Monthly Archives: May 2018

New record store opens in Park: GROSSE POINTE PARK — Standing behind the counter of Ripe Records Detroit, the newest addition to Charlevoix in the Park, Andrew Curcuru cleans a new batch of records set to go on the shelves. “When you leave here you’re getting a clean record,” he said. “I didn’t want to be like all the other record stores where you go in there and they’re selling bongs and T-shirts and incense. That’s not me. This is a vinyl store.” Curcuru and his wife, Kathy Garrido, and their son, Alex, officially opened the store Saturday, April 21, on Record Store Day. They buy, sell and trade new and used records, as well as sell and service turntables, speakers and receivers. Curcuru said everything in the store is analog, with all the refurbished turntables, speakers and receivers from the ’70s and ’80s.

If you love monsters and music, you’ll love this new record store in Collinsville: Collinsville residents know Bill Cherry as an Elvis tribute artist who travels all over the world performing rock ‘n’ roll hits from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. But now the hometown boy with long black sideburns and a bright white smile is adding “shop owner” to his repertoire. Cherry recently opened Monster Vinyl, a record store that combines his love of music and monsters. Racks are filled with albums, CDs, cassettes and eight-tracks. Shelves are lined with vintage toys, dolls, action figures and other collectibles, many related to sci-fi and horror films. “It’s like my bedroom, open to the public, without the bed,” Cherry said, laughing.

Vinyl and Coffee Ride Together at Chicago Multiroaster Purple Llama: Music lovers all over the world celebrated Record Store Day on Saturday, April 21, this year, which also happened to be the fitting first anniversary of Chicago-based Purple Llama, a multiroaster coffee shop and record store hybrid in Wicker Park. With more live performances and community events in the works, founder Joel Petrick and the rest of the Purple Llama team, including Director of Coffee Dylan Connell and General Manager and Vinyl Buyer Adam Hirzel, envision the shop not just as a coffee spot or a music spot, but as a true hybrid inspired by both. To commemorate its first year, Purple Llama is launching a Coffee & Record Subscription, a bi-monthly box set that will pair coffee roasters and records from all over the world.

New App Automatically Recognizes Album Covers, The Shazam of album art is ideal for diligent crate diggers: A new app is being billed as “the Shazam of album covers,” and we’re all for it. The new app is called Record Player and it was designed with Glitch by Patrick Weaver. The app utilizes Google Cloud Vision API and the Spotify API to automatically recognize album cover artwork and direct you to the album on Spotify. The app seems like the perfect tool for avid music fans and regular vinyl crate diggers who may want to preview an album that catches their eye in a store so they can check it out before purchasing it. Interest in vinyl records has soared in recent years, especially due to events like Record Store Day and their placement in big retailers. According to Billboard and Nielsen Music, vinyl LP sales have reached a record high, accounting for 14 percent of all U.S. physical album sales in 2017, an 11 percent increase from 2016.

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Record Store Day 2018 hits new high: Album sales were up 33 percent on Record Store Day 2018 (RSD), according to Official Charts Company (OCC) data for April 21. Organisers of the one-day celebration of vinyl have reported that an estimated 60,000 LPs were sold on the day, followed by approximately 30,000 vinyl singles – marking an overall 7 percent year-on-year increase in unit sales. David Bowie’s Welcome To The Blackout – a RSD exclusive – was the most in-demand release, topping the UK vinyl chart and entering the official Top 40 at number 22. Vinyl sales in the UK overall were up 16 percent year-on-year according to the OCC, although sales of singles dropped year-on-year, as customers moved towards the album format.

Led Zeppelin Score Chart Topping Hit With RSD Release: Led Zeppelin have topped the UK Vinyl Singles Chart with their debut Record Store Day release. The band’s limited edition 7″ single featuring previously unheard mixes of “Rock And Roll” and “Friends” landed at No. 1 on the chart ahead of tunes by David Bowie, U2 and Jimi Hendrix, among others as issued as part of the April 21 event celebrating the culture of independent record stores. The previously unreleased version of “Rock And Roll” provides an additional peek into the fabled 1971 “Sunset Sound Mixes” of “Led Zeppelin IV”. Only two previous “Sunset Sound Mixes” have been released, the first being the version of “When The Levee Breaks” on the original album and the second the “Stairway To Heaven” mix that debuted on the 2014 deluxe edition reissue of the band’s fourth record.

