Montreal, CA | Montreal record shops blame ‘archaic’ rule dating back to 1970s for lost sales: Phonopolis co-owner is glad city plans to allow longer opening hours, but he’s still stuck with hefty fines. On an average Saturday in Mile End, customers start trickling into Phonopolis record stores late in the morning or in the early afternoon. Co-owner Nick Kirschner said the shop’s peak hours are usually late afternoon, and people will happily shop into the evening. That’s why he was surprised to learn about an old rule on the books that forbids him from staying open past 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It was on record store day — of all days — in April 2019 that an inspector walked into Phonopolis and informed staff of the rules governing opening hours. Kirschner later received $2,950 worth of fines in the mail. He said running a small business in Montreal is difficult enough, especially in a neighbourhood where high rents are driving out many commercial tenants. “These fines that we received for being open too late … are just an example of an endless list of issues that we deal with every day…”
Los Angeles, CA | Amoeba Hollywood is Moving: We are excited to announce the next home of Amoeba Hollywood will be at 6200 Hollywood Blvd! We are humbled by the massive outpouring of support throughout this search from our customers and the LA community. We aim to do you proud and continue on as your supreme source for music, movies, and so much more. We will bring that familiar Amoeba energy into this new space and you can be sure it will provide the “true Amoeba experience” as we will carry the same breadth and depth of selection. We look forward to seeing you at our new home on the corner of Hollywood & Argyle this Fall, and have provided more details for you below. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. We’re moving to 6200 Hollywood Blvd! We’re going to take up a huge ground level space on the corner of Hollywood and Argyle in the new “El Centro” complex in downtown Hollywood. This is just 2 blocks east and 2 blocks north of our current location, and right next door to the Fonda Theatre so we’ll be easy to find!
Washington, DC | Grandmaster Flash poised to school fans on hip-hop history at U Street Music Hall: “…Back in the ’70s, we had no technology, no computers, no studios, no beat machines, no apps, no nothing,” Flash said. “So how would the music track be generated? We had to get duplicate copies of the record and pick the desired section where the drum solo was, which a lot of time was like 10 seconds, then cut and paste it and extend it for three or four minutes so the rapper would have a beat to speak on.” That meant voracious shopping in record stores to find the perfect drum break. “When I went shopping for records to find that drum break, we went shopping in the pop section of the record store, or the rock section, or the jazz section, or the blues section, or the funk section, or the R&B section, or the alternative section, or the Caribbean section, or the Latin section, just to find that drum break,” Flash said. …“When we go record shopping, it’s a crapshoot, but once you break the plastic, you buy it, like it or not,” Flash said. “So we would buy records on guessing. I’d bring the record home and play every cut trying to find that drum solo and it would all be crap, so that would go in the crap crate.”
Waco, TX | Vinyl records live on in Waco shop: Across the world, hipsters and collectors alike continue to support the decades-old industry of vinyl records. Despite being one of the oldest forms of recorded music, vinyls continue to make a way for themselves in the age of streaming. In recent years, vinyl sales have been on a continuous rise in the United States, according to Statista’s data recording LP album sales between 1993 and 2019 in the United States. During a time when you can stream any song imaginable within seconds, this continual growth is somewhat of a phenomenon. Vinyl album sales in the United States have shown consistent growth since 2006. By 2019, the industry was up by 14.5% from the previous year, having sold 18.84 million vinyl records, Statista reported. However, the United States isn’t the only country experiencing the resurgence of vinyl popularity. In 2017, the Japanese arm of Sony Music announced in a press release it would open its own vinyl record manufacturing factory in order to keep up with the demand of the Japanese vinyl market.
Record Executive Vicky Hamilton Talks Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Her New Label, and More: The renowned music industry figure told her story in the book Appetite for Dysfunction. Vicky Hamilton came to Los Angeles from the Midwest in 1980 and cut her teeth working at a record store on the Sunset Strip and helping to promote Mötley Crüe’s early career. She then went on to propel Poison, Stryper, Guns N’ Roses, and Faster Pussycat into the spotlight, literally shedding blood (she once stapled her thumb to a picture of Vince Neil for a display she was creating in a record store) sweat, and tears to help support emerging artists that she felt had star power. Hamilton has been hailed by Forbes magazine as “one of the most successful music executives in the business.” She has worked on gut instinct that proved to be right time and again. To give it some perspective, as a Geffen executive, two projects she took interest in that the label passed on were the Goo Goo Dolls and Toad the Wet Sprocket. They undoubtedly regretted those decisions.
