CDs, Vinyl Records, Cassette Tapes! Indie Music Market Musika Is Back: In Malaysia, the reports of the death of record-buying culture and the end of physical music formats have been greatly exaggerated. Even with the shuttering of several popular record stores – notably three Rock Corner outlets, Love Music and diggers’ favourite Joe’s Mac – in the Klang Valley last year, there’s still a hardcore following of music lovers keeping the art of collecting alive. There is some truth in The Smiths’ song There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. The annual Musika independent music market, set to return at The Gasket Alley, Section 13 in Petaling Jaya on April 1, promises to bring much-needed cheer to record collectors who have been cut adrift by the closure of so many mainstream music stores. This year’s event is billed Crate:Musika, with support from entertainment company FWD.
DJ duo open new Stroud record shop: Stroud is set to become a vinyl haven as another record shop officially opens its doors this Saturday. With a number of popular DJ collectives in Stroud and Dursley and new venues such as the Marshall Rooms opening, it only seems fitting that Stroud now has two record shops. The new shop, Sound Records in Gloucester Street, hopes to meet the growing demand for vinyl records in the town, which is thought to be due to the explosion of DJ culture in the district. Sound Records is a partnership between local DJs and record dealers Sean Roe and Tom Monobrow. Both have an extensive knowledge of all genres and they also promise regularly rotated stock to draw collectors to the town. Tom explained that a varied selection of vinyl will be on offer.
Atomic Pop Shop record store to close its doors this summer: BATON ROUGE, LA – The Atomic Pop Shop record store on Government Street will close after the end of May. The store’s owner, Kerry Beary, told WAFB she will be moving her operation to Charlotte, North Carolina despite the record store’s success in Baton Rouge. “I’m sad to leave, but excited for the opportunity in Charlotte.” The record store owner did not go into detail about her new operation, but said she hopes to have it open in 18 months. Beary is currently in talks with a buyer who is “very interested” in purchasing the Baton Rouge record store, but declined to give further information on the matter. If the buyer does purchase the Atomic Pop Shop, it will operate under a different name. Beary said sales at The Atomic Pop Shop, which first opened in 2011, increased by 20 percent each year. She also said 2017 was the shop’s most successful year ever.
Gary Burden, Designer of Famous Album Covers, Dies at 84: Gary Burden, who beginning in the late 1960s designed memorable album covers for Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, the Doors and numerous other stars of rock and folk-rock, died on March 7 in Los Angeles. He was 84. His wife and frequent collaborator, Jenice Heo, confirmed the death. No cause was given. Working in the predigital era, when music was sold primarily on vinyl and artists were often trying to make a personal statement with their albums, Mr. Burden created cover after cover that seared their way into the minds of fans. He designed the first Crosby, Stills & Nash album in 1969, featuring a Henry Diltz photograph of the three on a ragged couch. He also designed the cover of Ms. Mitchell’s acclaimed 1971 album, “Blue,” a striking close-up of the singer in blue and black tones. He put the Eagles in Wild West regalia for “Desperado” and Mr. Young in a cheesy yellow jacket for “On the Beach” (1974). Among his most recent work was Conor Oberst’s “Salutations,” released last year.
Vinyl World Congress, Brighton Metropole, UK May 15th and 16th: Vinyl World Congress is an international B2B summit dedicated to vinyl record manufacturing much like the Making Vinyl event held last November in Detroit and returning there this coming October. Note that this, like Making Vinyl, is a “B2B” event and is not aimed at consumers. However, many Analog Planet readers were disappointed to not know about the Making Vinyl event sufficiently in advance to attend and meet the “movers and shakers,” though the cost was somewhat stiff, as it is for this event which is why we are publicizing it here. That said, if you want to meet industry leaders, “Vinyl World Congress is the place to be.” On hand will be representatives from record press manufacturers Viryl Industries, Newbilt and Pheenix Alpha. Also attending will be GZ Media, Discogs, and representatives from Universal Music Group, PIAS, Rough Trade and others.
Can One Company Catalog Every Record Ever Made? Discogs’ ambitions have grown from being a simple database for record collectors to scouring the globe for music no one even knows exists. At tech conferences and venture-capital firms around the world, web developers and programmers love to mention the buzzy idea that their app or site is going to “disrupt” the status quo, even if that rarely comes to pass. But for almost 20 years, Discogs has managed to actually rattle the cages of the music industry and the undulating marketplace for buying and selling physical copies of albums. Now, it’s trying to expand its reach around the globe and find all the music that’s never been found before…This disruption is starting to trickle down into brick-and-mortar shops and record dealers, who are utilizing the information on Discogs concerning previous sales of a particular record to figure out what they can safely sell it for.
