Putney, VT | A new home for old vinyl: Retired teacher opens record store in Putney. A retired teacher has turned his love of music into a new business in downtown Putney. Next Chapter Records, which offers new and used vinyl records, is now open at 120 Main St. in the former home of Antidote Books, which moved to Brattleboro earlier this year. The store is run by Mitch Harrison, a 56-year-old native of northern New Jersey. For the past 20 years, he’s been teaching science to middle schoolers in Alstead, N.H. Now retired, Harrison said he has already seen a positive response from a couple of “soft openings” on Saturdays earlier this month. In his youth, he said, he frequented record shops with friends, and hosted a radio show during his days at Rutgers University. Nowadays, he still goes to live music events and festivals. His taste lies with music that “blurs the line,” whose exact genre is difficult to describe.

Whitefish, MT | New on the block: Slow Burn Records opens on Spokane Ave: For several years, Mike and Dyan Colby often traveled from Texas to spend time in Whitefish and enjoy the rhythm of mountain living. Now they own the only record store in town, Slow Burn Records. The store’s Director of Operations, Madde Borg, explained that when the Colbys were in town, Dyan would stop into Spanky and Gus’s — the funky record store that was previously on Spokane Avenue next to Jersey Boys Pizza. She enjoyed bringing her kids, telling them about music and sharing the thrill of looking for unique finds. When she learned Spanky was closing her store, Dyan approached Mike with the idea of buying it; they purchased the store at the beginning of 2021 and it opened this April. Currently, the store is full of Spanky’s collection, about 3,000 albums, but Borg says the plan is to curate their own collection to best suit the desires of the community.

Greenfield, WI | The Exclusive Company Greenfield Location To Become Volta Records: The Exclusive Company is thrilled to announce our Greenfield location will remain a “Locally Owned Independent Record Store”. On July 2, the store name will change to Volta Records. The location, staff, hours, great service, and selection will stay the same. For the past 30 years at this location, The Exclusive Company has done our best to provide the South Side and all of Milwaukee with a record store you can be proud of and call your own. We are certain that Volta Records will carry on with the same values and dedication to music that you have come to enjoy and expect. The Exclusive Company’s final day of business at the Greenfield location will be June 29. The store will be closed on June 30 and July 1 as part of the transition. On Saturday, July 2 Volta Records will open for business. To all of our loyal customers, we say thank you for your support. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Chicago, IL | Pravda Records goes the distance: Beginning with Napster and continuing through Spotify, the nemeses of independent record labels have been legion over the past few decades. The deaths of brick-and-mortar retail chains, including Tower and Borders, have made releasing new music even more of an uphill climb. Yet Pravda Records has weathered it all and continues to thrive. The Chicago label—which toasts its 38th year with a two-day festival, June 24 and 25, at Sketchbook Brewing in Skokie—has survived shifting public tastes, the rise of online piracy, several changes in dominant format, and the collapse of music sales in physical media. Even in the years since COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early 2020, the label has prospered, releasing a string of albums from legacy Chicago artists, among them Smoking Popes front man Josh Caterer, rock band the Handcuffs, retro-pop quintet the Flat Five, power-pop band the Hushdrops, singer-songwriter Steve Dawson, and power trio Sunshine Boys. Those records have all been modest hits—Goodman says each sold more than 1,000 copies. The label’s total sales increased about 50%.

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More vinyl record plants opening soon. Is it enough to end backlog? The increased demand of vinyl has created quite the backlog recently. However, new vinyl presses are in the making! Will this be enough? Any artist with a desire to release a vinyl record faces the hard reality of a long wait time, with some quotes as long as 12 months out! Of course, that just doesn’t work when it comes to marketing your latest product, but the good news is that help is on the way. Some of them may be small, but there are a host of new vinyl pressing plants about to come on line, which should help ease the backlog. One plant is a new ground-up construction with 8 vinyl presses in Oxnard, California built by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and its parent company Music Direct. Unlike many plants that use older recycled machines, the presses are brand new and are manufactured by Nashville’s Record Pressing Machines. The plant is slated to come on line in 2023. Another is a 14,000 square foot facility in Denver built by VMP that’s slated to come on line in late 2022. No word on the number of presses it will house. New plants in the UK and Berlin will also help ease the back order strain.

Leeds, UK | Crash Records: The history of one of Leeds’ most loved music shops as it celebrates 35 years on the Headrow: As Crash Records celebrates its 35th year on the Headrow, shop owner Ian De-Whytell looks back at Crash’s journey over the years. For music lovers across Leeds, Crash Records has long been the hub to visit for the latest and greatest indie, rock and metal music. First opened on Woodhouse Lane in 1985, before relocating to the Headrow in 1987, the independent music retailer has seen the rise and fall of CDs, resurgence of vinyl and its fair share of groundbreaking gigs. And Ian De-Whytell, owner of Crash, has been there to witness nearly all of it. As a fan of the shop for many years, Ian’s dream came true in 1998 when an opportunity arose for him to purchase the much-loved store. “It just so happened that the owner was expanding into things and he was spreading himself a little bit thin,” explained Ian.