Scarborough, UK | Meet Paul Toole owner of Record Revivals – Scarborough’s longest-established record shop: His Scarborough shop may be called Record Revivals, but when chatting to Paul Toole it quickly becomes apparent that vinyl records have never really been away. There’s no doubt about it – record sales are on the up. Last year, around 4.5 million chart-eligible LPs were sold in the UK – a huge jump from 3.2 million in 2016. And it’s not just nostalgia for the glossy black disc which is driving sales – a YouGov survey showed that one in four 18 to 24-year- olds bought a vinyl record in the last month. Paul believes there are various factors that drive the love of vinyl. “In recent years a strange thing has happened. Young people who have grown up with downloads and streaming – not even CDs – have really embraced vinyl. They understand it’s something you have to look after,” he says. He also thinks that people love the fact that a record is a tangible object, adding: “There’s something about the imperfection in the sound that people really relate to 
Embrace to reissue early albums on vinyl for the first time: Indie heroes Embrace have announced their first three albums will be reissued on vinyl for the first time since their original release. The titles—The Good Will Out, Drawn From Memory and If You’ve Never Been—are available through UMC on March 6th for the UK, with the latter two being released through Craft Recordings on March 20th for North America. The vinyl format of these have been long out-of-print since their original release, making them 
Glasgow, UK | Herald Diary at Large: Why vinyl will never die. The year is 1993. The venue is Sony Music Studios in New York City. The band is Nirvana. Fans will later remember this MTV Unplugged performance as one of those rare TV moments that provide a jolt of dissonance, disturbance and drama to the established music scene. Like the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Or Live Aid, when rock became the new religion; a globalised evangelical church sermon, saving us all from our sins. Although this particular evening in 1993 is low key. Stripped of hubris and hyperbole, yet quietly momentous all the same. Facing his young audience of rock disciples, Kurt Cobain hunches in a chair. A surly toad lumped on a lily pad. The cardigan he wears is the colour of dreich; knitted from wool that could easily have been sheared from a Scottish sky. His lank hair drizzles down his neck; its liquid limpness also redolent of Caledonia at its rain-raddled best. What won’t have any echoes of Scotland, however, are the songs Cobain is about to sing. They promise to be 
Lake Lanier, GA | Take a trip down memory lane at Moe’s: Moe Lyons was 16 when he purchased his first vinyl record in 1974. “It was ‘Rufusized’ by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan,” says Lyons, who owns Moe’s Record Shop on the east end of Flowery Branch’s Main Street, near the shores of Lake Lanier. “I still have the original at my house, but we have a couple of them here in the store.” As far back as the late ’70s and early ’80s, Lyons had dreams of opening a record store. By 1985, he was hired as Christmas help at a Record Bar store in his home state of Kentucky. Most recently, he retired at age 60 from Hall County Water Treatment after 18 years. He opened the store in April 2019. “I guess you could say I have a music addiction, but I really like to share music, especially on vinyl,” he said. Lyons has been collecting albums for years and now has more than 6,000 albums at home in addition to the 4,000 to 4,500 in bins at the store. Located in the former location of Lakeside Market, the store is filled with bin after bin of vinyl, sorted by genre and alphabetized by artist. Ask him about almost any artist who has recorded an album and he can walk 
Manhattan, KS | Throwback: Local store feels the rise of vinyl sales: According to an article from Rolling Stone, vinyl sales have grown tremendously. The article claims that “CD sales were declining three times as fast as vinyl sales were growing.” Sisters of Sound, a local music store, has taken note of this trend. Sarah Cunnick, co-owner of Sisters of Sound, said they started their shop with 50 percent vinyl and 50 percent CDs. She said she noticed that vinyl sales began doubling around 2010. Although she agrees with Rolling Stone’s research, she believes the numbers may be more than they’re claiming. “The way they figure out how many sales happen, they’re only counting new vinyl,” Cunnick said. “There is hardly a way for them to track old vinyl. The reporting only takes place with the new vinyl.” Cunnick has been doing her own research throughout her store and noticed that for every one new vinyl purchased, nearly ten used vinyl records are purchased. These used vinyl records aren’t tracked when research is being done, which is why she believes the 