Tom Petty, Van Halen … Prince?! This Des Moines duo created art for some of rock’s biggest albums: Photo shoots with Tom Petty. Car rides with Stevie Wonder. Studio time with Fleetwood Mac. One fan’s rock ‘n’ roll fantasy is reality for Jay Vigon and Margo Nahas, a husband-wife artistic duo who spent decades crafting album covers for some of the world’s best-known rock stars. And, on Friday, Iowans get a chance to step behind the lens of music history as Vigon and Nahas open “The Art of Vinyl,” a gallery at Mainframe Studios in Des Moines highlighting careers of a combined 80-plus musical design projects. It’s the first time, Nahas said, that they’ve put this many albums on display in one setting. The show plans to through May 21. “Really, no one knows that we’re here,” she said. “We have a lot of fun things to take a look at.”

Shure is discontinuing its turntable cartridge range: In its heyday the company was producing around 28,000 cartridges a day. American audio company Shure is discontinuing all of its phono products this summer. Announcing the news via its website the company explained, “in recent years, the ability to maintain our exacting standards in the Phonograph Cartridge product category has been challenged, resulting in cost and delivery impacts that are inconsistent with the Shure brand promise.” Shure has been making pioneering cartridges since the 1940s including the first cartridge capable of playing both 33 and 78 rpm records, as well as design innovations such as the needle-tilt principle which minimises record wear, and the trackability engineering concept.

Vinyl collectors spent millions on Discogs last year: Record collectors spent more than $200m (£147m) at the online music marketplace Discogs last year, the BBC can reveal. The site, which helps collectors find and trade rare music, sold more than 10m records – up from 8.3m in 2016. Vinyl was the most popular format, with 7.9m sales – including a rare Beatles record that fetched $10,502 (£7,700). The 7-inch single was one of only 250 issued with Sir Paul McCartney’s name spelled incorrectly on the label as “Paul McArtney.” Discogs’ success reflects a revival in the music industry’s fortunes as well as the continuing consumer interest in vinyl. However, its figures are largely hidden from official music industry statistics, because they derive from private sellers trading second-hand records.

Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ on Red Vinyl Leads Biggest Record Store Day Yet: 733,000 vinyl albums were sold, industry-wide, in the U.S. in the week ending April 26. Record Store Day once again powered historic sales numbers for vinyl albums and singles in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. The 11th annual festivities, staged on April 21, helped yield a whopping 733,000 vinyl albums sold in the week ending April 26 — a record for Record Store Day week, and the third-largest weekly sum for vinyl albums since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991. Further, of that sum, 580,000 vinyl albums were sold at independent retailers — the single largest week for the format at the retail sector in Nielsen Music history.

‘It’s a great shot in the arm’: Record Store Day 2018 album sales up by a third: Record Store Day 2018 saw album sales increase by 33% year-on-year, according to Official Charts Company data for April 21. Record Store Day organisers reported an overall increase in unit sales of 7% year-on-year as consumers moved towards album releases. It’s estimated that 60,000 LPs and 30,000 vinyl singles were sold. Based on OCC figures, the estimated value of vinyl sales was up 16% compared to last year’s Record Store Day. The majority of the 240-plus shops taking part reported sales increasing by between 10% and 20% year-on-year. “Finances wise, we were about 15% up on last year – a total which at the time we thought could not be surpassed,” said Jon Tolley of Banquet Records in Kingston.

Record Store Day hits new sales peak: David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen helped Record Store Day reach a new peak in 2018. Vinyl sales in the UK were up 16% year-on-year, according to the Official Charts Company, with 60,000 albums and 30,000 singles changing hands. It was the same in the US, where 733,000 vinyl albums were bought in the week ending 26 April, breaking a sales record for the format. David Bowie’s Welcome To The Blackout was among the most in-demand releases. The three-disc live album, recorded on the star’s Isolar II Tour in 1978, was a Record Store Day exclusive. Not only did it top the UK vinyl chart, but entered the official Top 40 at number 22. It was also the second best-seller in America, just behind a red vinyl edition of Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits.

Are there negative effects of Record Store Day? Now that you asked… Indie bands rely on vinyl releases to make a living in an era when streaming can literally pay one penny per thousand or more listens. The records make real money for the bands and especially for those selling them on tour. The irony is that these bands may be a victim of the success of RSD, as major labels are are booking the few vinyl pressing plants left months in advance in order to have stock available on RSD. Newer pressing plants are slowly coming online, but at present the demand for vinyl outstrips the supply, in part due to the success of RSD in reminding consumers that records can be a quality medium.

Nyack Sketch Log: Main Street Beat: While the name of Nyack’s only record shop has changed, the staff, stylings and singer/songwriter owners remain the same. Amy Bezunartea and Jennifer O’Connor announced this weekend that their store will no longer share the name of their record label, Kiam. Main Street Beat is now emblazoned on the door where music fans can find new releases from the indy label, previously owned classic vinyl records and an eclectic offering of books and clothing, curated by Amy. Main Street Beat has become a fixture in the cultural life of a village where creatives have lived and worked for decades.