Are Rochester’s music stores fading out?: A tight-knit community is not always a bulletproof one, however, and the antisocial nature of music streaming’s accessibility and convenience has reduced how much people seek out their local and tangible music community. This is seen not just in the struggles that record store’s have faced, but in other areas such as music journalism as well…To many, there’s something particularly sad about the closing of a record store. You lose a community space, an exciting relationship between you and tangible music. In Rochester, these places are integral to underlooked art and culture, which only intensifies the loss. All these stores rely on patronage above all in order to keep doing what they do. People are quick to decry the loss of music stores and communities, but this is often too little too late.
Wilmington couple banks on resurgence in vinyl records: Rich Fisher grew up in the city that birthed Motown, was “spoon-fed” Led Zeppelin as a child and had his appetite for music satiated during the three years he spent in Europe serving in the U.S. military. “At some point in our lives, music means a whole bunch,” Fisher said. “It never left me.” Now, 17 years after becoming one of the few to beat pancreatic cancer, Fisher, whose sickness left him a diabetic, is trying his hand at owning a vinyl record store – and in the process, starting to get rid of the vinyl collection that his wife and business partner, Kim Gold, was tired of seeing grow. Fisher and Gold opened SqueezeBox Records a little more than two weeks ago at 1901 W. 11th St. near Trolley Square in Wilmington. The building was formerly used by Parisi Carpets.
Music Biz 2018 Independent Spirit Award Goes to Radakovitz Family and Their Iconic Sacramento Chain Dimple Records: The Music Business Association (Music Biz) will present its prestigious Independent Spirit Award to the Radakovitz Family, owners of the iconic Sacramento, CA-based record store chain Dimple Records, during the Music Biz 2018 conference’s Awards Breakfast — sponsored by the Country Music Association — on Wednesday, May 16, at the Omni Nashville Hotel. “Over the last three-plus decades, the Radakovitz Family and Dimple Records have shown tremendous dedication to the independent music community, ensuring that their stores are not only retail spaces, but also gathering spots for the local music scene,” said James Donio, President of Music Biz. “They perfectly embody the core values of innovative thinking, entrepreneurship, and success that stand at the heart of the Independent Spirit Award, and we are thrilled to present them with this honor.”
The Art of Vinyl Covers 2018: Vinyl is currently coming alive and therefore all the artful covers of the last decades raising our awareness again. They show us true music and design history in an inspiring way. Now the world’s first tear-off calendar with 365 vinyl covers from the last five decades will be published. Including famous and less known artists of all genres, true classics but also scurrilities. In addition to the daily music inspirations and eye candies, all responsible cover photographers, illustrators and art directors are mentioned. A must have for all vinyl lovers and design nerds!
How to create a sustainable future for vinyl: Ten years after the world’s biggest band encouraged us to pay what we wanted for a digital download, the UK is on the brink of a 2,000% increase in vinyl sales…However, that is of course only half the story. With such exponential growth has come a number of increasingly prescient issues. Questions around production delays have been around for several years, as every part of the supply chain struggles to meet demand. Labels are feeling the squeeze, particularly at the lower end, as release schedules become increasingly unmanageable. And customers who have seen prices rise are beginning to perceive a fall in quality, attributable in part to the previous two factors.
New Pro-Ject record cleaner keeps your vinyl healthy for longer: Every vinyl fan should take care of their records, but even the most meticulous of us can’t entirely avoid a build-up of debris getting into the grooves of your favourite disc – which means your music doesn’t sound as pristine as it should. Pro-Ject has a way of fixing that: the VC-S MK II. This is an upgrade to the original VC-S record-cleaning machine, which came out last year – though there are still a fair few similarities between the two. The vacuum technology remains the same – a record can be dried in two rotations – but the motor has been replaced by a lower-noise variant that’s also capable of dual-directional rotation. This means you should get a deeper cleaning of the groove.
