Author Archives: TVD HQ

Australia to get first modern vinyl pressing plant in 30 years: Program Records is set to open in Melbourne in 2018 and will come fully equipped with WarmTone presses, with makers Viryl Technologies claiming them to be the fastest pressing time in the world. The Canadian company says its fully automated machines can press a record in just 30 seconds. The factory will initially be offering 12-inch pressed at 140 and 180 grams and plan to offer 7-inch and 10-inch pressing in 2019. Custom colour options will also be available. Founder Steve Lynch says: “Program Records will focus on supporting the local music scene backed by a data driven and highly efficient production facility. Australia has a great music scene that deserves to have affordable, good quality vinyl made here on time.”

Electric Fetus’ Bob Fuchs on the vinyl revival: Start being sorry you gave away all your vinyl records (if you ever had any), or didn’t want your parents’ or grandparents’ collection, or don’t have a turntable. Vinyl is back. In fact, vinyl records are so popular that Sony, the biggest of the Big Three record labels, recently announced that it will start pressing them again, as soon as March 2018, in a new factory near Tokyo. The last time Sony made a vinyl record was 1989. Bob Fuchs knows more about the music business locally than anyone. The general manager of the Electric Fetus, a longtime Minnesota mainstay, he has seen it all firsthand in his 30 years there (he started in the record department in December 1987).

Yesterday & Today: Early DC punks shopped, worked at record store: Almost 40 years ago, the door opened to an unassuming record store in a strip shopping center in Rockville and became a rallying point for music fans and members of D.C.’s fledgling punk and alternative scenes. In September 1977, Skip Groff opened the Yesterday & Today record shop at 1327 Rockville Pike. “The rent was remarkably cheap for what I considered to be a prime location,” said Groff, sitting in his living room in Montgomery County. “When I started in 1977 it was $450 a month.” As the punk music scene began to percolate, Groff, who had served stints as a disc jockey at WINX and WAVA, and had worked in the record industry doing promotions for RCA, opened his independent store. This was the year that bands including The Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads released American singles, which Groff couldn’t sell.

The Smiths announce deluxe The Queen is Dead vinyl box set with unreleased recordings: The Smiths are releasing a deluxe version of their 1986 album The Queen is Dead on 20 October 2017. The vinyl set includes the first take of ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’, along with demos and b-sides taken from their third studio album. The news comes over a month after the band teased a possible reissue of the album on social media. Hopefully this release will go more smoothly than their ‘The Queen is Dead’ single reissue earlier this year, which drew the ire of Morrissey after HMV implemented a ‘limited to one per customer’ policy.

Nightmares of an Erstwhile Record Store Manager: I have a recurring nightmare. It isn’t always the same, but it always involves a last-minute, present-day reopening of Hollywood Records and Tapes, the record store I managed decades ago. Until one day when it was abruptly shuttered by the building owners following a bank foreclosure. In my dream, I’m freaking out — rushing around, un-boxing 8-tracks, installing LP racks, and trying to remember how to fill out an Ennis form. Because customers are coming any minute now and we’ve been closed for 32 years! Ancient history. But memories of losing “my” music shop came flooding back when I heard that the Roosevelt Row home of Revolver Records is for sale. Wide awake, that news brought a flood of my own long-ago panic when one day my record store was no longer there.

Long time book and record store closing it’s doors in Santa Cruz: After a 48 year run, it is time for John Livingston to say goodbye to Logos Books and Records Store, a staple of downtown Santa Cruz. Livingston founded Logos Books and Records at the age of 22 on Pacific Avenue and over the years, he’s seen his fair share of ups and downs. But recently it’s just been too tough to make ends meet. “This economic environment is difficult to sell a business like this,” added Livingston. A business that buys and sells used books and records, ultimately becoming a hub for downtown Santa Cruz. But currently, Livingston added he’s seen how streaming books and music online has completely changed the industry.

