Helena, MT | New owner signals a fresh start for Montana Book and Toy Company in Helena: …Rice knows she’s taking over during a stable time and plans to make some changes. Rice won’t sell toys anymore, but will add a music section. She will sell vinyl albums, record players and other music-themed items. She plans to sell more paper products and with a master’s degree in non-fiction, she will expand that section of the store. Rice also hopes to bring in more author readings and collaborate with bookstores around the state to make a visit to Montana worthwhile travel for authors.

Port Macquarie, NSW | Port Macquarie Record Fair at The Duck on Clarence attracts a crowd: Vinyl fans packed into the inaugural Port Macquarie Record Fair on July 7. More than 5000 records were on offer across the music genres and eras during the event at The Duck on Clarence. Record collector and one of the event organisers, Jason Sherman, said there was a new wave. He said vinyl had become more and more popular. “At the end of the day, everybody loves music,” Mr Sherman said. People stood shoulder to shoulder as they sifted through the records on offer. The record fair attracted people of all ages.

Leicester, UK | Remember the Leicester music shops where all the cool kids hung out? When Saturday afternoons were spent browsing racks of vinyl. Long before the days of streaming services which allow you to buy your favourite music from the comfort of your own home, record shops selling vinyl discs were the haunt of teenagers. In many cases, they frequented local businesses rather than larger national stores. We feel sure names such as Daltons, Bush’s, Russell’s, Bosworth’s and Marshall’s will bring back particularly fond memories for music-lovers. These shops were, in many cases, long-established family businesses that also sold gramophones, sheet music, musical instruments, radios and, later, televisions. If you bought a record from any of these shops, you could buy a special cardboard sleeve that was much stronger than the standard paper one issued by the record manufacturer.

Burlington, NC | Live at the record store: As the sound of string instruments rose in volume, the energy in the room began to feel electric. Fans from across Alamance County packed into the snug lobby of Main Street Vinyl, 321 S. Main St., Burlington, on Friday to witness area band Gipsy Danger shoot a live music video. Gipsy Danger uses bluegrass instruments to perform popular songs from a variety of genres. The band consists of five men — P.D. Ross, Clayton Durham, Marty Robertson, Jared Matthews and Wayne Reich — who share a passion for the kind of music they grew up listening to. P.D. Ross, the band’s guitar player, is a regular customer at Main Street Vinyl. After coming to the shop a few times, Ross and Main Street Vinyl owner Joshua Garrett began talking about the possibility of the band playing in the store.

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U.S. Vinyl Album Sales Grow, Led by Jack White: In the first half of 2018, vinyl album sales grew 19.2 percent in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music, compared with the first six months of 2017. In total, for the tracking period of Dec. 29, 2017, through June 28, 2018, there were 7.6 million vinyl albums sold; up from 6.4 million in the comparable frame a year ago (Dec. 30, 2016, through June 29, 2017). Notably, the vinyl format’s 7.6 million albums sold in 2018, so far, represent 11.2 percent of all albums sold (68 million) and 18.7 percent of all physical albums sold (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.; 40.6 million). In the full year of 2017, vinyl album sales hit another Nielsen Music-era record high, as the format sold 14.32 million copies (up 9 percent compared with 2016’s then-record haul of 13.1 million). Last year marked the 12th straight year of growth for vinyl album sales.

Will digital music kill vinyl anytime soon? …CD and LP album sales are still very significant. According to an IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) report, physical music formats account for 30 percent of music industry revenue, compared to 38 percent from streaming worldwide in 2017. Physical format shares vary country by country with much higher percentages of market share in countries such as Japan (72 percent) and Germany (43 percent). So while the report claims worldwide CD sales are trending down, they’re not anywhere near extinction. Vinyl sales grew by 22.3 percent, but make up just 3.7 percent of the total recorded worldwide music market in 2017.

