Nevermind the bollocks, here’s the vinyl record industry: The Michael Nelson-penned Stereogum report referenced above may be viewed by some as “just another person belly-aching about the record industry and its mistakes.” However, from my perspective as a record store owner—I operate three Schoolkids Records businesses, in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill—it is all 100% accurate and an honest take on where things stand. (The comments that Stereogum readers posted following the piece are honest, too; they are all spot on.) Regular customers who shop at stores know. This is fluid and serious. Now, more than ever, support your local stores—they need you.
One of the world’s largest boombox collections goes on sale: New Zealander Craig Kenton has put his massive collection of over 400 boomboxes up for auction. Spanning all sizes and brands, bidding for the collection starts at a rather modest $20,000, although Kenton believes it is worth a lot more. “If I just sold the top 20 they would reach $20,000, and I’ve already had interest in some of those,” he said to Stuff.co.nz. “But I would prefer to sell them as a collection.” Collecting for fifteen years, Kenton remembers how he fell in love with the portable stereos when he was a child in the ’80s. “I used to stare goggle-eyed into shop windows wanting them, they were a real statement of ’80s culture.”
The X-ray audio project on communism’s blackmarket bootlegs: In the Soviet Union people used to hide their music in a number of creative ways. One popular way was to cut records on old X-rays sourced from hospital garbage. These rare pressings are commonly referred to as Bones or Ribs. This year’s Krake Festival features a special presentation by Stephen Coates and Aleks Kolkowski who have unearthed a number of these unusual recordings. They will present their findings and even create their own from a performance by Alexander Hacke. We asked Stephen Coates a few questions before the Festival.
Why VHS and Five Other Formats May Live Forever, The final VCRs will ship later this month, but if recent history is any indicator, it doesn’t mean the VHS format will vanish for good: According to Hugh McIntyre at Forbes, vinyl records have been a lone bright spot in the record industry over the last decade. As CD sales have tanked and digital downloads have stagnated, vinyl sales keep going up, increasing by 30 percent in 2015, to about 12 million albums. And its not just a nostalgia trip—while Pink Floyd and The Beatles do appear on the top 10, Adele, Hozier, Taylor Swift and Alabama Shakes also made their mark on vinyl.
