Missoula, MT | Fleming, Ear Candy record shop adapt and thrive to pandemic challenges: After almost 24 years in business, Ear Candy record shop owner John Fleming has learned to adapt to new challenges facing local businesses around Missoula during the pandemic. Originally opened in 1997, Ear Candy has outlasted the rise of digital downloads that took down multiple chain stores and remains one of the few independently owned record shops within Missoula. But Ear Candy’s impact on Missoula goes beyond a record shop and actively contributes to the Missoula music scene by sponsoring shows and releasing music by local artists. The pandemic introduced new challenges to the shop, forcing Ear Candy to completely shut down for two months. As a result, Fleming focused on expanding his website and online presence to sell vinyl on Discogs, a website similar to eBay for those looking to buy and sell vinyl and CDs.
Sussex, UK | Vinyl record buyers queue from very early hours in Sussex and Brighton: For those vinyl enthusiasts the wait was finally over on Saturday as it was drop one of Record Store Day throughout Brighton, Sussex and the UK. Vinyl junkies have had the dates Saturday 12th June and Saturday 17th July etched on their brains for several months now, as it’s two days of the year when hundreds of independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture. Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the annual event, which this year is in two drops. Thousands more shops celebrate the day around the globe in what’s become one of the biggest annual events on the music calendar. Vinyl record fans in Brighton and throughout the rest of Sussex were queueing from the early hours on Saturday in order to endeavour to secure their chosen limited edition treasures, which will in most cases be instantly highly collectible.
Auckland, NZ | That vinyl boom? Blame teens buying Dire Straits records: Chris Hart is standing between two shelving units groaning under the combined weight of tens of thousands of surplus records. On the left of the Real Groovy store owner are vinyl albums stacked in neat alphabetical rows. On his right are cardboard boxes chock-full of second-hand records yet to be sorted. Around the corner, the relentless hum of an ultrasonic cleaning machine can be heard as two full-time staff members turn dusty old treasures into as-new releases. When Covid-19 lockdowns were enforced last year, Hart feared all of this, the iconic Auckland store he’d owned and managed for the past four decades, was over. “That’s exactly what I thought,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh well – I’m two years short of retirement.'” Hart has been through tough times before. In 2008, receivers turned up, took the keys off him and made him tell his 70 staff members they were out of a job. He survived by scraping together the money to buy Real Groovy back from the bank.
Reno, NV | An Oversized and Eclectic Stack of Well-Loved Vinyl Slides into a Corner of a Reno Brewery: Flip through a treasured record collection and you’re likely to find tattered covers and faded, bent corners on the most played albums. Artist Erik Burke displays these signs of a well-loved LPs in a new mural that amplifies music’s outsized impact to a monumental scale. Tucked into a corner at Reno’s Record Street Brewing, the towering artwork gathers a vintage collection—The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die is slotted next to The Velvet Underground & Nico and Johnny Cash’s Live At Folsom Prison is side-by-side with Give ‘Em Enough Rope by The Clash—that’s an eclectic mishmash spanning genres and decades. “A large part of it was sourcing the original vinyl and choosing the most worn-and-torn covers to show how these records are a big part of our life and tell unique stories,” the artist tells Colossal. Burke is known for his stylized portraits and floral murals, which you can see more of on his site and Instagram. He also has a few prints available in his shop.
‘Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar’ Soundtrack is Getting a Vinyl Release From Mondo: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, one of this year’s best surprises, is getting a new vinyl soundtrack courtesy of Mondo. Featuring songs performed by Richard Cheese, Math Club, and the cast of Barb and Star (including Jamie Dornan‘s amazing “Edgar’s Prayer”), the Barb and Star vinyl soundtrack is so exciting that you’ll want to tell the members of your Talking Club all about it. I had next to no expectations for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. After watching the trailer, I thought, “Well, this could be good or it could be very dumb.” So it was a wonderful, pleasant surprise when I sat down to watch the movie and found it pretty damn wonderful. It’s kind of like a Muppet movie, except all the Muppets are played by humans. And now, we’re getting a Barb and Star vinyl soundtrack, courtesy of Mondo. The vinyl release features the original score by Christopher Lennertz and Dara Taylor. It also features songs performed by Richard Cheese, Math Club, and the cast of Barb and Star, most notably “Edgar’s Prayer,” which you should listen to right now. So here it is.
Why vinyl records and custom merch are so popular among indie artists: Band merchandise and vinyl record releases have existed since the beginning of music. Well, not really. But it’s definitely been around for a while. They’re two of the best ways musicians earn money. Though there were periods when vinyl records were almost deemed dead, we have now seen its resurgence. And it has become more prized than before as it has become some kind of collectible rather than just an album or format with songs you can listen to. Looking up the latest releases and even the past ones, we can see a great number of independent artists releasing their vinyl records and custom merch US manufactured goods. Los Angeles and New York (among others) are the most important US cities when it comes to music, vinyl records, custom merch and music production. Merch in general has been popular, not just among indie artists, but all of them. You see, merch is a good way to promote themselves and to gain extra income from. And that’s why it is even more popular among these indie musicians because they’ll try to find ways to stay afloat.
