Orlando, FL | Record Store Crawl hauling vinylphiles across Orlando, Saturday, July 20: The Record Store Crawl is back for another day full of viny, shopping, vodka drinks, and more vinyl. Crate diggers will be escorted via coach bus from record store to record store while enjoying music, drinks, and games on Saturday, July 20th from 11:30 a.m. onwards. Tickets are $39.95 and get you a seat on the bus with access to private music performances along the route, which includes popular shops like Park Ave CDs, East West Records, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven. Crawlers will enjoy special discounts at each stop, limited edition swag, as well as lunch and special drinks from sponsor Deep Eddy Vodka.
Dublin, IE | Made In Dublin: The wheels keep turning for Spindizzy Records: “There’s always been a niche market for records.” For some people, vinyl records simply remind them of their parents or grandparents – a relic from a bygone age. But, fortunately for record shop owners, there remains a sizeable cohort of music lovers who prefer 12 inch records to never-ending Spotify playlists. The market for new and used vinyl records and – somewhat surprisingly – CDs has been buoyant in recent years, aided by the convenience and global reach of online selling. However, Enda Gogarty’s involvement goes back much further – he began working in Spindizzy Records in George’s Arcade in the late 1990s, shortly after it opened, and he has been the manager since 2010. “It started off in a place called the Collector’s Centre,” he recalls, “that would have had a militaria place, a poster place, a crafts place, a book place and a very small record shop. It grew from that small stall.”
Columbia, SC | The Strategies That Keep Papa Jazz Record Shoppe Alive: 40 Years Young. Papa Jazz Record Shoppe is 40 years old. And through those years, “Big Money” Mack Spence has dug through the crates. Arriving at the Five Points shop on a recent Wednesday afternoon, Spence warmly greets employees Alex McCollum and Woody Jones, who recount his exploits playing with the R&B group Black Love back in the ’70s, including opening gigs for the likes of Jackie Wilson, Bobby Womack, and Sam & Dave. An old-school picture of Spence — decked in an extravagant red leisure suit, standing on a Columbia riverbank — adorns the desktop of the computer behind the counter. “Man, if you a friend of these guys, then you gotta be alright,” the longtime customer tells Free Times, adding with a chuckle, “Look, I need to put me a cot up in here, man, as much as I’m down here.” This week, Papa Jazz celebrates its unlikely longevity.
Port Fairy, AU | Port Fairy Vinyl Swap Meet will have something for all record-ophiles: Hunting for an original, not re-released, version of your favourite vinyl album? Port Fairy might be your hunting ground with stall-holders are preparing their stock for the 3rd Vinyl Swap Meet. Prehistoric Sounds owner Shane Godfrey said there will be something for everyone, with vendors bringing everything from vintage blues and jazz, hip hop, soul and heavy metal albums. “It’s great to have an event like this down (in the south-west),” Mr Godfrey said. “People love records because they are tangible and tactile, it’s something you can hold. “When you put a record on the turntable you tend to take more notice of the music, it is not just background noise.” While some highly sought-after limited-release titles, such as Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs or The Coloured Balls, are likely to be snapped up in the first hour, there will be plenty of gems still in the crates.
‘An Endless Fiasco’: Indie Retailers Describe Worsening Breakdown in Getting CDs, Vinyl Delivered to Record Stores. Since the Indiana-based fulfillment house Direct Shot started managing orders for all three major labels, stores haven’t been getting all their product. The latest music industry conspiracy theory goes something like this: The majors want to kill physical formats, so they’re using fulfillment house Direct Shot to ship all their CDs and vinyl to stores. The first part of the theory, about the majors wanting to kill physical, is absolutely untrue gallows humor. But it underlines merchants’ frustrations at Direct Shot Distribution, which they say has been unable to deliver the right product to the right stores, a situation that is hurting them financially and ruining relationships with customers.
7 best turntables for 2019 from Sony, Audio Technica and more: Looking to get into the wonderful world of LP records? Our comprehensive guide tells you everything you need to know before buying. …You can buy a cheap turntable for under £50, or spend up to 1000 times as much – the market really is that diverse. There’s a dizzying array of products on sale and that’s why it’s important for you to know what you want. The market starts with all-in-one record players with an amplifier and speaker built in, but these are so crude that most people soon outgrow them. There’s also the chance that their poorly aligned tonearms and cheap styli (“needles”, as we used to say) will damage the records, so we recommend you steer clear. Better to invest more on a separate turntable like the ones we recommend. The decks below come in different types. Recently, we’ve seen a number of inexpensive Bluetooth products that let you hook up the deck wirelessly to a speaker system or hi-fi. These are convenient, and better than all-in-one record players – but sound quality is still mediocre at the moment, as this test shows.
Morrissey Greatest Hits is getting a vinyl makeover: Morrissey’s greatest hits is being released in vinyl for the first time. ‘The Best of Morrissey’ is a compilation of the singer’s solo songs released between 1988 and 1998 and was originally released on CD in North America only. Now, Parlophone is revisiting that classic compilation this year and it will come out as a double-LP in vinyl format on August 30. Rhino.co.uk will also release a “clear” vinyl version, limited to 1000 copies on the same day. Morrissey launched his solo career with his 1988 album ‘Viva Hate’ following the shock break-up of his band The Smiths in 1987. In the next decade the ‘This Charming Man’ hitmaker released six albums and achieved five top ten UK singles, including ‘Suedehead’, ‘Everyday Is Like Sunday’ and ‘The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get’.