Canoga Park, CA | It’s A Shame, But Vinyl Manufacturer Rainbo Records Has Closed: Artists, record labels, and music trends come and go, but an unseen backbone of the music industry since 1939 has closed – vinyl manufacturer Rainbo Records. Rainbo has been the place to go for indies since there was such a thing. This was not only for artists trying to get their initial break like Husker Du, NWA, Kacey Musgraves, and Childish Gambino, but indie labels like punk stalwarts Epitaph and SST; rap imprints Death Row, Priority, and Sugar Hill; early dance labels Moonshine, Mushroom and Thump; and Concord Jazz, Rhino, and American as well. Along the way the company pressed records for the U.S. War Department for messages from home to servicemen overseas, to General Mills for records built into Wheaties boxes, to Disneyland to describe its attractions. That’s why it comes as a huge surprise that Rainbo has gone out of business. Even as vinyl has seen a healthy resurgence, that hasn’t been enough to offset 
Dallas, TX | After 46 years, Hit Records will close, take its final spin this weekend: Say goodbye to Hit Records at a two-day closeout sale this weekend. Hit Records was anything but a one-hit wonder. The record store in the Casa View Shopping Center will close after 46 years in business. Owner Ron Ross said on Facebook that the store’s lease is up, and he doesn’t agree with the new terms. He would rather sell than try to move, according to the post. A two-day closeout sale will take place from 3-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the record shop at 10253 Ferguson Road. “Come see Ron and buy a piece of record store history,” the Facebook post said. Ross began working at Hit Records in 1974, and bought the store in 1986, CultureMap reported. Over the years, rock bands, such as The Ramones, AC/DC and Aerosmith, have come through its doors. Every inch of Hit Records is covered in memorabilia, from Chuky dolls to baseball cards to a pair of Chuck Taylors signed by Marky Ramone. Oh yeah, the store 
Minneapolis, MN | Tes de Luna and Jason Hughes: The Curators: Tes de Luna and Jason Hughes’ introduction sounds straight out of an indie-rock rom-com. The owners of south Minneapolis record store/art boutique Rock Paper Scissors Goods initially crossed paths in Seattle, where de Luna was a regular at Hughes’ Sonic Boom Records. After hitting it off at an Elliott Smith concert in 2000, they went on their first proper date. Eventually, they would run small businesses next door to each other, get married, and have kids. De Luna, a Minneapolis native who graduated from MCAD in 1999, wanted to move the family back home. So they sold their Pacific Northwest shops and opened Rock Paper Scissors in 2018—a shop that combines their shared love of art and music under one roof. “We just wanted to use the knowledge from our former shops to start something new,” de Luna says. “Starting small in a new city made sense, and we hoped that creative folks would appreciate 
Montreal, CA | Montreal Allows Record Stores to Extend Opening Hours: Shops were fined thousands by the province late last year. After raising concern with the province of Quebec over opening hours leading to thousands of dollars in fines, Montreal record stores will now be permitted to keep doors open later as of this spring. Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante confirmed the forthcoming changes on Twitter today, writing that governments will “invite merchants and boroughs to make the rules surrounding store hours more flexible.” She added, “You have to be able to adapt and that’s what we are doing!” Plante’s announcement comes weeks after Phonopolis co-owner Jordan Robson Cramer explained how his shop and fellow record stores Sonorama, La Rama and Death of Vinyl had received warnings and 
Dallas, TX | One of Dallas’ oldest remaining record stores is closing with a big sale: One of Dallas’ oldest remaining record stores is closing. Hit Records, located in the Casa View Shopping Center at 10253 Ferguson Rd., will close after 46 years in business. According to owner Ron Ross, the store’s lease was up and he “couldn’t meet the new terms.” That entire intersection at Ferguson and Gus Thomasson is in churn. The shopping center is getting a $10 million makeover, and some longtime tenants such as Casa Jewelers, which had been at the center since 1954, have been nudged out. Hit Records was almost 