Honolulu, HI | Hawaii’s vinyl album sales are booming in numbers not seen in 30+ years: Everything old is new again, especially when it comes to music—and memories. Vinyl sales have grown rapidly for more than a decade on the mainland — as well as here in Hawaii. 2021 was the biggest year since 1986 for vinyl record sales, with more than a billion dollars worth of records sold last year. Living in a digital world, listeners want something tangible that they can connect to, like 16-year old Grayce Willing, who came to Hungry Ear in Kakaako from Kapolei to pick out her 16th birthday present… a vinyl Bruno Mars album. “I like vinyl because it’s there in my hands — I can see, I can feel it and I can hear it,” says Willing. “You hear the crackles, it gives that nostalgic feel…if you compare to a digital recording it sounds real different, it sounds more raw and it sounds more clear in a way,” says Keli’I Monsell-Talaro, another vinyl fan.

Casitas Springs, CA | Johnny Cash’s Former Home, Listed for $1.8M, Includes Original Turntable: The singer built the house, located in Ventura County, California, in 1961, complete with custom wood built-ins, a black commode and ceilings imbued with glitter. Back in 1961, Johnny Cash and his then-wife Vivian built a home tucked into the hills in Ventura County, California, overlooking the small town of Casitas Springs. The ranch-style 4,500-square-foot, five-bedroom residence was built to the singer’s specifications and included everything from a wall-mounted turntable to custom wood built-ins in the kitchen and living room. Now, the double-gabled house, which is set on nearly six acres not far from the Ojai Valley, has come to market for $1.795 million, listed by its current owner (who purchased the house in 2003 for $739,000, according to The Wall Street Journal). Many of Cash’s original details have been preserved, including painted ceilings imbued with glitter, a curved brick fireplace in the family room and an intercom system. The house also includes a wood-paneled studio where Cash wrote his songs.

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Miami, FL | Miami’s ATV Records announces closure: The beloved dance music venue, which acts as a club and record store, will remain open until July 31st. ATV Records is permanently closing after two and a half years of operations. The Miami venue, home to a record store, nightclub and bar, announced the news via Instagram late on Thursday, June 23rd. No official explanation for the decision was given, with the team noting that they came to agreement following a “long and careful assesment.” ATV (short for “addicted to vinyl”) will continue to host parties until July 31st, its last day of operation. The space, launched by former club Electric Pickle, opened its doors in late 2019. ATV’s intimate atmosphere and four-point analog sound system made it a favourite among local and touring artists such as Danny Daze, Jubilee, Mike Servito, Moxie and countless others.

US | Manufacturers Struggle to Keep Pace With Vinyl Record Demand: Demand for record albums continues to soar in the United States, and the manufacturing base is having to reinvent itself to meet demand. The arrival of the compact disc nearly killed off record albums, with vinyl pressing machines sold, scrapped and dismantled by major record labels. Four decades later, with resuscitated record album sales producing double-digit annual growth, manufacturers are rapidly rebuilding an industry to keep pace with sales that reached $1 billion last year. Dozens of record-pressing factories have been built to try to meet demand in North America—and it’s still not enough. The industry “has found a new gear, and is accelerating at a new pace,” said Mark Michaels, CEO and chairman of United Record Pressing, the nation’s largest record producer, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tewksbury, UK | Music tastes may vary, but vinyl is forever: Spinning favorite LP’s for hours on end with the volume up just a bit too loud has long been a pastime for many teenagers. Vinyl records have been around since the early 1900’s, offering professional sound quality to the average consumer. Those of us who grew up during the prime of the vinyl LP, from the 1950’s through the late 1980’s, re­member spending endless hours at the local record store. Other than the ra­dio, a teen’s record collection was the only access to popular music and worth the investment of an entire week’s allow­ance. That is not to say that the vinyl record did not go without competition from other music mediums. In the early 1960’s, cassette tapes made their way into the music listening industry. The cassette pro­mised portability with the ease to rewind forwards or backwards. Unfortunately, cassettes also came with the problem of jamming in the cassette player, kinking or breaking the cassette tape, usually from overplay.

Rowsley, UK | ‘Irreplaceable’ vinyl records sold at Rowsley car boot by mistake: A woman has said she is “horrified” after a relative accidentally sold 16 of her sentimental vinyl records for less than £1 each at a car boot sale. Rohan Mellor said the albums she had inherited were being stored by a relative while she moved house. They were sold in Rowsley, Derbyshire, on Sunday, the day after she and her husband got back from their honeymoon. Mrs Mellor said they were first press albums from the early 1960s to late 1970s, and were “irreplaceable”. They included albums by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, David Bowie, AC/DC, The Clash, and The Who. The 26-year-old said the relative storing them had recently had a bereavement and accidentally mixed her records up with items she was clearing out. The vinyl records had been collected by Mrs Mellor’s father and uncle, and after her uncle died a few years ago her father gave them to her and her sister. She said she was “utterly shocked and horrified” that they were gone.

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