Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh reacts to death of beloved record seller Jerry Weber: Anyone with a taste for vinyl in Pittsburgh knows Jerry’s Records. The Squirrel Hill establishment attracted crate-digging music lovers for decades, including some famous people passing through Pittsburgh, and was ranked by Rolling Stone among the best record stores in the world. This is why so many were hit hard by the news that the store’s longtime former owner, Jerry Weber, passed away on Jan. 28 at the age of 73. “Jerry was a local legend who brought the love of vinyl to the area and more importantly the appreciation of music to many generations,” reads Weber’s online obituary. “Jerry loved to bring happiness and music appreciation to everyone he encountered. He will be eternally missed and infinitely loved.” From what a Pittsburgh City Paper article once called a “vast vinyl catacomb, a collector’s paradise glutted with crates upon crates of good records for cheap,” Weber bought and sold records for nearly five decades. The Jerry’s website touts itself as being home to “half a million albums, 12″ singles, 45s, and EPs.”
Miami, FL | Passion For Music Created Found Sound Records: NoMi store is a vinyl lover’s treasure chest: Blink and you’ll miss it but tucked away inside a small strip mall with a tight parking lot is Found Sound Records. Inside you’ll find Ralph Pichardo, a Miami native whose love of music and being around music lovers drives his passion. Gracing the storefront is Pichardo’s own logo design for his shop, with a note to all passersby and those coming in that they “Buy, Sell and Trade Vinyl Records.” “I have a passion for listening to and discovering new music,” said Pichardo. “I got into records back in the mid-90s through hip-hop music and sampling records to make beats.” A Miami native born and raised in Perrine, it was his love of hip-hop music that drove Pichardo to inevitably either start rapping or making beats; he chose the latter. That led to scouring selections at record and thrift stores and flea markets buying any album that looked interesting to him, and using those records for sampling.
UK | If Neil Young and Joni Mitchell bring down Spotify can we all go back to vinyl records? I like vinyl records. CDs too, but vinyl is best. I don’t do streaming. I can’t relate to the idea that everything should be in one place. It diminishes the individual performance, the individual performer. So you can understand, perhaps, why Neil Young and Joni Mitchell just went up in my estimation. Music is one of the true essentials of the human condition, along with health, food, clean water, fresh air, nature and a roof to call home. And our music-listening habits deserve infinitely more thoughtful custodians than Spotify. So Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s principled decision to renounce Spotify and remove their music from its clutches is a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Spotify’s streaming service is a grotesque presence in world music. In 2020 streaming platforms laid claim to 83% of the entire US music market. But Spotify is not too picky about some of its clients.
Midland, MI | Michigander, Midland’s Creation Coffee package new vinyl record, coffee blend: Midland natives support each other’s endeavors. Longtime friends Jason Singer and Ben Marsh’s collaborations pay tribute to the hometown of Midland where they got their starts. Singer, also known by his band’s moniker “Michigander,” recently released a vinyl record titled “Midland,” while his Marsh, co-owner of Creation Coffee, created a special blend called “Made in Midland.” Singer and Marsh met in high school and stayed in touch as they went through college. Despite their different passions and career paths, they have continued to encourage each other along the way. “Ben helped me figure out that music was the right thing for me. Then, Ben figured out coffee was the right thing for him,” Singer said. “When things are working out, like this project, it’s cool to see those two things (music and coffee) coincide,” Marsh added.
Bandcamp shares rare stats including how much better it is for new music than Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music: Bandcamp has shared a rare look at some of the stats driving the popular indie destination including it’s superior track record of new music discovery and monetization. 50% of the money spent each month on Bandcamp is for music released in the past 90 days and 75% is for music released in the past year, according to stats shared last week. Compare that to the music streaming services that dominate consumption where 73.1% of music consumption is of older or catalog music and you see Bandcamp’s clear advantage for new releases. Catalog music is defined as more than 18 months after its release. Bandcamp is now also promoting its integrated Bandcamp Live live stream platform as a good way to market new releases. Deerhoof recently threw a listening party to launch their new record, Dominique Fils-Aime live-streamed from the same studio where she recorded her latest album, and Children of Zeus hosted an album release event with fans.
UK | Play it again: classic tunes like Bowie’s are music to young ears: Young people are no longer cringing at their parents’ musical tastes as golden oldies dominate streaming services and record purchases. Music industry data from Britain and the US shows a turning away from the latest releases, as people rediscover music that is a year or more, often much more, past its release date. Old records by artists such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen accounted for 70 per cent of album consumption across formats in America last year, despite blockbuster releases from Adele and Ed Sheeran. At the same time, consumption of new music fell for the first time since MRC Data, who compiled the research, started tracking streaming in 2008. The figures mirrored those from Britain. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the record label
ZA | Shifting vinyl with my grandfather’s records: I have a thread of memories of sitting outside the scorching heat of my grandmother’s house in Durban, catching some shade under the mango trees with my grandfather. I would sit next to him, watching his slow, coarse fingers roll tobacco. At times he would sprinkle some marijuana in, smoking this with head bobbing as if he were chasing a particular groove only he could hear. Vinyl records were playing. None of our conversations ever touched on vinyl as a medium. He would only ever dwell on the sounds, places, eras and communities of people who shared his affinity for music. We would have our first conversation about vinyl when I started collecting records. It then dawned on me that we entered this exchange from very different perspectives.
