Vinyl album sales outstripped digital downloads for the first time last week: Vinyl is killing the MP3 industry. Who said vinyl sales were slowing? According to new data revealed by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), more money was spent on vinyl album sales than digital album downloads in the UK last week. Sharing the data with The Vinyl Factory, ERA confirmed that £2.4m was spent on vinyl albums in week 48 of 2016, while only £2.1m was spent on digital downloads. It marks a huge swing from the same week in 2015, when the £1.2m spent on vinyl albums was eclipsed by £4.4m of digital downloads.
Gems of Bengaluru: Surviving in an age of digital downloads is not a struggle for Ramachandran. And that’s probably because he’s not a part of any race. His store is a labour of his love for music. Of course since the bigger music stores came to town, he saw a dip in sales, almost up to 90 per cent, but that wasn’t enough to shut him down. “Not a day has gone without the store making some business, thanks to our goodwill, and the loyal customers,” he says.
Record Cellar, a longtime staple of Rock Hill music, will soon shut its doors: After 40 years of serving the Rock Hill community with his extensive collection of vinyls, [“Vinyls” is not a word. —Ed.] cassettes, CDs and more, the Record Cellar will soon close. With competition from bigger department and specialty stores, Broyhill, 71, and his staff have strived to set their prices low enough to keep customers coming back…The music business has been unpredictable and unforgiving for brick-and-mortar stores, Broyhill said. Despite a recent revival in vinyl appreciation, he said it just isn’t enough to provide the variety of merchandise he’s proud to sell.
The rarest and most expensive vinyl in Manchester’s record shops: Everyone knows that a must have piece of vinyl can set you back a lot of money, with some of the world’s rarest records costing as much as £100,000 to own. You have to know your stuff when it comes to vinyl. It’s not just about the music on the record; collectors care about the condition of the sleeve and inner sleeve, the scuffs and scratches, the colour of the labels, where it was released. Everything from a typo to a number etched into the run off groove can send the value of something skyrocketing or sinking, so anyone building up a collection needs to know what to look out for.
“The Old Record Collector” prepares for landmark 2,000th broadcast: SPRINGFIELD, Mo. Appointment radio is largely a thing of the past. Gone are Sunday nights with Jack Benny and Jello, or Bob Hope for Pepsodent on Tuesday nights. We still have appointment radio in the Ozarks. Saturday mornings belong to Wayne Glenn and his “Remember When” program on KTXR in Springfield. Glenn has been sharing memories and his always-growing record collection with listeners for almost 40 years. On December 10, Glenn will be at the microphone for his 2,000 show.
Vinyl enthusiasts buy, sell and talk records in New Plymouth: The Lambert Twins, Hi-Glow, the Rockettes, Lew Pryme and the Edward Sisters have been gone from the music charts awhile, but they’re not forgotten. A vinyl album featuring the Taranaki United Artists was one treasure picked up by organiser Brian Wafer at a record fair in New Plymouth on Saturday. Several thousand records featuring groups well known and obscure were lined up in boxes on 10 trestle tables at the Blind Foundation Hall, for buyers to rummage through.
Vinyl records making a major resurgence: Before MP3 files on iPods and Bluetooth capability, before CD players and audio tapes, vinyl records were the music industry’s king of sound. For many music enthusiasts, though, whether it be collectors, DJs who want to stay true to their roots or people wanting the unique aesthetic of dropping the needle down and listening to that authentic record sound, desire for vinyl has never diminished. Seattle Goodwill is an excellent option to find some of the most unique, coveted records available.
