UK | New study finds growing vinyl sales are essential for a healthy music industry: A recent study has found that healthy vinyl sales go hand-in-hand with a healthy music industry as the format is essential to helping artists particularly at a grassroots level. The study by Components found that vinyl sales are “strongly positively associated with the amount of money that artists make on the platform [Bandcamp], and that among all types of objects sold, this association is strongest with vinyl records.” Furthermore, it explained that “the purchase of physical objects becomes increasingly common among buyers as they spend more money overall, with vinyl alone encompassing more sales than all other physical objects combined. In other words, the format is a disproportionately important channel of spending.”
Vallejo, CA | Vallejoan takes over Suisun’s Retroactive Records and Games: Steve Santa Maria makes a career change as the new owner. Twenty years into a satisfying teaching career, Steve Santa Maria wasn’t necessarily looking for a sign. But on an otherwise rather uneventful trip to the record store with his wife, there it was. For sale. Santa Maria didn’t miss it, which is why the longtime record collector is now the proud owner of Retroactive Records & Games in downtown Suisun City. “It was totally not a planned new profession at all. It just is something that just kind of happened,” says Santa Maria, who sparked up a conversation with the owner and both agreed to keep the store’s integrity and classic setup: Vinyl and video games. “It’s always been a passion of mine. I’ve always collected records since I was in my teens and my kids now think it’s pretty cool.” The shop has a variety of video game consoles, from Atari to Nintendo, PlayStation and many more.
Sequim, WA | Sequim gears up for first record show: That first record? Oh yeah. Boston’s self-titled, circa 1976, the one with the spaceship on the cover. “Great album, front to back,” said Gary Butler. “I still play it once in a while.” Butler and fellow vinyl aficionados are hosting what’s believed to be the first record show in the Sequim-Port Angeles area later this week. The community is invited to the Sequim Record Show, set for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at the Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Community Park, 202 N. Blake Ave. The free show features vinyl records, both old and new, plus other music mediums. Butler said he’s participated in Port Townsend’s record show the past six years and it sparked an idea to host one a little closer. “[Port Townsend] did an amazing one down there. I thought I’d like to try and see how it would go hear,” Butlers said. “We have a great venue.”
Lochgelly, UK | Owner of record shop in Lochgelly reflects on first year: It has been a life-changing year in the hotseat of a vintage clothing, vinyl, art and collectibles shop in Lochgelly. David Hopkins, a man of music and sound engineer by trade, opened Emperor’s Attic in 2022 after taking a leap of faith. The Times told you in March last year that David was unemployed and searching for answers when he decided to take on the challenge of owning his own store. Reflecting on the past year, he said the job has had its challenges but it has made him feel nostalgic for his youth. He told the Times: “My life has changed 100 percent. “I actually feel like an enthusiastic teenager again with my passion back for music, clothing and art. I just feel sorry at times for customers seeing a hyper 46-year-old blasting music and waving clothes about. It’s been very encouraging and probably more of a success than I could have expected mainly because of the support of people locally.”
Westport, CT | ‘Verso Records: Volume One’ Makes Standout Debut at The Westport Library: Verso Records: Volume One, the debut album from Verso Studios at The Westport Library, got a proper introduction Saturday night, June 3, with 200+ fans packing the Library’s Trefz Forum to celebrate the first vinyl record ever recorded, produced, and released by a public library. The album is now officially on sale, available at the Library Store, online via Bandcamp, through the Verso Records website, and soon at local record stores around the area. The bright yellow vinyl sells for $22 and includes a digital download. A $10 digital-only version is also available. “I am thrilled to be celebrating this momentous achievement for Verso Studios,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “This is a historic snapshot of the current Connecticut and tri-state area music scene. This album is eclectic, powerful, fun, and shows the world what community and vision can do when we band together.”
Sydney, AU | Rhythm and booze: Give these four Sydney vinyl bars a spin: Come for the sounds, stay for the drinks at these new-school listening bars. Records are back. Real ones that live in a sleeve, spin on a turntable and bathe you in incomparably rich sound. And along with the vinyl revival comes a new breed of bars with an analogue soul. Inspired by post-war Japanese listening bars, where records were played on superb sound systems for the masses unable to afford either, Sydney’s new vinyl bars connect LP-hungry audiences with high-fidelity sounds and vast record collections. They’re a comfort to people like me, who loved records the first time around but offloaded theirs in a moment of Marie Kondo madness, and just as fun for digital natives discovering how much better their Spotify favourites sound this way. Good drinks are made to accompany good sounds. Both are mindful, sensory, adore company and defy digitalisation, which are all excellent reasons to give these four bars a spin.
Vampire Weekend to Release Vinyl-Only Live Album: Jack White’s Third Man Pressing will produce ‘Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 01’ Vampire Weekend are releasing a live album, Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 01, on vinyl only, produced by Jack White’s Detroit-based pressing plant, Third Man Pressing. Only 2,500 copies of the album have been pressed. Frog on the Bass Drum Vol. 01 consists of songs played on their 2019 tour at their show in Indianapolis, and includes songs from all four of their studio albums as well as the first official release of their 10-minute cover of Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman.” You can also catch Ezra Koenig rapping some of “Pizza Party.” This is the first of an ongoing series of LPs from Vampire Weekend’s live shows.
Secrets behind the most iconic ‘70s rock album covers revealed in new doc: …And London-based art design studio Hipgnosis created some of the most iconic art, for classic rock acts such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings. The new documentary “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)” — which opened at NYC’s Film Forum on Wednesday and rolls out nationwide later this month — goes inside the studio that created the visuals for some of the biggest acts of the 1970s. “The importance of an album sleeve will never be the same as in the ’70s, and to make a documentary about the most prominent album covers of the era that are all done by one design team is really important for people who have missed that period,” said renowned rock photographer Anton Corbijn, who directed the film. “Even though vinyl sales have surged again, it’s like a period that’s gone.”
