UK | Vinyl sales surge 13.2% in 2023 ahead of Black Friday and blockbuster Q4: Vinyl sales have surged by 13.2% year-on-year for the first nine months of 2023. According to data from the BPI, 3,952,262 vinyl LPs were sold during the year to the end of September. The year-on-year increase was ahead of the 12.4% growth for the first half of 2023. At 15.1%, the year-on-year increase was even bigger during the three months of the Q3 period. A total of 1,237,620 vinyl LPs were sold in the quarter. Vinyl sales increased by a fairly modest 2.9% in 2022, but double-digit growth for the format looks likely to return for 2023. With a potential blockbuster Q4 line-up – including albums from Take That, the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift – vinyl is set for another strong quarter during the gifting season.
NY | Looking for vinyl records? Here is where can find them throughout the Lower Hudson Valley: Turntables are turning the tables: There’s a host of Putnam, Rockland and Westchester stores that sell vinyl records, defying 1980s predictions of the music format’s extinction. “They never really actually went away, but they’ve been steadily on the increase over the last 10 years,” Jennifer O’Connor, a co-owner of Main Street Beat in Nyack, said of vinyl records. “It’s definitely gotten more and more popularity each passing year.” Main Street Beat sells both new and used vinyl — of new and classic artists — as well as books and vintage clothing and, yes, cassettes, too. “I think the physical medium is really what it is that people are into. I think a lot of younger people grew up without any sort of product they could hold when listening to music,” O’Connor said.
Duluth, MN | Hayward record and book store will move to Duluth: A Superior native and long-time music collector who haunted some legendary, long-lost Twin Ports area record stores plans to open his own shop in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District. Todd Hanson, owner of Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, has announced plans to open a new store in the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. this fall. The store will be called River City Records and Books. Hanson said he will consolidate his Hayward store, which opened in 2017, and a former store in Rice Lake, Wis. at the new Duluth location. Dury Nelson will serve as the store manager. “We’re just going to go bigger in a bigger population,” he said. Hanson said the new store will have a major music focus offering new and used records in a wide variety of genres including jazz, funk, soul, reggae, punk, heavy metal and classic rock.
Austin, TX | Family-ran convention draws in vinyl-loving crowds, cultivates resurgence of Austin music scene: On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, musically-inclined Hilltoppers were presented with an excellent array of over 3,000 collectible vinyls, cassettes, CDs, posters and memorabilia dating as far back the 1930s at the Palmer Events Center. Here, the Austin Record Convention was unfolding, receiving attendees from all over the world. Since 1981, the Hanners family has operated as the ARC’s administrative head. Doug Hanners, a Texas musical historian, is largely responsible for the institution that the convention is today. Despite the thousands of attendees, the Hanners’ leadership is not authoritarian. Instead, it is more akin to a hosting family running a family reunion. “Doug is always around greeting old friends and meeting new friends.” His son, Nathan Hanners, said when asked about his father. “It’s like a giant family.”
San Diego, CA | Re-Animated Records works weird magic: “It was scary to double our overhead, but scarier to not take the chance.” Re-Animated Records, in the heart of La Mesa’s bustling downtown “village,” is a monster of a record store — in more ways than one. It’s named after the Lovecraftian horror comedy Re-Animator, which is about a medical student who finds a way to re-animate corpses. Proprietor Nicholas Friesen might be said to have done the same with the supposedly moribund model of the brick-and-mortar music shop and its bins of vinyl records through which the curious might flip. Friesen, the former manager of the local mini-chain Music Trader and an avid eBay seller, had a sizable collection of used LPs, CDs and DVDs, and a passion for both vinyl albums and horror movies. Six years ago, he and his wife took over an empty storefront on La Mesa Boulevard, painted the walls bright green and started to work their weird magic.
Newtown, CT | Friends Of Edmond Town Hall Hosting Charity Vinyl Record Sale: The Friends of Edmond Town Hall has teamed up with promoter Record Riots to host a record sale on Oct. 22. The resurgence of vinyl sales among music fans has been going on for some time now. The Friends of Edmond Town Hall (501c3) has teamed up with promoter Record Riots to host a Record Sale on Sunday, October 22, 2023, at 10AM (Early Birds 8AM) until 5PM in the Edmond Town Hall gym, 45 Main Street in Newtown, CT. Record Riots will present 40+ Vendors with over 15,000 LP’s, CD’s and 45’s. Watson House Brewery, The Grumpy Dumpling and Kash & Liv Coffee Creations will also be onsite to nourish attendees while they mingle with fellow music enthusiasts. Julie Brunelle, co-chair of Friends of Edmond Town Hall said, “There’s nothing like the thrill of thumbing through a crate of vinyl and finding the album you have always wanted.”
Los Altos, CA | Record collecting forges deeper connections: …The entire ritual of playing a record is sacred to me, the record I choose to play hinging completely on how I’m feeling and what sort of music fits my mood. From browsing my collection to choosing the record, gently removing it from its sleeve, placing it on the turntable and waiting for the music to start as some slight crackling surface sounds are heard, it’s all intentional. Even looking for albums – whether it’s The Beatles’ “Yesterday and Today” album released in 1966 with the notorious butcher cover or what I’m currently looking for, Dolly Parton’s 1974 album “Love Is Like a Butterfly” – is an intentional endeavor. Sometimes a record shop visit can be a hunt, and though it’s hard to find certain albums, the feeling of finding what you’ve been looking for for such a long time is unforgettable.
This Record Cleaner Makes Your Favorite Vintage Vinyl Sound Like It Was Pressed Yesterday: A record washer, with a little help from some top audio gear, brings your dusty vinyls back to life (without the crackling and skips). While there’s always debate about the best way to listen to music, I’ve always been partial to vinyl records. It may be because there’s a slightly “truer” sound captured on it, or simply because the act of putting one on feels so much more intentional than hitting play on Spotify. I find myself enjoying albums new and old even more when I see them spinning on a turntable. That’s the case, at least, until that very record I was gushing over inevitably begins crackling and popping or even worse, skipping. It happens often, especially for the vintage shop finds and yard sale gems that collectors like me seek to flesh out their catalogues. Even when paired with the perfect record player, vinyl records can sound grainy and full of static if they aren’t properly cared for over time. For any of your vinyls that never quite sounded right or have begun to sound worse over time, this Spin-Clean record washer might be exactly what you need.