Longtime Rochester alternative music shop closing after 29 years: Alternative music fans are browsing the collection at Lakeshore Record Exchange on Park Avenue for the last time. The longtime Rochester alternative music store is closing next month after decades in business. Owner Andrew Chinnici says the European and American records and CDs he sells aren’t that hard to find anymore because most people buy their music online. “In a way, you could say that it’s good because more people listen to more music now than they ever have before.” he said. “It’s just the way in which they get it is different. And that’s the thing that sort of means that a place like this doesn’t really have a reason for being.”

Restaurant owner to open record store downtown in historic building: The owner of a popular Cincinnati restaurant is going into the music business, the Enquirer reports. Elias Leisring, owner of Eli’s BBQ, is preparing to open Herzog Music, a record store and music shop in the famed historic building where Hank Williams and other pioneering country, R&B and blues musicians recorded some of their earliest music. An opening event for the store at 811 Race St., across the street from the Phoenix reception venue, is planned July 22-23 “We’re going to have live music, bands and just a full weekend of celebrating Cincinnati’s music history,” said Andrew Aragon, who will be the store manager.

Soaring vinyl sales help put Golden Discs back in black: Record store chain Golden Discs is back in the black after the group posted a profit of €172,878 for financial year-end 2016, according to a statement from the group. Turnover for period-end December 2016 was €17.9m, driven in part by new store openings and a significant growth in sales of vinyl records. Store openings included one in Dundrum Town Centre and a pop-up store on Dublin’s Henry Street for the busy Christmas trading period. Sales of vinyl were up more than 100pc on the previous year, it said. “Vinyl sales are at a 25-year high and are continuing to grow,” said Golden Disc Group CEO Stephen Fitzgerald. “Its renaissance proves the desire to own music in the physical format remains strong,” he added.

Consumer Watch: Vinyl revival hits Oklahoma City: Everything that is old is new again and that also applies to the vinyl record industry. There is a nationwide vinyl revival, and it is a new opportunity for music lovers and local businesses in the Oklahoma City metro. John Dunning has always loved music. He once made his living in the antique business, but when he came upon a massive record collection, it was time to make his passion, the new way he made a living. “You’ve got these records that are actual art, and artifact, and a piece of history. Plus, they sound better, and people just get in it,” says Dunning…This means the potential for business growth, and Trolley Stop Record Shop recently bought a new space that once housed the old Penn Theater, and will likely keep the six-year old first location open as well.

Cosmic Vinyl: For the Record: Among the promo posters, thousands of LP’s and 45 RPM’s was a record lathe. Blank vinyl records can be placed on the lathe and in real time, new recordings are cut permanently into the wax. Tony Oriza is a gifted multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer who performs indie bands ranging from metal to shoegaze. He’s also largely responsible for pressing the albums. The master recording is played, and in the time it takes for a song to play from start to finish, a new vinyl is cut. “Orders typically run between one or 50,” said Oriza. (For the one-off pressings.) “We get people transferring old recordings they did years ago or even wedding proposals.”

Watch A Single Life: An Oscar-Nominated Short About How Vinyl Records Can Take Us Magically Through Time: In 2015, the Dutch animation studio Job, Joris & Marieke, got an Oscar nomination for this delightful animated short, “A Single Life.” It’s a two minute tale about how music–particularly vinyl records–can transport us to magical places. And we mean really magical places. Seeing that we don’t believe in spoilers, we’re not going to say anything more–other than “A Single Life” has been screened at more than 200 festivals and received more than 40 awards. And, what’s more, it will be added to our collection of Animated Films, a subset of our collection 1,150 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.

Vinyl records ‘more popular than ever’: Andrew Montgomery knows all too well about revolving trends. The owner of Leederville’s Urban Records says the resurgence of vinyl records is continuing to build, as young people are drawn to their tactile appeal. Mr Montgomery has run the Oxford Street store for 16 years and said the vintage music medium is now more popular than ever. “In the last five years it has steadily picked up,” he said. “Everything is being released on vinyl now, and there is a generation who did not even buy CDs but are buying vinyl.” Mr Montgomery said his CD sales make up about 20 per cent of his album sales where vinyl records were 80 per cent.

