Cork, IE | Digital didn’t kill the record store: The vinyl revival was initially niche, but now it’s truly mainstream, writes Stevie G in his Downtown column. …For the major labels, they eventually moved with the times, and now they police piracy quite heavily. The internet is no longer the wild west music-wise, and most people stream music for a relatively small cost, compared to what it was before. Sadly, it’s still a struggle for many artists and labels, but in this digital streaming era, vinyl, and even cassettes, have been rejuvenated by some labels. The vinyl revival was initially niche, but now it’s truly mainstream and forms a huge part of income for major record companies once again. It was DJs and independent labels and passionate music fans and record shops who kept vinyl alive when it was most unfashionable, and while it remains an expensive passion for us all, it’s a format that is beautiful for many reasons. It’s great that we still have many record shops in Cork in 2025, and it’s even better that they sell actual records!
Bellows Falls, VT | Bellows Beats, new music shop on The Square: Attention to all the music enthusiasts in the area – yes, there indeed is a living, breathing music store in downtown Bellows Falls called Bellows Beats, located in the former longtime barber shop space and next to Clutter’s Last Stand, at 2 The Square. Bellows Beats is owned and operated by Lindsay Wilson, a local artist and lifelong music enthusiast whose dream business has always been to combine her creativity with love of music in opening her own music shop. “I’m originally from a small town in central Massachusetts, and for a couple years [early 2000s], I worked in a record store, and it was as much fun as it looks,” Wilson said in a recent interview. …“Bellows Beats is unique in that it is part music store, part music collection,” Wilson said. “I have been collecting various forms of music and music memorabilia since my very first concerts in the fourth and sixth grades, and I will always want to have random and unusual items available in the shop.”
Knoxville, TN | Urban Knoxville: Bookstores, record shops to try as alternatives to McKay’s: …If you’re tired of hearing about McKay’s or already used your credits, it might be a sign to try out a different bookstore to hunt for your next favorite. Local stores (sorry, Barnes & Noble) include Union Ave. Books near the heart of downtown at 517 Union Ave., the Black-owned Bookshop at The Bottom at 2340 E. Magnolia Ave., Addison’s with a cozy tea bar at 126 S. Gay St. or Fable Hollow Bookshoppe in Fountain City for your fantasy needs at 2910 Tazewell Pike. McKay’s doesn’t just sell books! There are movies, records and toys, too. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of movie-specific stores in Knoxville with most major retailers still offering movies like FYE in West Town Mall. Knoxville does have quite a few record stores, some of which sell movies as sell like Basement Records at 5009 Chapman Highway. The other stores are Raven Records at 1200 Central St., Lost and Found Records at 3710 N. Broadway, Magnolia Records at 7 Emory Place and Wild Honey Records at 5415-F Kingston Pike.
Kickstart: Embracing new manufacturing methods for vinyl records: Embracing new manufacturing methods for vinyl records. United Record Pressing says it is the oldest vinyl record manufacturing company in the U.S., but its age isn’t stopping it from updating its production floor just in time for its 75th anniversary. Nashville-based URP completed a $10 million expansion in 2023, which included buying 24 new presses to add to its fleet of 40 refurbished machines. It also said in a December 2024 news release that it has embraced dedicated production cells to improve the manufacturing process, using a team of both veteran and new operations leaders who adapted practices from electronics manufacturing. “This alignment allows URP to handle projects of any size, from large, major label releases to community-oriented indie albums, while reducing lead times, honoring visual creativity and ensuring consistent quality,” URP notes.
