With some artists citing production deadlines, manufacturing costs and the physical limitations of vinyl for missing tracks or unfinished recordings, Dr Matt Grimes, course co-director of the BA(Hons) Music Business course and Senior Lecturer in Music Industries and Radio at BCU, believes the music industry must do more to manage fans' expectations.
Dr Grimes said: “The problem arises when fans pre-order an album with an understanding of what to expect and then suddenly receive an album containing perhaps half-finished songs, demo versions or different versions of songs from the digital version.
“It’s not a great way of retaining and building fans for an artist to release half-finished songs. At that point, they should take more responsibility and perhaps withdraw the song altogether.
“Artists have a responsibility to notify fans about what they’ll receive to allow them to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to pre-order and buy the record.”
Despite concerns, the ‘vinyl revival’ is showing no signs of slowing down. According to data from the BPI, sales of vinyl LPs increased for an 18th consecutive year in 2025 with physical formats continuing to play a major role in determining the charts.
“I don’t think these problems will stop people buying vinyl, but it might hopefully push artists and labels to be more transparent about releases and content,” said Dr Grimes.
“I don’t believe it’s vitally important that vinyl and digital versions of an album are the same, if people are aware of the differences. If artists treat fans with honesty and transparency, they won’t feel cheated.
“An artist should perhaps put the best version of their music onto vinyl. If they then want to do something different with their music in the digital realm, that’s fine!”
