Asheville, NC | Citizen Vinyl Record Pressing Plant to Open in Asheville Citizen-Times Building: A full circle revival is underway for Asheville’s Citizen-Times building. Once home to the daily paper’s printing facility and offices, the historic site will soon be unveiled with a new identity as a boutique vinyl pressing plant, record store and bar/cafe. Founded by veteran music producer Gar Ragland and supported by a dream team of industry professionals and craftsmen, Citizen Vinyl is slated to become North Carolina’s first on-site pressing plant, though its mission goes beyond just manufacturing great quality records. With a craft-first approach that prioritizes quality and superior customer service, Citizen Vinyl hopes to make record production more manageable and accessible for both first-time vinyl clients and major label customers alike. With all shipping and manufacturing kept in-house, Citizen Vinyl will be able to fulfill low-volume orders at a budget friendly price and still maintain the bandwidth to execute large scale label projects.
Apparently people are loving cassettes again in 2020: Over the years, the music industry has seen a massive resurgence in physical music sales. Despite the age of streaming we’re currently in, vinyl and cassette sales have skyrocketed in recent years. In 2019, cassette tape sales saw one of its biggest years yet. Now, it looks like 2020 is set to be an even bigger year for cassette tapes. According to the Official Charts Company, cassette tape sales have more than doubled in 2020. This week, the Official Charts Company released new figures on cassette tape sales. The company describes the cassette as “the unlikely comeback kid of music formats” as it reveals there was a 103 percent increase in sales in the first half of 2020. This data is in comparison to the sales figures during the first half of 2019. According to the data, 65,000 cassettes were purchased in the first half of 2020. This means that sales are set to surpass 100,000 for the first time since 2003. The data also shows that pop music has played a big part in cassette sales this year.
UK | Opinion: Digital age no match for the tracks of my years: It’s the start of another day in lockdown land. You log-on to your hastily assembled work station in the “office” (previously known as the spare room, kitchen table or shed) and decide to listen to a little soothing background music. So, what will it be: the radio, CD, vinyl record or stream some music online? The answer is obvious. It has to be the latter, doesn’t it? With just a simple click of the mouse or a tap of the screen, you have all the music you could ever wish for. From the rise of Iggy to the fall of Ziggy, the delta blues to Delius, the millions of songs streaming offers is mind-boggling. But there’s a problem. What song, artist, album, playlist or genre do you listen to? And here lies the rub. As the title of US psychologist Barry Schwartz’s 2004 book The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less suggests: too much choice is a bad thing.
Don’t forget the joker: Motörhead releasing massive 40th anniversary ‘Ace of Spades’ box set: A massive box set edition of Motörhead’s 1980 album Ace of Spades will be released this fall to celebrate the record’s 40th anniversary. The expanded collection, which includes 42 previously unreleased tracks, is due out October 30. Inside the package you’ll find a new master of the original Ace of Spades, two live albums, a 10-inch vinyl EP featuring a collection of instrumentals from 1980, a double album of B-sides, outtakes and rarities, and a DVD compilation consisting of Motörhead TV appearances between 1980 and 1981. Also included is a host of memorabilia, such as a 40-page book, a tour program, and poker dice. For a tiny preview of the box set, you can download a 1981 live version of the song “Ace of Spades” now via digital outlets. You can pre-order the Ace of Spades 40th anniversary edition in various forms and bundles now.
Slipknot’s debut album has been repressed on vinyl: After celebrating its 21st anniversary at the end of June, Slipknot’s legendary self-titled debut album is getting the vinyl reissue treatment via SRCVINYL. The band’s iconic 1999 full-length is available for pre-order now, with the release coming on July 31. Unsurprisingly, vinyl editions of the album have always been a must-have for Maggots, with most fans these days having to resort to getting copies second-hand. On Slipknot’s 10th anniversary, a special edition of the record was released as part of a box set including 25 songs, music videos, a live set and the Sic: Your Nightmares, Our Dreams DVD. Recently, frontman Corey Taylor looked back at the ’Knot’s breakthrough release, revealing that his favourite song “by far” from the debut – and, in fact, out of the entirety of the band’s back-catalogue – is Scissors. “I love it because every time we would play it, the whole second half was improvised,” he said.