Are We On the Cusp of a Planet-Saving Vinyl Revolution? Experts Think So. Coldplay and Billie Eilish are asking uncomfortable questions about the environmental cost of your record collection. Happily, change is on the way. …Nearly 50 million vinyl records were sold in the US last year—up 14.2% from 2022. Globally, vinyl records are estimated to account for around 30,000 tonnes of PVC (synthetic plastic)—which Greenpeace describeS as “the most environmentally damaging plastic”—every year. The ongoing vinyl revival, which was perhaps truly minted in 2017, when Sony Music announced it would begin producing vinyl records for the first time since 1989, has been fantastic for music fans and musicians alike. But it comes at a cost. As Father John Misty suggested in the song “Now I’m Learning to Love the War”: “Try not to think so much about / The truly staggering amount of oil that it takes to make a record.” Progress is certainly being made, but without speaking to every label and vinyl manufacturer on the planet, it’s hard to get a picture of how much progress is being made. Because there is no official means of measurement in place.
Why Henry Rollins still loves collecting vinyl: Henry Rollins is one of us. Sure, you perhaps know him as the former frontman of Black Flag and Rollins Band. But a common thread that’s followed him throughout his career is that he’s a major music nerd with an insatiable appetite for acquiring albums and musical ephemera. “[It’s] what keeps me, at my old age, still enthusiastic about Record Store Day and eBay, Discogs, having a want list and hitting the record store before sound check, you know, in whatever country you’re in, because you never know what’s in there,” he shares, during a lengthy conversation on the UCR Podcast. “If I ever lose that enthusiasm, which thankfully gets worse and worse for me as I get older—I would hate that, because it’s kind of that eternal happy place, which I’ve had since I started going to a record store with intensity at age 18. It’s like every weekend, I’m at that record store trying to find punk rock records.”
Fort Collins, TX | Inspired by Japanese jazz cafes, Fort Collins’ first listening bar to open in The Exchange: Beer, wine, cocktails and quality tunes are on the menu at Fort Collins’ first “listening bar,” which is set to open in The Exchange early this year. Wobble HiFi has taken over 244 N. College Ave., Unit 140 — formerly home to FoCo Da Vinci Body Studio. Inspired by Japanese jazz kissas, or cafes where jazz music is played for dedicated listening instead of just as background music, the forthcoming listening bar will feature a high-end sound system and an expansive collection of vinyl records, according to co-founders Preston Bishir and Miles Storm. The idea for the bar came about as Storm and Bishir craved another “going out” option in Fort Collins. “We kind of just decided that we should make a space that we wanted to go to,” Storm said. “We both had some ideas for a business and morphed them together to come up with this.”
Yes to release Super Deluxe Edition of Close to the Edge: Yes will release a Super Deluxe Edition of their 1972 classic Close to the Edge. The five-CD/LP/Blu-ray set will include a new remastered version of the original album, the band’s fifth, and previously unreleased rarities. The set – scheduled for release on March 7 – will also feature new album mixes by Steven Wilson in Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Mix DTS-HD MA for the first time. Close to the Edge followed Yes’ 1971 breakthrough album, Fragile, into the Top 10 and became their highest-charting record, peaking at No. 3. It has since gone platinum and is considered one of the best progressive rock albums ever made. The album includes the band’s best-known lineup of singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and drummer Bill Bruford, who quit Yes to join King Crimson following Close to the Edge’s recording.
Vertical vinyl players look cool, but are they worth the money? Vinyl players are making a comeback, and audio technology companies are developing new ways to display and play our favorite albums. Fuse Audio has returned to CES to showcase its range of innovative turntables. In 2024, the audio technology company launched a Kickstarter campaign for its Fuse Audio GLD, a vertical vinyl record player. Since the release of the GLD, the audio tech maker has developed a few other products. At CES 2025, we saw the ‘Fuse Vert,’ another vertical vinyl player. The fused speaker system sets this audio setup apart from the GLD. Instead of having two independent speakers, as you would have with a classic turntable, the vinyl player has a built-in speaker system similar to that of a portable speaker. One Fuse Audio representative told the Cybernews team that they developed their vinyl players to play vertically for aesthetic purposes. Fuse Audio wanted to find a new and innovative way to display our favorite albums, as vinyls are usually stylishly designed, colorful, and interesting to look at.
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