Beckley, WV | Vinyl Tracks on Prince Street in Beckley is now closed: An uptown business owner is saying good-bye to Beckley. Clint Blunt opened Vinyl Tracks, a classic record store on Prince Street, in March 2023. The store offered a Saturday farmer’s market and a space for events inside the store, which specialized in vinyl records, cassettes, eight-track tapes and eighties memorabilia, along with original art. Blunt, who helped fundraise for United Way of Southern West Virginia as a dancer in UWSWV Season 10 “Dancing with the Stars” fundraiser, had opened the store shortly after moving to Beckley. “Foot traffic wasn’t what I needed it to be, to stay open,” Blunt said on Thursday, June 6, 2024. “On Saturdays, I found I was one of the only businesses uptown open. There was just no way to sustain it, with that little foot traffic coming through.” He said he is selling his inventory as a lot.
Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles record store stellaremnant is raising funds for relocation: The store has 24 days to find a new home. Los Angeles record shop stellaremnant is raising funds for its relocation. The appointment-only store confirmed the news via Instagram last Thursday, May 30th. “Since 2022 stellaremnant has been offering private record shopping experiences due to forced unlawful eviction and now the time has come to move the shop again,” the post read. “We have 30 days to do so. We’ve never asked for donations to move, but the financial reality of the matter is that we really need your help this time to keep the dream alive.” Specialising in electronic music, stellaremnant was launched online in 2015 by owners Ed Vertov and Katya Tretya, before opening a physical location Downtown in 2018. In 2022, the shop was threatened with eviction for the first time, but was able to remain open by adapting to a private, appointment-only model.
Lansing, MI | LCC Vinyl Record Club spins the hits: There is a good chance that if you have attended an event around campus in the last few years, you have interacted with the Vinyl Record Club at LCC. Established in 2021, the club has spun records at RSO fundraisers, resources fairs, and even at the StarScapes showcases in the past. “Promoting LCC as a place where everyone can find a place to belong is the central tentpole of our club,” said Sarah Eubanks, former president and current co-adviser of the Vinyl Record Club. “What better way is there to do that than to literally plug in and amplify a variety of music, picked out by our students?” According to Club Secretary Simon Medina, the Vinyl Record Club is “just as much about building community as it is about the music itself.”
Cannock, UK | Music enthusiasts expected to turn out in Cannock for record fair: A music fan is bringing a record fair to Cannock for the first time and has chosen one of the town’s best known live venues to stage it. Smiths fan Michael Stanier has set up a company called Golden Lights Record Fairs – it is named after one of the band’s singles. The Stoke-On-Trent based music enthusiast, who admits his tastes are based around Indie and Brit Pop, hopes to continue the resurgence of vinyl and classic records when the event is staged at The Station, Stafford Road on Sunday June 16. The venue is known for staging live music and around 12 exhibitors are booked to appear from all genres and eras of music. Michael said: “The first one I held was in Kidsgrove and that was big success – people came from far and wide and the stall holders were very pleased with the response.
Vinyl collectors: Seal it to preserve or keep it accessible for the turntable? Jeremy Downs’ Audio Media Grading gives the collector the option to seal valuable vinyl records permanently, as the company “provides preservation, archiving, display, grading, authentication, and other services to collectors, buyers, and sellers of audio media products.” For vinyl collectors—and collectors of anything, really—functionality has long been at odds with the fear of self-inflicted destruction. After all, we love these fetishized pieces of history. And we often pay big bucks for them, meaning we want them around for the long haul. But then again, when it comes to vinyl records, we want to play them. We collect vinyl because we love the tactile experience of laying a slab of wax on a turntable. It’s singular to vinyl, and really, no other form of music listening experience can offer it. And so, what would you say about a service that “provides preservation, archiving, display, grading, authentication, and other services to collectors, buyers, and sellers of audio media products?” That’s a lot to take in.
Olivia Rodrigo has debuted a brand-new edition of Guts (spilled), and the exclusive vinyl has already sold out in record time! Blood Records in the UK announced the zoetrope vinyl on Thursday, with 10,000 copies available for fans to purchase. Naturally, the special records sold out almost immediately. “WOAH! The GUTS (Spilled) zoetropes sold out in 26 minutes!!!! I seem to say this a lot at the moment, but that’s just broken all previous records,” Blood Records said via X. “What an absolute honour to be able to make this interpretation of it. Lots of love to @oliviarodrigo and everyone who got one.” GUTS has welcomed quite a few variants since it dropped last September, including special initial editions that each contained one of the four deluxe tracks that made their way onto the (spilled) version that arrived earlier this year.
Second Take: Repeat purchases of vinyl albums harm environment, consumers: …Vinyl records have made a comeback in the past decade despite the dominance of more convenient forms of music listening such as streaming. According to Forbes, there were only 9.2 million vinyls sold in 2014, but in 2023 nearly 50 million vinyl albums flew off the shelves. This resurgence in vinyl demand is partially due to the increased power of the Internet and social media in shaping the behavior of artist fandoms, and some fans’ desire to own as much merchandise as possible from their favorite artists. While fans may be motivated by parasocial relationships with celebrities, the musicians selling vinyl LPs in bulk may have their own pocketbook and sales-based chart peaks in mind, as music charts are still strongly influenced by physical album sales. The music culture that prioritizes redundant purchases of vinyl and ignores both sustainability and equity to fans is a vicious cycle of consumerism that needs to change.
These Turntable and Speaker Combos Make Vinyl Easy: Forget all the moving parts. With these no-hassle hi-fi setups, all you need is a turntable and a set of speakers. While it’s true that traditional turntable setups have many moving parts, that’s the nature of the beast—if not vinyl’s main allure. There’s also an easy workaround. These days, many turntables and speaker systems come with integrated components (like a phono preamplifier or amplifier) that make listening to vinyl hassle-free. For nearly a decade, we’ve been writing about and reviewing audio products—including speakers, headphones, earbuds, and other audio components that run the gamut from consumer to hi-fi. We also work with major brands and talk to experts within the audio industry. The below selections of turntables and speakers are a combination of products we’ve had hands-on experience with, products recommended by audio professionals, and products made by brands trusted within the audio space.
