In rotation: 3/13/23

US | Vinyl Hits Major Sales Achievement For First Time In More Than 30 Years: It’s official: vinyl has outsold CDs in the US for the first time since 1987, according to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Music consumers bought more than 41 million vinyl units in 2022 compared to 33 million CDs, which is up 3% from 40 million units in 2021. CD sales were also down a whopping 28% from 47 million. Interestingly enough, pop ruled the vinyl landscape. Taylor Swift led the pack, selling an impressive 945,000 copies of Midnights, followed by Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (480,000), Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR (263,000), Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city (254,000), and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (243,000). Though records may be the preferred physical method for fans to listen to music these days, streaming still reigns supreme. As the reports shows, streaming accounted for 84% of the music industry’s $15.9 billion overall revenue.

UK | UK recorded music revenues rise for an eighth successive year in 2022: The BPI, the representative voice for independent labels and major record companies across the UK, today reports that UK recorded music revenue1 rose by 4.7% year-on-year to reach £1.32 billion for the full-year 2022. This figure, which also includes revenues from synchronisation (sync) and public performance2, represents an eighth consecutive year of growth and is up by 36% on the £968.6 million reported in 2017. This is the highest nominal annual amount on record, though, when adjusted for inflation, the figure falls hundreds of millions of pounds below the total reported in 20063 – the first year which includes sync and public performance. Growth in 2022 was again fuelled by climbing streaming revenues, which rose 6.3% year-on-year to £885 million and which now account for 67.2% of industry revenue – up from 66.2% in 2021. The rate of streaming growth and record label investment in A&R and marketing is enabling a great many more artists to succeed through music.

Boston, MA | Record Store Opens on Joy Street: The opening of Music Research Library at 42 Joy St. on March 1 apparently marked the return of a record store to Beacon Hill for the first time in more than 40 years, but the store itself had been operating in Providence, R.I., for around six and a half years prior to their move to Boston. The store buys, sells, and trades “mostly vinyl,” along with a small selection of cassette tapes, with a focus on jazz and hip hop, said Zachary Warf, who owns and operates Music Research Library together with his business partner, Vasili Kochura. “We love jazz, and we love hip hop,” said Warf. “We love a lot of music from all over the world.” Warf and Vasili have traveled “all over Europe,” including to Italy, France, and Spain, and also visited Japan in search of the eclectic selection of music found at Music Research Library. The store also buys records, with an emphasis on jazz and hip hop. As for the store’s name, Warf said it seemed like somewhat of an obvious choice. “We’re doing music research every day. It’s kind of our job.”

Los Angeles, CA | A window into LA’s budding scene for Latin vinyl records: In an age that’s seen the rise of digitized music and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, physical media can seem like a relic of an era gone past; one where records spun on turntables in nearly every house in America. However, in recent years, old-school vinyl has reasserted itself back onto the music collectors’ scene. 2022 marked the 17th consecutive year that record sales grew, benefitting record shops and vinyl pressers alike. At Sonido del Valle, a shop in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the vinyl comeback has mostly come in the form of Spanish-language records that underscore the area’s rich Latin American roots. Most of the shop’s offerings are used, and many are more than half a century old. “LA has a really long and rich history of Latin record labels that have been here since the beginning of recorded music,” said owner Rene Perez, who has been running the shop for around five years. “I was just sort of drawn to it. And that’s what kind of made me want to start specifically focusing on that as our main thing.”

West Layfayette, IN | Owner of Von’s in West Lafayette contemplates store’s future: With recent reports that Von’s Book Shop is considering closure, the owner of the shop, John von Erdmannsdorff, wants to clear the air that this Purdue staple is “not closing next week,” and is still running at full capacity. Opened since 1968, Von’s is a well-known spot on campus where students and non-students can get their fix of books, clothes, stones and gems, jewelry, playing cards, stuffed animals, knick-knacks and much more. Von Erdmannsdorff told the Journal & Courier that while shoplifting has recently gone up, that this is not the first time the shop has considered closing its doors in the last 54+ years, and that new merchandise is still coming into the store. …”We have felt obligated to continue serving the community with so many people depending on us,” von Erdmannsdorff said. “We are still actively adding new things. Just purchased 1,200 more used books; added a new shelf for books on ancient Egypt; ordered for the rocks and crystal area beautiful, new polished (stones)…added new novelties and retro candy in (the) gift area, ordered new vinyl for upcoming Record Store Day.”

Brighton, UK | Billie Marten announces new album and record store tour: Billie Marten has today shared ‘I Can’t Get My Head Around You’, a brand new track taken from her upcoming fourth record ‘Drop Cherries’ – out 7th April via Fiction Records. ‘I Can’t Get My Head Around You’ received its radio debut this morning on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 Music show this morning. …Billie will be embarking on a record store tour in April that sees her appearing in Brighton at Resident in Kensington Gardens on Sunday 9th April from 5:30pm. Fans have the options of watching her instore performance with a friend for £11.99 in total which includes a single copy of her ‘Drop Cherries’ album on CD OR they may wish to purchase a standard vinyl (or transparent red) copy of the album for £24.99 and this too includes two entries into Resident in order to watch her live set.

The Resurgence Of Vinyl & The Environment: For Better Or For Worse? …“When we first started Kindercore Vinyl in 2015, we had no idea how popular vinyl was going to become,” Former Chief Operating Officer Cash Carter said. “It took us two years to press our first record. At that time, if you had told me that not just Walmart and Target, but Cracker Barrel was selling records, I wouldn’t have believed you.” Kindercore Vinyl, now known as Classic City Vinyl Works, is Athens’ very own pressing plant. Cash Carter left the company in 2022, but is still continuing to work with multiple pressing plants around the country to implement greener practices. There are a few sustainable practices pressing plants could put into action, and for Carter, it all started with valuing KinderCore’s employees. “If a company does not adequately pay their staff, the quality control will decrease. That’ll lead to more pressings being rejected, and potentially more waste. Treating your staff fairly will reduce a lot of unnecessary pollution,” he said.

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