIKKITHEKIDD89 1 month ago

My car has a CD player, that I started using again a couple of years ago. It's incredible how we got used to low quality mp3 and compressed music from streaming platforms. The audio of a CD is incredible, is the best way to listen to music, is pure quality.

@JeffSmithbureau13 1 month ago

I have a decent stereo sitting in my living room that I haven't even turned on in at least five years. On a whim I fired it up and played a CD. It really is a different, deeper listening experience. I didn't realize it before, but I've been missing that.

@beatmachine2336 1 month ago (edited)

I set up a home media server a month ago and am now in the process of buying CDs to rip FLAC files and store them. I’m buying some used, some new. But I’m absolutely loving the experience of being intentional about music again. Buying a CD means you have to pay attention to the whole album and form a real opinion on it before you commit with $5-15 of your own money. Crazy how quickly we all got used to streaming and didn’t realize what we lost.

@chantertone 1 month ago

The best thing about going back to CDs is the music system we play them on... proper speaker cones that punch you in the chest, not earphones or tiny phone speakers which don't let us viscerally FEEL the music!

@SkunkBearTK 1 month ago

I never stopped. I had a premonition that just recently came to fruition with the whole Ubisoft fiasco off lining "owned" games that were only available on their servers. I buy the CD, rip it lossless, then archive the physical media.

@TemporallyYours 1 month ago (edited)

I always give a quick look through the CD racks at thrift stores- great way to pick up albums on the cheap, but also definitely agree re: buying bands music direct from them whenever possible!

@tompoynton 1 month ago

Old Mac Minis make great servers

@Bluesyloosy1994 12 days ago

I used my vinyl collection to introduce my now 3 year old to music. He enjoys looking at the sleeves and listening to Abbey Road, Let it Be etc.

I recently bought him CDs from second hand stores and I taught him how to carefully hold the Cds to not smudge them. He is able to put the Cds in the player and press play, it excites him to put music on at home or in the car.. Im not letting him handle the vinyl player yet so CDs are a great introduction.
I find physical media a great way to teach my kids that music has nothing to do with smartphones, spotify etc.

As I found joy in doing this for my son, I started listening more to my CDs and vinyls on my own.
Disconnecting from streaming services does this for me:

- helps me truly value the music I do have. I dont have the entire world catalogue of music like Spotify does.
- makes me more excited to research new music to listen to.
- motivates me to relisten to music. Basically get more joy out of every track.
- makes me listen to full albums instead of a few songs from each artist.
- instead of watching TV shows I now find myself sitting on the couch just listening to music. I put my phone and laptop in another room, its wonderful!

I have a home media server (Jellyfin) already with my music library that I stream from my phone, but now I am taking it a step further and disassociating music from my phone entirely - I ordered a Mp3 player/DAP.