Middletown, PA | KT Media record store and the Vintage Vault Gallery and Funky Finds: With Dauphin County in the yellow, businesses start to reopen in Middletown. Retail in downtown Middletown gradually started coming back Friday, the first day that Dauphin County entered the less-restrictive yellow phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s reopening from the coronavirus shutdown. Wolf had ordered all “non-essential” businesses closed as of March 19, with enforcement starting March 23. The governor put the county under a stay-at-home order effective March 30. Critics say the shutdown disproportionately affected small businesses, as big grocery stores and “big box” retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s were allowed to stay open as the state considered them essential. Among the first small businesses to reopen their doors to customers in Middletown was the KT Media record store at 140 S. Union St., and the Vintage Vault Gallery and Funky Finds, 17 S. Union St.
UK | Can lockdown save the download? As Music Week’s recent lockdown analysis feature proved, the coronavirus pandemic is having a huge effect on how the UK listens to music. Some elements were relatively predictable: physical sales have dropped significantly since every record shop in the country had to close, while audio streams, particularly ad-funded ones, have risen after an initial dip. But one lockdown trend surely wouldn’t have been predicted by anyone, as it involves a format so moribund Music Week declared it dead way back in 2016: the digital download. For quarter after quarter, sales of both digital singles and albums, dominated in the UK by Apple’s iTunes store, have only gone in one direction: down. But, since the UK lockdown began on March 23 in chart week 13, there have been flickerings of a revival. According to figures from the Official Charts Company, only 437,067 sales of digital singles were recorded in week 12, while digital albums accounted for just 71,824 units. Neither format has sunk so low since, with sales of tracks peaking at 773,336 in week 17 and albums at 124,944 in week 19. And while sales have fallen back since those peaks, they generally remain higher than they were pre-lockdown.
Wilkes-Barre, PA | Gallery of Sound: Business brisk as stores reopen in yellow phase. Businesses allowed to reopen over the past few days following Luzerne County’s transition to the yellow phase are experiencing a surge in sales and few problems with customers adhering to social distancing precautions. At places like Joe Nardone’s Gallery of Sound music store in Wilkes-Barre Twp. and Boscov’s Department store in downtown Wilkes-Barre, representatives say customers were already accustomed to wearing masks and keeping their distance like they had been at businesses like grocery stores that remained open during the coronavirus lockdown. “There was a lot of pent up demand,” said Joe Nardone Jr., co-owner of the Gallery of Sound. “People were buying like they hadn’t been in a record store in 75 days.” Luzerne County and seven other counties in Pennsylvania on Friday shifted to the less restrictive yellow reopening phase, allowing many businesses to resume operations. “I don’t know how much longer we could have gone,” Nardone said, before adding the store’s loyal following ensured for a successful reopening.
Guernsey, UK | Vinyl Vaughan goes back to his business roots: Vaughan Davies has gone full circle in his business career. His current business, record store Vinyl Vaughan’s, reopened last Saturday in the Commercial Arcade. ‘I worked as a travel agent in this building from 1979, so 41 years later I’ve come back round,’ he said. ‘Working in travel taught me that getting to know the customer came first and sales came second. ‘The minute you walk in you get greeted. I get to know the musical tastes of people individually. Recommending music that a regular customer will love is one of the best parts.’ Having signed the lease two weeks before lockdown, an efficient online ordering service kept the business going. Many islanders spent their time at home listening to music, which supported the local business through a quieter launch than expected. ‘Not too many people were in Town on Saturday,’ said Mr Davies. ‘I think many thought it would be heaving, but more are trickling in now.”
8 Bands That Went All-Analog on Their Albums: And it sounded way better than any over-produced ProTools effort. More and more bands nowadays rely on digital recording techniques to make them sound good. That means using drum replacements instead of weak or uneven hits, fixing guitars, pitching vocals to perfections, and other tricks designed to mask imperfections and mistakes. This results in records that, while sounding good, are soulless. Let’s take a look at 8 times bands went old-school and used analog-only equipment to make vibrant and dynamic albums. Sound City: Dave Grohl’s ode to Sound City Studios and the famous Neve console is a “who’s who” in rock music from Slipknot’s Corey Taylor to Sir Paul McCartney. True to the name of the soundtrack, the recording was all-analog and mixed through the aforementioned Neve console that Grohl bought from a closing studio. With the assistance of Butch Vig, the result turned out amazing, with a timeless sound only achievable through an analog console.
