Tarrytown, NY | Tarrytown Music Hall Brings Vinyl Back: Rivertown record-lovers are in for a treat. Last month, The Tarrytown Music Hall opened a record store on its premises, Marquee Records, which sells new and vintage vinyl at a discounted price. And the best part: proceeds go directly to the theater. The store, located on the second floor of the Music Hall right above the marquee, is the brainchild of lifelong Tarrytown resident Greg Jacquin, a singer/songwriter who has been volunteering at the Tarrytown Music Hall for the past few years (and has performed on its stage.) When the theater closed during the beginning of the pandemic, Jacquin came up with the idea of selling donated records to help keep the venue afloat. After a two-day sale profited close to eight thousand dollars, the music hall—or more specifically Executive Director Bjorn Olsson and Theater Manager Karina Ringe—were inspired to open a real record shop in one of the music hall’s offices.
Seattle, WA | Meet the record store aspiring to be the U-District’s newest creative space: In January, vinyl collector and business owner Ken Tomkins moved into a space on the north end of the Ave that would soon become Seattle Records, a store specializing in vinyl and multilingual books. With only a fraction of students living on campus during the 2020-21 school year and the continued digitization of so many aspects of life, businesses in the U-District were hurting. However, aided by the recent vinyl revival and a massive collection of inventory, Tomkins took to the Ave in search of a space that would spur community gathering. Prior to opening the storefront, Tomkins sold records and books online via e-commerce sites like Amazon. Among his concerns were the isolation and high fees associated with online sales. After six years, Tomkins made the transition to a physical store, hoping to create a space that could serve as a meeting place instead of just a retail shop. “It’s good to have physical places,” Tomkins said. “People need physical reality, not just online.”
Athens, OH | New vinyl store opens in Athens: The record store Republic of Athens Records, or ROAR, held its grand opening Nov. 19 and Nov. 20. ROAR, 79 1/2 E. State St., started as a pop-up in Little Professor Book Center, located at 65 S. Court St., back in July. After hearing the positive feedback from the customers, Athens resident and founder Michael Wood decided to transition to a storefront. “Certainly, the overwhelming number of people coming in every day and saying, ‘Hey, this is so great. We needed this’ (was an indication),” Wood said. “People have wanted the store for a long time.” Lisa Kieliszewski, owner of The Standard Salon, leased the extra room she had to Wood, providing the space he needed to open his store. In the spirit of its grand opening, ROAR raffled off autographed memorabilia and special edition records. ROAR gave away an autographed copy of British rock band IDLES’ album Joy as an Act of Resistance as well as Patrick Paige II’s album If I Fail Are We Still Cool? Both albums are special finds, and customers had to stop in the store to be eligible to win.
Melbourne, AU | Soundmerch launches record store in Melbourne: Independent Australian music merchandise company Soundmerch has launched a new record and merchandise store in Melbourne. Open now, the store can be found on Oxford St, Collingwood and is open every day. The store is set to host in-house performances, exclusive merchandise drops, album signings and more. …“When Covid hit…..touring died off, and we found a massive increase with our online sales. The business flipped on its head overnight,” he said. “The online store went insane and became the main part of what we do. Artists were pushing their merch online, for many it became their main source of income. We were the facilitator between bands and their fans. “Previously we were all about the production of merch for touring. Then it turned and was all about the production of merch for online. With that came a massive uptake and demand for vinyl records. So we started stocking more and more titles. To the point where we could (and did) open a real life record store.”
Vinyl becoming a forever format says Futuresource: Vinyl is on its way to becoming a ‘forever format’, safe from the whims of technology and fads. That’s the view of the market research specialist Futuresource. In its latest Vinyl Market Outlook report, analyst Alexandre Jornod predicts healthy levels of growth in the next few years, even as rival physical format CD declines. According to market stats, the pandemic led to an additional growth spurt for the vinyl format. Consumer spending jumped 23 per cent to $1.7 billion, primarily achieved during the second half of 2020. Buyers have invested in new turntables, and looked to actively support artists who are driving new releases on the format. The smart money suggests 2021 will be an even stronger year for vinyl, as enthusiasts return to record stores and attend concerts. “Lockdowns have created particularly favourable market conditions for vinyl sales, with fans looking to engage with and support artists during a time without live events,” suggests Jornod.
How the vinyl shortage is affecting the grassroots music scene: Changing timelines, new formats and delayed tours… here’s how and why the vinyl shortage is having such an impact on smaller scenes. We all know by now that vinyl is properly back. Sales have overtaken CDs for the first time since 1986, having pretty constantly remained popular in the DIY and grassroots scenes but now firmly returning to the mainstream. And all sorts of artists are looking to capitalise on this: from major label pop stars who are aiming for a high chart position, to legacy acts reissuing their back-catalogues. However, as vinyl’s popularity reaches new heights, supply hasn’t risen with it. Currently, only one plant in the world – MDC in Japan – can produce the lacquer disks needed to make records. There just aren’t enough resources to get vinyl to all who want it, and although everyone is affected, the bigger labels and artists have more money and resources to tackle the issue.
Phish Announce 12-LP ‘The Clifford Ball’ Box Set: Phish have announced that for the 25th anniversary of their acclaimed two-day festival, The Clifford Ball, they’ll be releasing a new 12-LP box set that features every note from the landmark event that drew more than 70,000 fans to Plattsburgh, N.Y. in August of 1996. The collection is now available for pre-order at Phish Dry Goods and will hit record stores on March 4, 2022.The Clifford Ball was the first of six two-day spectacles the band staged, including The Great Went a year later, Lemonwheel in 1998, and Big Cypress – the largest ticketed concert in the world for the millennium celebrations, which drew over 90,000. The event was held at a decommissioned Air Force base, during which Phish played two marathon concerts that included multiple guests.The box set features eight hours of music, with six complete sets recorded live on Aug. 16 & 17, 1996, fully mixed and masters and pressed on 12-LPS with audio recorded by Paul Languedoc and vinyl mastered and lacquers cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
IE | Tom Dunne: The deeply personal record collection that stopped me in my tracks: The place of these albums in this person’s life, intimately connected to milestones and happy times was palpable. …Once, Philomena Lynott had invited me to look at Philo’s records in her house in Malahide. There were albums from his teens and his time in Britain. There was even an acetate (test pressing) of Live and Dangerous with handwritten notes from, producer, Tony Visconti. But one had stopped me in my tracks, made me put the albums back as I had found them and thank Mrs Lynott for her time. It was not a well-known album at all but it had been inscribed with the words: ‘Caroline Crowther, Christmas 1973′. It had obviously belonged to his wife, bought by or given to her long before she’d met Philo. It must have ended up with his the way all couples’ record collections get mixed up together when they first meet. Holding it, this little bit of their shared past, suddenly felt intrusive.
