Charlotte, NC | Vinyl records are outselling CDs for the first time since 1987: Hopefully you kept all your old records because they are back in style. Reports from the Radio Industry Association of America show revenue for vinyl grew 17% in 2022, accounting for 71% of physical music revenues. At the same time, revenues for CDs dropped 18%. It’s the first time vinyl albums outsold CDs in units since 1987. Jimmy Parker is the owner of REPO Record in Charlotte. The record store sells vinyls, CDs, stereo systems and record players. Parker says he started REPO Record in 1988, then closed in 2005 after burning CDs started to take over the music industry. He says he noticed a regained interest in vinyls around 2012 and bought the building REPO Record is currently in. He reopened in November of 2013 and is still there nearly 10 years later. Parker says the demand and costs for vinyl continue to grow.
Aspen, CO | Explore Booksellers all about paper—and now vinyl records, too: “…I think that the tactile experience of having this object that you put on to a turntable and then you’re really immersing yourself in this 60- to 90-minute work that these musicians have created, you’re having to get up off your couch and flip the record over. It just forces you to listen in a different way. And I think that that’s what a lot of people want, they want to get lost in the art. The physical experience of getting away from the internet for a while is what’s really appealing to people both with vinyl and with paper books.” He says the community has responded positively to having a place to discover and purchase vinyl, noting that the closest other store offering records is in Grand Junction.
Cleveland, OH | Gotta Groove Records Acquires NiPro Optics Records Division: In 2009, Gotta Groove Records set out to disrupt the vinyl record manufacturing industry. Our goals were 1. To simplify the record making process; and 2. To pursue pressing the best sounding and looking records that have ever been made. Within our first 12 months of operating, we accomplished our first goal by launching an immersive and information-rich website. We incorporated the wisdom so graciously passed to us by veterans of the industry at that time, along with easy-to-understand pricing information, and a seamless manner to place orders through the web. We also set up a system for rapid communication with customers. …As in most types of manufacturing, every day is a new adventure, and often a new learning experience. We are extremely proud of the records we produce, and we are thankful to be allowed to press records for a new generation of listeners—Generation Wax.
East Sussex, UK | PMC helps Capsule Records spread the joy of discovering new music: …The audio quality of PMC speakers makes them amongst favourites with installers, audiophiles and professional audio users, whether they are watching movies in their home theatres, listening to music on their HiFi systems or working in state-of-the-art recording studios. Now PMC can add another type of client to its list – this time an innovative vinyl record store and coffee shop that has recently opened in Hove, East Sussex. Capsule Records aims to attract new and experienced vinyl collectors with its inspired collection of vinyl LPs – classics, re-issues and new releases – which encompasses a broad church of genres from jazz, soul and funk to disco, dub, house and electronica. At the heart of the shop is a passionate team of music lovers, who will help customers to identify their musical ‘sweet spots’ and guide them toward new LPs or labels. A handful of curated record collections is also available, each containing up to 35 albums that hang together on the basis of musical style, artist connections or the label they are on.
Binghamton, NY | LP Vinyl Records & CDs Fair strikes a chord in the hearts of collectors: Broome County’s Regional Farmers Market brings together an often separated community of music enthusiasts. The NY LP Vinyl Records & CDs Fair returned to the Broome County Regional Farmers Market this past Sunday for collectors and music lovers alike. The Broome County Regional Farmers Market occupies two large rooms in a large, well lit-building that was intended to resemble the structure of a barn. This antique take on the venue complimented the physical medium of the vinyl record well. This, in combination with overhead light fixtures that hung cozily from the ceiling and the vintage analog sound, created an atmosphere that was conducive to the collectors’ experience. It was a fun place to be, regardless of your involvement in the vinyl community. The fair ran with free entry from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., but some more ambitious collectors had the opportunity to pay a $5 early entry fee to arrive at 8:00 a.m. instead.
Chennai, IN | LPs make a big comeback: Vinyl has never had it so good. There’s a huge resurgence in the interest for LP records with music lovers curating their own collection. It’s 4 on a Sunday evening, and 73-year-old A.K. Sreeramulu of Rhythm House in Purasawalkam, Chennai, sounds happy. He’s just back from Anna Nagar—with him are a turntable, a set of speakers and 80 LP records, worth ₹ 22,000. Someone he knows alerted him about a family that was looking to give away its vinyl collection. And, he set off on his usual 4 p.m. outing for vinyls. Those LPs joined the thousands of Indian and Western classical and film music vinyls already stacked in Sreeramulu’s store, a much-venerated haunt for vinyl lovers from across the country, and abroad too. In Mumbai, 64-year-old Pilak Bhatt of Music Circle, Kandivali East, has been a favourite of collectors for over 15 years. A former accountant, he decided to do what he loved once he turned 50. …“Analog sound is much more natural, it is warmer and uncompressed. When you listen to music on vinyl, you hear it the way it was recorded. Also, the ritual of holding the record, cleaning it, and placing the needle—there’s a certain pride of possession,” he says.
Los Angeles, CA | Chulita Vinyl Club is preserving culture one record at a time: As the record spins, it takes Andrea Gutierrez, also known as DJ Sleep Walk, back in time. Music is part of her identity, from hip-hop to the boleros her uncle used to perform. “I remember as a kid being at the parties and sort of falling asleep to the sounds of the guitar,” she said, reminiscing about her time growing up in Mexico. As she looked through her collection of vinyl records, she said that growing up undocumented, the music and those memories helped her feel connect to back home. While Gutierrez always loved music, becoming a DJ wasn’t something she initially thought of doing. “A big part of that upbringing meant that I kept things to myself. I didn’t really like to stand out,” she said. Now, she’s part of the Los Angeles chapter of Chulita Vinyl Club. “Chulita” means “cutie” in Spanish. It’s a non-binary and gender non-confirming women’s DJ collective that uses music and vinyl as a form of resistance against the erasure of culture.
Jack White purchased an Elvis Presley vinyl for $300,000: In 1953, Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studios in Memphis for the first time and began life as a recording artist. At the time, Presley had no recording contract and paid out of his own pocket for the session. Only one copy was made, and half a century later, Jack White bought it for $300,000. The motivation behind the recording session was to capture the attention of Sam Phillips, who owned Sun Studios. However, Elvis wasn’t confident enough to ask Phillips for an audition and instead pretended the recording was a birthday present for his mother. Considerable thought had gone into planning his visit to the studio, and Presley knew Phillips potentially held the keys to a highly-lucrative career. Armed solely with an acoustic guitar without a backing band, Presley elected to record the pop standard ‘My Happiness’ and chose ‘That’s When Your Heartache Begins’ as the B-side. The session cost him $4, the smartest business decision he ever made.