Rap Is Leading the Music Industry’s Resurgence: …As big as it is, music streaming’s user base can’t grow infinitely, and some are already wondering if the surge in popularity might be approaching a slowdown. But Nielsen’s report also offers small flickers of hope to the non-streaming part of the industry: It reveals that this year’s Record Store Day helped independent music stores sell a record-high 733,000 LPs and that the slow-burning revival of vinyl continues, with sales up 19 percent in the first half of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.

Atlanta, GA | Atlanta gains another record store with new West End shop: Once frequented by in-the-know audiophiles, a record store has emerged from its modest basement beginnings into a West End brick-and-mortar. JB’s Record Lounge began in Jonathan Blanchard’s home about a year and a half ago, he explains in a GoFundMe video. This week, the business was made more accessible to all when it opened in the back of 640 West Community Cafe in Atlanta. Billed as an “old school record store with a new school flair,” the store offers thousands of new and used vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, record players and accessories. “The main purpose of JB’s Record Lounge is to provide a venue for independent artists who want to share their music, as well as sell their music,” Blanchard says in the video. “I also will be carrying some of the best vinyl this side of the Mississippi.” Blanchard adds that he intends on “employing people from the community.”

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Irvington, IN | Irvington Vinyl & Books will add new chapter to story of indie shops: Irvington Vinyl & Books will extend the music and literature legacy at the former site of Bookmamas and Irvington Vinyl. An opening-day party is scheduled 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. June 30 for the new shop that’s reviving the mission of two businesses that closed in March…Author Elysia Smith owns the independent shop that succeeds Bookmamas, a fixture in the neighborhood since 2005, and Irvington Vinyl — which opened inside the bookstore in 2014. Bookmamas owner Kathleen Angelone cited health issues when closing her store, and Irvington Vinyl owner Rick Wilkerson said he planned to move to a new city. In a blog post, Smith wrote that she purchased Wilkerson’s records, a collection with pedigree dating to his ownership of Missing Link Records from 1993 to 2008.

Fullerton, CA | Black Hole Records to Move From Downtown Fullerton Location After 27 Years: Fullerton punk rock history has taken back-to-back blows in a mosh pit of bummer news this week. News that the city’s longest-running record store, Black Hole Records, is moving from the brick and mortar shop they’ve called home for the last 27 years hit like a gut punch from a rogue leather jacket-clad elbow. Then passing of one of the genre and the city’s icons, Mr. Steve Soto, founding member of formative Fullerton punk band the Adolescents on Wednesday hit the scene like a steel-toed Doc Martin to the dome…The new location will be smaller than the current shop but it’s a move that’s actually bringing them back to their early punk roots.

San Luis Obispo, CA | 3 years after SLO fire, owners of The Sub will rebuild, starting with record store: The owners of The Sub and Square Deal Recordings & Supplies, two businesses in San Luis Obispo that were destroyed in a 2015 fire, will rebuild on their Higuera Street property, with plans for the Square Deal structure already approved…Square Deal moved roughly a block away from its old location to 2146 Parker St. within weeks of the fire. The business sells vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes as well as patches, stickers, buttons and pins, among other items. The Sub was known to carry a large and eclectic collection of items, including rare posters and records, as well as clothes, tapestries, smoking pipes, antiques and tobacco supplies. “We miss our customers, our fun products and the interactions with our community…”

Weezer’s ‘Africa’ cover is getting a vinyl release: …The band covered the song after a dedicated Twitter account named @WeezerAfrica started an epic campaign to request that Weezer take on the Toto classic. They trolled fans by initially releasing a cover of Toto’s ‘Roseanna’, which won the 1983 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Thankfully, shortly after, they treated campaign backers to their version of ‘Africa’. The cover will now be released on a limited edition 7″ record, via Urban Outfitters. Both Toto tracks will feature on the vinyl, with the A-side hosting ‘Africa’ and the B-side featuring ‘Rosanna.’ It’ll be released on August 31. The vinyl itself is lime green and the cover art consists of some palm trees and the tweet that started it all: “@RiversCuomo it’s about time you bless the rains down in africa.”

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