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Lakeshore Record Exchange on Park Ave. to close next month: In a Facebook post, the president of Lakeshore Record Exchange says the store will close next month. In the post, Andrew Chinnici writes “We’ve had the great fortune of having a supportive customer base which made it possible for us to focus on the niche genre of Alternative Music for so many years. The dedication to this genre meant we focused on stocking records and CDs from Europe and America that were difficult to find in other stores. Time and technology have changed the accessibility of these types of records and CDs.” Because of that and changes to the way people listen to music, Chinnici says the store will close near the end of August.

Dover’s Spun Records to close next month: After six years and three locations, Spun Records of Dover will close its doors. Mark Matarozzo, owner of the Grove Street shop, said he plans to close early next month, though a date is not yet certain. Matarozzo announced the news on Facebook last Thursday, and while this year has been slower in record sales, a closing sale helped spur activity. “I did more in the last three days than I have in a month,” he said on Monday.

Streaming’s Share of UK Music Business Still Rising, Streams boost combined album sales by 11.6% in H1 2017: Sales of physical formats were mixed compared with 2016’s first half. CD album sales fell 6.4%. But sales of vinyl albums rose 32.2%, and sales of vinyl singles jumped 60.2%—albeit from relatively low levels—due largely to reissues of classic records and limited-edition releases by new artists, according to the Official Charts Company. The UK’s figures are roughly in line with the US, where physical and digital album sales (excluding streaming) fell 18.3% in 2017’s first half, according to a Nielsen. But boosted by a 36.4% increase in streams, overall album sales increased 8.1% for the period.

Discog’s Crate Diggers announce new international record fairs: Crate Diggers are hosting six free record fair days around the world, including their first events in London, Tokyo and Amsterdam. Launched in 2014 by Discogs and Grimy Edits, the Crate Diggers events feature a record fair by day with local DJs providing the tunes, followed by an after party by night. Both new and used vinyl is on-sale. With past instalments including sets from Theo Parrish, Marcellus Pittman, Doc Martin, Danny Krivit and Dam Funk, the inaugural London, Amsterdam and Tokyo editions are sure to host some formidable selectors.

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Lisbon record store Twice.Discos closes: The store’s former building, located in Lisbon’s historical Principe Real area, was recently sold, and its new owners have their own plans for the space. Founded in 2013, Twice.Discos stocked a range of music, from rock and new wave through to jazz and house and techno, and was among the city’s best-loved stores. Organisers will still be active on Discogs, which means that, until they find a new space, customers can purchase much of their stock online.

Arkansas record shop faces end of 4-decade run, Retiring owner has yet to find buyer: Pat Strachota’s office is unnavigable…Strachota, 67, swivels in a ripped office chair strategically placed in front of a barely visible sliver of glass — mostly blocked by more magazines, more vinyl and more paper. The window offers a view of the showroom of The Record Rack, an eclectic Pine Bluff icon that Strachota has owned for more than 40 years. It’s an icon set to close in the coming months unless the right buyer comes along in time. After four decades dedicated to the store on every day of the week except Sunday, Strachota is ready to retire.

Record Resurgence: …The average age for record buyers at Groamy’s is 20. It’s clear that millennials are just now discovering the format. “So these kids want to discover Cream. They want to discover King Crimson. They want to discover some of these obscure 60’s, 70’s, 80’s classic rock bands. That’s what a lot of them are buying, not even classic rock even some Top 40 stuff. I have to realize I’m old when a kid comes in and buys a Billy Joel record, I’m thinking how can you not have this already….Oh because you weren’t alive,” said Groamy.

Record Den in Mentor sees that vinyl is still vital: …These days, at Record Den and independently owned businesses like it across the country, brisk sales of new and used LPs provide daily affirmation that reports of the death of vinyl albums were more than a little premature. While there still is plenty of shelf space devoted to CDs at Record Den, vinyl albums are again moving the needle on Beaumont’s bottom line. “Vinyl accounts for about 40 percent of our sales,” Beaumont said. “This is a business. We go where the sales are.” Prices for new albums at Record Den are in the $25 to $30 range. Used albums sell for as little as 99 cents and generally are in the $4 to $5 range.

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