Can Vinyl Save the Music Industry? Gen X, Gen Z and millennials are all buying into the vinyl hype, as sales increase steadily. In a time when most music is almost free and at your fingertips, however, will LPs play long enough to bring the music industry back in tune? …RIAA data shows that 25-to-34-year-olds and 18-to-24-year-olds accounted for 19 and 16 per cent respectively of U.S. new vinyl sales in 2018. This is valuable to artists who are not being paid what they’d like to be on streaming services. For artists, selling other merchandise has become increasingly important. Luckily for them, some fans are willing to pay for exclusive merchandise and experiences on crowdfunding platforms. A 2013 Indiegogo campaign for the Canadian band Protest The Hero raised nearly $450,000 to fund an album and 1,299 copies of the signed, limited-edition vinyl LP were claimed as rewards. Katy Perry has a vinyl record coming out soon. It’s a record-first release but her truest “Katy Cats” will surely snatch up those 4,000 copies to hold a piece of their favourite artist in their hands.
Long Beach, CA | Long Beach record store and marijuana dispensary partner to host free concert: The dispensary ShowGrow, which has a business location in Long Beach, partnered with local record store Analog Records on Nov. 9 to host Cozy Sesh 7, a free concert that gave cannabis businesses the opportunity to share information about the recreational marijuana industry with community members. This is the seventh Cozy Sesh event Analog Records has held. The events are free, but attendees have to register online beforehand and space is limited. The featured performers for Cozy Sesh 7 were the musician Cherokee and the group Capyac, who performed on a stage in Analog Record’s parking lot. Throughout the day, disc jockeys also provided music both in the parking lot and the store itself. Cherokee is a French musician signed to the label Roche Musique. His music belongs to the genre French touch, according to Roche Musique’s website.
Detroit, MI | The Detroit roots of hip-hop label Fat Beats run deep: In the early ’90s, hip-hop wasn’t the mainstream cultural behemoth it is today. Back then, hip-hop was still largely a non-commercial art form found in Black and brown communities in cities across the United States. Founded in 1994 by Joe Abajian (aka DJ Jab) in New York City, Fat Beats was a record store that brought these communities together — and quickly became a nerve center for all things hip-hop. Originally located on Manhattan’s lower east side, Fat Beats has played an enormous role in celebrating hip-hop culture in its purest form for the last 25 years. Throughout the ’90s and 2000s, Fat Beats was where you went to cop the latest must-have 12-inch single, chat with fellow hip-hop heads, and catch legendary in-store performances from artists such as Black Star, Organized Konfusion, Outkast, and Common. As the business got going, it didn’t take long for Fat Beats to establish itself as a distribution company and, eventually, a record label. At its height, Fat Beats also had storefronts in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Amsterdam, and Tokyo.
St Petersburg, FL | Daddy Kool Records to join The Factory St. Pete in 2020: Do you love Daddy Kool? Of course you do. We all do. The music hub had long been a staple on the 600 Block before moving to a larger space in the Warehouse Arts District. The record store hosts monthly night markets, live music, and is home to one of the most expansive record collections in all of Tampa Bay. So it makes sense that in 2020 it would join The Factory, a sprawling immersive arts, entertainment, food + drink (and snacks from OrganicCBDNugs) concept. Like we said before, if you’re not following The Factory on Facebook and Instagram, you should change that ASAP. The massive creative destination in the Warehouse Arts District of St. Petersburg is already set to house Fairgrounds, an artist created immersive experience. Residents got a taste of what they can expect from the 12,000-square-foot experimental art exhibit with a live mermaid show at the SHINE finale. Additional concepts such as the eclectic coffee/art/music hub Black Crow Coffee will also open at The Factory next year.
Redditch, UK | Two new shops to open in former covered market area: Vintage Trax is returning with a second shop. Exactly six years to the day since opening in the Kingfisher Centre as a pop up shop, retro record store Vintage Trax is returning with a second shop. Opening at the same time is Vintage Threads, offering vintage clothing, footwear, and accessories, as well as a repairs and alteration service. Owner of Vintage Threads Helen Truman is a seasoned fashion trader having worked at the Regal, a well known psychedelic clothing shop in Soho in the 1980s, and more than 20 years later opened a retro fashion shop at Winyates Barn, Redditch. “It’s an exciting time for both of us” said Ros Sidaway, owner of Vintage Trax. “With the two shops we want to showcase the link between music and fashion over the decades, something that’s not really as visible these days. “We hope to draw in music and vintage fashion lovers of all ages, especially those from the ‘new’ town areas of Redditch.”
Here’s a first look at the packaging of Robert Plant’s new vinyl box set: Robert Plant is releasing a new vinyl singles box set titled Digging Deep on December 13 – and now photographs of the box set’s packaging have been published. The eight 7-inch vinyl records are stored in a hardback book, according to photographs from the Rhino music store website where it’s on sale for £80. The cover art uses a painting that was previously featured in the packaging of the 12-inch vinyl record release of “I Believe.” …“Robert Plant is celebrating the second season of his hugely popular podcast, Digging Deep with Robert Plant, with the release of a very special limited edition 7’’ singles box set. Digging Deep includes 16 A-sides and rare B-sides spanning three decades, remastered versions available on vinyl for the first time. The eight-disc collection also features restored artwork from the original 7’’ releases, packaged in a bespoke hardback book.”
ABBA’s ‘Happy New Year’ Returns In Limited Clear Vinyl Edition: The track from ‘Super Trouper’ is being pressed as a limited edition single on different-coloured vinyl to celebrate each new year. ABBA’s anthemic ‘Happy New Year’ will be available, for fans who are quick off the mark, as a collector’s edition, 7-inch, clear vinyl single with unique artwork. The track from the group’s 1980 Super Trouper album will be limited to 4000 copies worldwide, and released by Polar/USM on 6 December. ‘Happy New Year’ is being pressed as a limited edition single on different-coloured vinyl each year to celebrate the new year. The new release follows 2018’s white vinyl run of just 3000 copies, which sold out in no time. The b-side of the 2019 edition is, once again, the Spanish language version of the song, ‘Felicidad.’ Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA wrote ‘Happy New Year’ during a working holiday in Barbados. The song had the working title ‘Daddy Don’t Get Drunk On Christmas Day,’ for which the backing track was recorded in February 1980 with vocals, including the lead by Agnetha Fältskog, added in April. The video was made in the autumn, around the time that Super Trouper was being released as the quartet’s seventh studio album.
