The new reach of records: Georgetown Records’ vinyl renaissance: The brick and mortar shop, which opened its doors in 2004, formed an international partnership with a former intern and now, suddenly, Georgetown Records has a franchise in Mexico City. “I met a friend some years ago when Sub Pop had their 25-year anniversary down here in Georgetown,” Imbach remembers. “She was from Mexico City and she’d taken a bus up here for the festival. I got to know her a little bit and she ended up spending the summer here as an intern, learning the record store. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to open her own store back home. She named it Georgetown Records. We just celebrated our one year anniversary there last month!”
Head record store in Leamington has closed “for good.” The shock announcement has been made on there store’s Facebook page where a post says: “Welcome to the saddest selfie we have ever posted. I am very, very sorry to tell you that today we closed the shutters for good. “Thank you all for your loyalty and friendship. It was a genuine honour and our daily pleasure to provide you with the experience we did. We all loved every minute of it. “Of course it’s overwhelmingly sad that this has happened, that we have lost our sanctuary, our little family and our jobs. But we fought mightily to the end and we did it with pride and, as always, a smile on our faces. There’s no easy way to say goodbye. It’s a huge shock for all of us. Please, please continue to support independent shops…”
The End of All Music: We’re moving downtown! Grand Opening January 19th! We’re really excited to announce that we’ll be moving to a new downtown location in January 2018. We’ve had an amazing run on the North Side of Oxford since opening in March of 2012. This little metal building has been a dream come true and a lot of fun. We’ve made so many friends and sold so many great records, and we know our new spot will be even better, with more great records and lots of new friends. You can find the new shop at 103A Courthouse Square upstairs above Nella in the Duvall’s building and right next door to University Sporting Goods. Just look for our “RECORDS” sign! We’ll also be open until 9 p.m. Wed-Saturday! So come see us at nighttime, which is something we’ve always wanted to say.
Bert set to close music shop after over 40 years in business: Bert McCormick (78), whose involvement in the music business has spanned over 60 years, will be closing his record shop on Ballyclare’s Main Street on February 24. Bert, who opened the store in July 1 1976, has earned a reputation for going the extra mile to source records for the public. Aside from the shop, which has been catering for customers across Northern Ireland and further afield for generations, Bert, who is a talented pianist and keyboard player, performed in bands until around 2010. Speaking about his early experiences in the industry, Bert said: “I got involved in Dixieland Jazz and then into the Showbands. I continued to play around the country at various events up until around 8 years ago.
Bluestreak Records shop in downtown Peterborough flooded after frozen pipe bursts: Supporters are rallying around a downtown record store that sustained what is expected to be tens of thousands of dollars in water damage when a frozen second floor pipe burst Monday evening, flooding the shop and soaking entire sections of vinyl records. Bluestreak Records owner Tim Haines and friends were busy Wednesday with damage control work that has continued around the clock since a New Year’s he’d rather forget. The store at 444 George St. remains closed as they try to salvage as much as they can. The Soul/Funk/R&B section took the biggest hit, as it was located directly below where the water flowed into the store near the south wall. There, wet, sagging posters and drywall paper could be seen peeling away from the walls on Wednesday.
Even In 2017, The Beatles Dominate The Bestselling Vinyl Albums List: In 2017, The Beatles score not just the bestselling vinyl title, but the top two, which is an incredible feat considering the band hasn’t released anything new in decades. Coming in first place is Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which sold 72,000 records last year. That’s still a small sum when it comes to album sales across formats, but those kinds of numbers haven’t been seen in decades when looking solely at vinyl. The success of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was likely due to a remastered version that was released in mid-2017, which helped the title rocket to No. 1 in the U.K. and to hit the top five here in the States. Fans of the group also snapped up fellow Beatles standard Abbey Road en masse, as it comes in second place with 66,000 units.
Why I Still Buy Music in the Age of Spotify: I’ve been collecting for around ten years now, and it shows. Not only on my shelves—on my bank account. According to my Discogs account, my collection is worth somewhere around $15,000 (to my wife’s chagrin). I probably spend anywhere from $50 to $200 a month on records. But, I also spend $10 a month for Spotify Premium. This subscription service gives me access to almost every record on my shelves (except for So by Peter Gabriel, which is a crime), plus millions of other songs. And I’ll be the first to admit that I can’t really tell that big of a difference between analog and digital sound. So why do I do this to myself? Why do I waste all of this money on a clunky outdated medium when I can already listen to that music through my Spotify account?
4 Pro Tips for Pressing Vinyl: This summer, Kindercore Vinyl opened our record pressing plant in Athens, Georgia with brand new, state-of-the-art WarmTone presses from Viryl Technologies. Since the mid-1990s, we have all worked as touring musicians, record label owners, audio engineers, and record store owners before getting into record manufacturing. Having dealt with pressing plants as customers before, we are especially qualified to help you navigate through the complicated process of getting a record made. Everything we love about listening to records, and all the various issues you can run into while making them, stem from the fact that pressing records is, ultimately, a physical process. Many of us musicians that came of age in the era of CDs and digital downloads tend to think that our work on an album is complete once it is mastered. In vinyl record production, there are still many more decisions to make before pressing begins, and all of those decisions will affect how your record sounds and looks.
