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Digital file releases in Discogs (part 1)

One category of releaes in Discogs are the "digital releases". Basically: MP3s or other digital formats from stores, iTunes releases, and so on. Call me old fashioned, but personally I don't see these as collectables, as to me they are just files on a computer or music player. But apparently many people disagree with that and collect them.

In Discogs the digital releases have "File" in the format field. This makes it quite easy to recognize. So I wondered: how many of these "file" releases are there and where are they in the data? Is it mostly the newer releases, or are there also many older file releases?

So I looked at everything in the latest data dump and found 917,569 releases that have "File" in the format field, which is about 10% of the releases in Discogs and 40% more than for example cassettes.


Distribution of releases tagged as "File" in the Discogs data set

So only in the very early days there were few "File" releases, but for the rest it has been pretty consistent and even seems to be slightly on the rise. I actually had expected far fewer releases in the beginning and then a sharper increase but it seems that "File" releases have been a first class citizen in Discogs for a lot longer.

It still doesn't change my view on these files and whether or not they are collectable.
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