Vinyl Bay 777 Quickly Becoming Best New Independent Record Shop on Long Island: Over the last year, Vinyl Bay 777 has become one of the hottest new record shops on Long Island. Featuring a wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassette tapes, DVDs, memorabilia and more, plus friendly staff to help you make the perfect selection, it’s easy to see why in under a year this store is set to be a big player in the long island music market. Vinyl Bay 777 and vinylbay777.com are an extension of local businessman Frank Napoli’s successful eBay shop. Opening at 101-14 Dupont Street in Plainview, NY in November 2015, the shop is filled wall-to wall with vinyl records, CDs, cassettes and music memorabilia.
Record setter: Backstreet Records founder still feelin’ groovy: It was 1979 when Gordie Tufts first thought about opening a record store. “Record prices were creeping up to — get this — like $8.98, and people were complaining that was too pricey,” said Tufts, the owner of Backstreet Records in Saint John and Fredericton. On a trip to Halifax,Tufts noticed two stores dealing in used records and collectibles. He came back to Saint John with a novel idea: a used record store in the uptown. The first Backstreet Records shop opened in 1980 in the Ritchie Building, a few doors from O’Leary’s Pub on Princess Street.
El Guapo Records to offer old school vinyl records in Tyler: For the last three months, Aristeo Rodriguez, 36, of Tyler, has been working to turn an empty retail space on Broadway Avenue — just south of downtown — into a record store. The bins at El Guapo Records are being filled and the record players are spinning and playing vinyl records that some may think don’t even exist. “I’ve been a music geek my whole life,” Rodriguez said. “I’m setting up my store and making it into a place that represents how I would want to be treated when I go into a record store.” The resurgence of vinyl records in pop culture has been happening across the country for the last few years. This has given entrepreneurs like Rodriguez, someone who has always dreamed of having a music store, the opportunity to contribute to the continued revitalization of downtown Tyler.
Hundreds scour Woodlands for music on vinyl: Forget iTunes, Spotify or Pandora. Old-format music, such as vinyl 45s and albums, was on display Sunday afternoon at the Woodlands Inn. The NEPA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Record and CD Fair brought 25 dealers and their thousands of albums to the facility, according to fair organizer Jack Skutnik. Skutnik, of Binghamton, N.Y., said records are “creeping back” in a digital age, where cellphones and MP3 players allow for music at the touch of a button. All artists are currently selling vinyl records, including the likes of Beyonce and Lana del Ray, he said.
Is the Hype for Vinyl Killing the Record? It was just last month that we were exploring the real story behind our vinyl obsession, which came in the wake of a deluge of vinyl-related developments that included a levitating turntable, record spinning in space, and amazing holographic record players. With the hype not looking to let up any time soon, a report from FACT Magazine suggests that the surge in demand in recent years is responsible for undermining vinyl’s manufacturing. “The music industry has been celebrating a surge of interest in one of its most beloved artifacts: the vinyl record,” Fact Magazine writes.
David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ vinyl artwork holds more undiscovered secrets, says designer: David Bowie‘s ‘Blackstar‘ album artwork has even more undiscovered surprises and secrets, says the sleeve’s designer Jonathan Barnbook. Earlier this year, fans discovered that by leaving the vinyl sleeve exposed to sunlight, the artwork transformed to reveal a galaxy of stars. Described by ‘Blackstar’s producer and Bowie’s longtime collaborator as his ‘parting gift’, it seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Speaking to Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music, Barnbrook said that there are still surprises hidden in the artwork that fans are yet to discover.
Buying Used Records-A Primer: The level of knowledge among record sellers varies widely, regardless of whether they are established dealers, individuals trying to unload vinyl that they accumulated or inherited, or regular online sellers who do used vinyl as a side business. Even dealers and knowledgeable sellers cannot know everything within every genre. Treat all the information provided by a seller with a degree of skepticism– not because the seller is intentionally misleading but because you must verify what pressing is being offered as well as its condition.
Metallica Set ‘Blackened Friday’ Event for ‘Hardwired’ Release, Heavy metal act aligns with independent record stores to give out exclusive items with new LP purchases: Metallica will mark the November 18th arrival of their new LP Hardwired… to Self-Destruct with a Blackened Friday event and contest at independent record stores nationwide. The event, a spin on Record Store Day’s Black Friday, kicks off at 11:59 p.m. local time at hundreds of record stores that will stay open until midnight to sell the heavy metal act’s new LP. Fans participating in the midnight sale will be eligible for free stuff like limited edition vinyl slipmats and posters, the band wrote. The Blackened Friday contest itself begins the next day, with the grand prize winner receiving Hardwired… to Self-Destruct in a variety of formats, including the deluxe box set and a test pressing of the new LP.
