Cresson, PA | Vinyl Record Collecting: What’s the Point? Never did the older generations believe that someday music could be stored and listened to on a pocket-sized phone. Thousands of songs, hundreds of albums, and a multitude of playlists, all at the touch of a screen. This is normalcy for people growing up in the digital age. With such convenience at hand, why bother with antiquated analog technology? At the end of the day, collecting records is fun, and it’s a fulfilling way of representing your love for music. The entirety of collecting a physical format of music is a process, an opportunity to get more out of your passion for music. From of course finding and purchasing records, to organizing and maintaining them. Not to forget the simplicity of placing the vinyl on the turntable, dropping the needle, and hearing the joys of your success in completing that process. Regardless of your musical tastes, it has something to share with you, something to tell you.
Croydon, UK | The new Croydon record shop on a tiny backstreet where vinyl is sold for as little as £2: Lisa Docherty feels she has to prove she knows what she’s talking about because many expect a man to be behind the counter. Ten Pin Records is a newly-opened, female-owned record shop on a quiet parade on the edge of Croydon which is already getting rave reviews from students jumping off the school bus to take a look inside and older customers who love to buy in person rather than online. Having run a business selling vinyl online for 15 years, owner Lisa Docherty, 49, is excited about turning her dream into a reality. She acknowledges that opening a bricks-and-mortar shop at a time when many high street staples are closing seems like a big risk. However, she found the shopfront, located on a quiet Purley parade near Reedham station, while searching for a warehouse and it all just “fell into place.”
Hazard, KY | EKY record store owners discuss resurgence in vinyl record industry: Over the last several years, old trends have found a way to resurge. One form of nostalgia that is making a comeback is collecting vinyl records. As a result, several record stores have popped up across the nation and in our region. Mary Everidge co-owns Queen City Records in Hazard. Everidge said she believes this surge in the record industry could be attributed to a few things. “We sell a lot of like metal, and soundtracks, so I think a lot of the movies are coming back out because people can go and watch things in theaters now,” said Everidge. Queen City joins a handful of record shops across the region, like Sisyphus Records in Whitesburg, owned by Lacy Hale and her husband. “A lot of punk bands released vinyl, that’s just what they did,” said Hale. “So, in 2000, 2001, [my husband] had a record distro anyway, and there was a pretty cool little punk scene in the area.”
IA | Iowa’s record stores remain community hubs, weathering ups and downs in the vinyl market: For the music industry, 2021 was definitely a memorable year. With concerts and live entertainment essentially on ice for much of the year, consumers pivoted, directing their expendable income to physical products instead, resulting in a landmark year for record stores. Variety reported in March that 2021 marked the first year since 1996 that both “CDs and vinyl records experienced revenue growth in the same year.” This boom saw vinyl records breaking through the $1 billion revenue threshold for the first time since 1986—an extension of the format’s resurgence, which has seen revenues grow for 15 consecutive years. That trend has started to slow a bit in 2022, however. “People aren’t hiding [from the pandemic] in their basement with their turntable anymore,” said Dennis Hite of NewBo Vinyl Emporium in Cedar Rapids. Discretionary income is again being spread across other outlets as society regains its equilibrium, and wallets have become tighter due to broader economic trends.
Venice, FL | Salty Dog Records opens Venice location: After finding success in Sarasota, Salty Dog Records is now bringing vinyls, CDs, and pop culture memorabilia to Venice. “The business grew so much so we knew we needed a new location,” said Terri Ainger with Salty Dog Records in Venice. The Venice location, at 234 South Tamiami Trail, opened its doors in mid-September right before the hurricane. Despite the storm coming through, the store fared well and is open for customers seven days a week. “There’s nothing like this of its kind,” Ainger said about a record store in Venice. Salty Dog Records Venice specializes in both new and pre-played vinyls, CDs, and other music or movie related items. “Anything cool,” Ainger said. Before coming to the area, Owner Bill Klippel originally began with Green Tangerine Records, which is still open near Northern Illinois University. “That’s where it all started…”
Woodland, CA | Armadillo Music offers unique Davis experience. Focus on Davis: The shop’s in-store bar – The Bootleg – reopened last year. With vinyl record sales skyrocketing in recent years, stores like Davis’ Armadillo Music – located at 207 F St. – have attempted to capitalize on the moment by making their business more inviting to a younger generation while sticking to what has made them special for nearly three decades. The music shop celebrated its 26th anniversary this month, highlighting its continued ability to shift through the ever-changing music industry while maintaining a loyal customer base. Matthew Schneider, a regular customer and current DJ for Davis’ KDVS – a student-run community radio station, said Armadillo is a great place to get used records and collections that are difficult to find anywhere else. “So even with the rise of the internet…you can still find kind of extraordinary treasures…”
Lincolnshire, UK | Album artwork through the ages not to be missed at Lincolnshire museum: Best Art Vinyl: Album Artwork Through the Ages. The Collection Museum, Lincoln, until January 22. The exhibition celebrates the creativity and ingenuity behind the design of iconic vinyl album covers from 1949 to 2021. Explore the history and inspiration behind instantly recognisable covers such as Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures and The Beatles’ White Album, among many other classics. The exhibition will also include a juke box installation where visitors can listen to their favourite tracks from previous decades. At The Collection Museum, visitors will also get the chance to see items from Lincolnshire’s sometimes surprising musical past. Laura Garner from The Collection Museum said: “Album artwork enhances our enjoyment of music in its own unique way, and this exhibition is a real celebration of that artistry.”
Robert Beatty Is Your Favorite Artist’s Favorite Album Designer: His psychedelic visions appear on album covers for everyone from Tame Impala to U.S. Girls to the Weeknd. Robert Beatty is sure that at least one of his works will outlive him. His image of a silver, red-tailed orb dipping into a trippy sea of stripes graces the cover of Tame Impala’s Currents, a 2015 breakthrough for Kevin Parker and the Lexington, Kentucky-based visual artist alike. “People send me memes of that every single day; it’s never gonna stop,” Beatty says. Indeed, creative remixes of the cover abound on the internet, with Beatty’s rippling lines meeting Danny DeVito, Happy Gilmore, the Pope, and Chandler Bing. Beatty has worked with cutting-edge experimentalists and pop superstars over the last decade-plus. He designed the covers of Kesha’s Rainbow, Mdou Moctar’s Afrique Victime, William Tyler’s Goes West, and many other albums, plus scores of show posters. He’s also done video work for Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser, and illustrations for The New Yorker and The New York Times.
Beijing, CN | Nugget Celebrates Lofi Analog Sounds This Weekend With Cassette Store Day 2022: It’s the time of year for a bit of cheer, cozying up from the cold with the lofi joy that comes from cassettes – that’s right, Cassette Store Day is right around the corner, and it’s happening all weekend long at nugget. This annual celebration of tunes in analog is officially celebrated from Oct 9-15, but, due to Covid-related stuff here in Beijing, our own celebrations had to be postponed to this month. That being said, this holiest of holidays for cassette lovers is finally happening in the capital! Celebrations kick off on Friday night, with the first of the Cassette Day concerts – starting off with lost memory machine, an indie pop duo that’s a musical project of nugget co-owner Dave Carey, as well as nugget record’s first ever cassette release, way back in 2019 before the hutong space had opened yet. This act will be followed closely by the techno beats of looooooooongish cat, and the folk and bossa nova of Hazel Shang. The next night’s concert has a more rock-forward lineup – punk rockers Sincerely Yours, Sergei, shoegazers The Claptraps, and Carey’s latest project, gilded forest.
