Santa Maria, CA | Why is vinyl so popular among indie artists? …You might think, given that vinyl records are quite expensive, that only big artists like Fleetwood Mac (who have the most number of records sold today), Beyonce, and Harry Styles are releasing music on vinyl records. Wrong! Even the new indie acts are releasing vinyl records too. One example is Ty Segall, an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and record producer. They keep pressing vinyl records for their releases. In an interview with Fast Company, they said they sell more from vinyl than from CDs. “We sell significantly less CDs than records at shows,” says Emily Epstein, who drums in the band. “Sometimes we’ll only sell one or two CDs a night. Records are still always king in terms of what people want at our merch table.” When asked why they think this is so, they agreed that it’s because of the user experience.
Winchester, VA | It’s yesterday once more as vinyl album sales surge: Celina Loving drove more than an hour from her home in Harrisonburg to check out the music being sold at the Ear Food record store on Weems Lane in Winchester. “I do love The Bee Gees,” Loving said with a smile as she happened upon a copy of the 1980 album “After Dark” by the music-making family’s youngest member, Andy Gibb. The 23-year-old Loving said she inherited a passion for music from her parents, who compiled a major collection of vinyl records before she had even been born. “I grew up going to Rush, REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard concerts with my dad,” Loving said. “My mom brought a love of ’60s music into my life.” Most young adults today buy music on CD or download it from online services like Apple’s iTunes and Google’s Play — assuming, that is, if they buy it at all. Free and subscription-based online music services allow listeners to stream any song they want, any hour of the day or night. …”I’m an old soul,” Loving said about her love of vinyl. “I’m off today and this is what I love to do, so I’m treating myself.”
Waukesha, WI | Lawyer opens Nostalgia Music & More in Waukesha: A lawyer is bringing his favorite nostalgic pastimes to downtown Waukesha, with a buy, sell and trade business featuring video games, records and his favorite niche — vinyl video game soundtracks. Stephen Howitz officially opened the doors to his shop Nostalgia Music and More, 321 W. Main St., on Jan. 5. “I’m actually a lawyer by day,” he said. “When you tell people that you’re a lawyer and you’re going to open a record store, they usually think you’re drunk … I do law in the morning and in the afternoons I’m here. I do it on nights and weekends too.” The business also has two arcade games which are available for the public to play for free, as Howitz said he’s trying to attract people to hang out at the business as well. “It’s a mix of new or used vinyl depending on what you’re looking for,” he said. “(It’s) quality, not quantity … and we specialize in video game vinyl, which is weirder and nerdier.”
Bandcamp Vinyl Pressing Service is Here, and It Works: Vinyl sales on Bandcamp are booming: last year, fans bought 2 million LPs through the site, double the year prior. And for the artists and labels who sell vinyl, it now makes up 50% of their overall revenue. Yet only 12% of the albums with sales on Bandcamp in 2020 offered a vinyl version, leaving a large source of potential artist revenue on the table. The primary reasons for this are that producing vinyl is expensive, and therefore risky, and dealing with fulfillment and returns can be incredibly time consuming. So a few years ago, we started work on a service to make it easy for a whole lot more people to start pressing records. In 2019, we began rolling out the Bandcamp Vinyl Pressing Service to a small group of pilot artists. The service eliminates risk, since your fans’ orders—not you—finance the pressing.
Five Lesser-Known Facts about the CD and its Fall from Popularity: 1979 was a big year in the entertainment industry. Alien, Mad Max, The Amityville Horror, and more well-known films were released, but a bigger breakthrough was also released to the world: The CD. A thin, reflective disc became the most popular and sought-after avenue for playing the best music had to offer. Before the internet and after the beloved record player, CDs would take over the music industry only to begin their decline decades later. Although at one time CDs could be found anywhere music was sold, the music industry has evolved, leaving a barren wasteland of CDs in its wake.
VP Records Matriarch tells her Story, Miss Pat – My Reggae Music Journey: Serving at the counter of any business, one is likely to get first-hand knowledge of that venture. Which is exactly what happened to Patricia Chin, matriarch of the successful VP Records. She tells her story in Miss Pat — My Reggae Music Journey, which is due for release on March 20 by VP Music. It is available on pre-release. Chin started writing the book four years ago, determined to share her 60 years in the music business. That started beside her husband Randy in 1958 when they launched the Randy’s record store and label in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. Overtime, her memoirs became even more personal. “I wanted to leave a legacy for my grandchildren, great-grandchildren and future generations, because in the past our fore-parents didn’t leave anything to show why they came to this little island called Jamaica and how life was tough for them. They didn’t share their history and why left China and India, so I wanted to have as a record for my great-grandkids can see who I am and what I did,” she explained.
Interview: Zev Feldman: Zev Feldman reminds us of how critical it is to be engaged in an industry such as ours. Feldman, 47, is an internationally lauded, independent record producer, and the co-president of Resonance Records in Los Angeles. He is also a consulting producer of archival and historical recordings for Blue Note Records. Earlier in his career, Feldman held sales development, marketing, or licensing positions at PolyGram Group Distribution, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Concord Music Group, among others. As a producer, he has collaborated on projects with such labels as Blue Note, Impulse! Records, Real Gone Music, Elemental Music, Sunset Blvd Records, Real Gone Music, Reel To Real Recordings, and others. Passionately knowledgeable, Feldman is a visionary who has a belief that musical history, and fan engagement matters. And that we, as an industry, need to embrace our shared musical heritage.
