New York, NY | Stephen Godfroy on Rough Trade’s New York City relocation and the vinyl boom: It’s a new era for Rough Trade today (June 1). The independent retailer, which launched in 1976, is launching its New York City Rockefeller Center store and events partnership. It follows seven years’ trading in Williamsburg. The new Rough Trade NYC is located at Rockefeller Center (30 Rockefeller Plaza, on Avenue of the Americas between 49-50th Streets), nearby the iconic Radio City Music Hall. While the new location in the former RCA building involves downsizing in scale, the amount of vinyl in stock will be roughly the same. “In many ways, it’s a typical Rough Trade store,” co-owner Stephen Godfroy told Music Week. “The scale of the product offering remains similar and curation is the same as ever.”
Taylor Swift breaks new record with biggest one-week vinyl album sales with ‘Evermore’: It only took her three days to beat Jack White’s previous record. Taylor Swift has broken another record, scoring the biggest one-week vinyl album sales in the US with ‘Evermore’. The album was originally released in December 2020, but only arrived on vinyl last Friday (May 28). In the three days following the record being made available, Swift racked up over 40,000 copies sold in the US, Billboard reports. That figure means she has already beaten the record previously held by Jack White’s ‘Lazaretto’, which sold 40,000 copies in the US in its first week of release in June 2014. As the tracking week is not over until Thursday (June 3), the star is expected to increase her sales – and record – even further in the coming days. Before White, Pearl Jam held the title with their 1994 album ‘Vitalogy’, which shifted 34,000 copies in one week. It was the first album to chart in the Billboard 200 through vinyl sales alone since CDs began to dominate the music market.
Silver Spring, MD | Bump ’n Grind and Moorenko’s Merge to Mutually Survive the Pandemic: When Bump ‘n Grind owner Dave Fogel took a look at his 2020 profits and losses, he realized business at his coffee shop-meets-record store on East-West Highway in Silver Spring was down 49 percent from the previous year. As 2021 unfolded, he realized he’d have to close his business due to high operating expenses and low revenue. May 26 was the shop’s last day. The pandemic had also economically devastated Moorenko’s ice cream shop, located a few blocks away on Georgia Avenue. Prior to COVID-19, the majority of its income came from bulk sales to restaurants, hotels, and convention centers. When those businesses closed or scaled down drastically, it wiped out 80 percent of Moorenko’s business in a blink.
Sandbach, UK | Vinyl man wants to spread the revival message at Crewe Market Hall Record Fair: A music obsessive will strike a note for nostalgia when he swamps Crewe’s Market Hall with vinyl on Sunday, June 13. John Beddows, who trades as Backtrax Music at Sandbach Market on Saturdays, wants to spread the message of the record revival in an age when many are getting disgruntled with the remoteness of streamed music and Spotify lists. John has recruited some of the area’s best vinyl dealers for the event in the reopened market venue in Earle Street and hopes to make it a regular bi-monthly fair. He says his love for the vinyl medium goes back to his days working in the music industry. In his twenties John worked as a stage manager for the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen, China Crisis, the Style Council and Aswad. He was heavily invested in the late 70s/80s scene in his native Liverpool and as well as attending the legendary new wave club Eric’s he put on his own shows in the city, hosting homegrown bands The Las and The Farm at The Picket.
IE | Dragon Records: Northern Ireland High Street Voucher Scheme: Local businesses you can support: It won’t be long until you can sign up for your £100 voucher: It’s not long now until we’ll be able to sign up online for our High Street Voucher, available through the Department for the Economy’s new High Street Stimulus scheme. The voucher will be on offer to everyone in Northern Ireland over the age of 18 and can be used in any bricks and mortar business, with the aim of stimulating in-person shopping. It is likely the vouchers will be up for grabs in autumn and what’s even better – they won’t just be limited to retail. …On Wellington Place is Dragon Records, a local record shop which stocks an eclectic range of music suited to all tastes. With a vinyl revival well underway, why not head on down with your voucher to pick up your favourite albums – old and new.
AU | Country collector’s treasure trove of 25,000 vinyl records at Bobin: Tucked away in a mud brick home, near a small mountain village, sits an unexpectedly large and striking collection of more than 20,000 vinyl records. Mark O’Brien has been collecting them for more than 50 years and has amassed an eclectic mix of new and vintage vinyl. “I started buying when I was about eight or nine years old and it was just buying things I liked,” he said. “I probably realised I was a collector about 20 years ago when things started piling up in the house and I realised I needed more space to house everything. “I have catalogued about 18 or 19,000 and I would say I probably have another 6,000 to go so about 25,000 all up.” Mr O’Brien said it was a love of music that sparked his collecting passion. “I like everything, the majority is rock and pop, but I have blues, disco, soul, a big techno collection … I listen to everything really, there is value in all sorts of music,” he said. “I do have my particular favourites, Beatles, Bowie, Bolan, T-Rex.
Denver, CO | Live Music and Vinyl Meet At Off The Record Block Party: Live music is returning with a vengeance this summer, with one of the most exciting shows happening June 12 at Larimer Lounge. In honor of National Record Store Day, the Denver community is showing up and showing out for the Off The Record Block Party. This all-day party will feature live music, food, and fun as some of Denver’s hottest performers hit the stage. The Reminders, LVDY, Retrofette, and Trayce Chapman will each be playing an hour-long set, with a secret performance by a very special guest. All musicians on this lineup come can be heard on the 303 Music series, including this year’s 303 Music Vol. 4 which will be sold at the event. …More than a good time, Off the Record Block Party, will be benefitting a good cause in Youth on Record. This local nonprofit empowers underserved youth to reach their fullest artistic potential through musical education and mentorship.
Sarnia, ON | Record Store Day set to drop at Sarnia’s Cheeky Monkey: In spite of a global pandemic and a province-wide lockdown, music lovers’ annual celebration of all things vinyl, International Record Store Day, will still go on in Sarnia – in one form or another – on Saturday, June 12. So said Cheeky Monkey record store owners Roland and Mary Anne Peloza, who have meticulously planned for every possible eventuality regarding safety protocols, sanitizing procedures as well as the possibility of patrons being allowed to peruse through stacks of newly-released albums in their Christina Street store if the Ford government decides to allow businesses to re-open at limited capacity prior to their June 14 target date. Regardless of what happens over the coming weeks, the Pelozas are of the belief, to quote rock band Queen, that the show must go on.
Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ To Be Re-Released In New Formats: Already wearing the crown as the U.K.’s biggest-selling album of all time and achieving the third-longest chart run on the U.K. official chart, QUEEN’s 1981 “Greatest Hits” collection is getting a limited-edition makeover to mark not only the band’s historic 50th landmark but also the album’s 40th anniversary. First released in 1981, “Greatest Hits” stands alone as the first and only album to have sold over six million copies in the U.K. (6.75 million sales to date), with global sales in excess of 25 million. Added to that, in the U.K., the collection has now spent over 900 weeks on the album chart and has been certified a staggering 22 times platinum. And there’s more…according to the Official Charts Company, who crowned it “Britain’s most popular album of the past 60 years,” one in four British households already own a copy of the album.
