Billie Eilish And Charlie Parker Headline Slate Of Record Store Day Releases: Record Store Day’s 2021 Black Friday event takes place on November 26. Record Store Day has announced the official lineup of 150 exclusive titles set to be released on November 26 for Black Friday. The roster of mostly vinyl releases includes limited-edition albums, EPs, or singles by artists such as Billie Eilish, Jason Isbell, Aerosmith, Trippie Redd, U2, John Legend, Jimi Hendrix, Lana Del Rey, Fleetwood Mac, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Mobb Deep, Leonard Cohen, Tank and the Bangas, Motorhead, Bill Evans and Blackberry Smoke. Record Store Day organizers are cautioning this year that it’s possible a few of the titles being announced today could fall out, due to severe backlogs at vinyl manufacturing plants. A few releases planned for Black Friday are also being held back from this lineup so the artists can announce them themselves. Releases from Craft Recordings include a brand-new Sam Cooke compilation, The First Mile of the Way, which highlights the singer’s formative years—including his gospel recordings with the Soul Stirrers and his early forays into pop music.
Boise, ID | The Record Exchange: New Owners, Same Style: The Record Exchange has been around for almost 45 years and it’s become an institution of downtown Boise. Employees tend to work there for decades and it’s a kind of home away from home for music lovers in the community. Founders Michael Bunnell and Jil Sevy worked hard over the years to create an inclusive space. They cobbled together a store that does it all — employs a knowledgeable and diverse staff; sells all types of music products, coffee and gifts; and hosts in-store shows with huge stars — all the while keeping the store welcoming and open to people. Fortunately for Idaho the two have left behind a place that many people see as more than just a store. “For years our hope was that when we were ready to sell employees would step up,” said Bunnell. “We’ve built something special here and I can’t imagine Boise without it. We couldn’t be happier.”
Durham, NC | Paved Paradise brings ‘vinyl wonderland’ to downtown Durham: Paved Paradise, the “part pop-up shop, part block party, and part roadside fruit stand,” made its way to Durham on Tuesday as part of a 15-city tour. Although the sun was beating down on this hot September afternoon, wooden bins were filled to the brim with colorful vinyls, and niche t-shirts lined two tents. Ken Shipley, co-founder of the Numero Group, was seen buzzing around the stacks of vinyls and taking a minute to chat with customers. All in all, five record labels were represented at Paved Paradise: Dead Oceans, Ghostly International, Jagjaguwar, Numero Group and Secretly Canadian. “We started thinking about how we can bring a record store to a bunch of different places and do it outside and do it COVID-safe and have a good vibe,” Shipley said. The result is a series of pop-up shops largely in the southeastern United States. Paved Paradise began in Bloomington, Indiana on Sept. 9 and will end in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Sept. 26. Although Raleigh is sadly missing from the lineup this year, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect spot as you browse through records than outside of Motorco Music Hall in Durham.
Middlesbrough, UK | Press-On Vinyl plant in Middlesbrough to start production this autumn: Press-On Vinyl, a vinyl record pressing plant located at Middlesbrough’s Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park (TeesAMP), was first announced back in April, and today (14 September) it’s been announced that the pressing plant will begin production this autumn after they secured investment from Futuresound Group. News of their launch comes amid vinyl delays experienced across the independent music industry, which is due to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic as most of the vinyl pressing plants are based in Europe. Where possible, Press-On Vinyl will source raw materials as locally as possible to reduce carbon footprint, and when production begins in autumn it’ll be open to a selection of record labels, independent artists and partners. Futuresound Group MD Colin Oliver said, “Though the recent restrictions put a lot of our activities on hold we have been working hard in a number of areas, and when Press-On vinyl came onto my radar having two record labels as part of the group I could see the issues with the UK vinyl supply and had to get involved.”
Indianapolis, IN | The Butler Collegian: Vinyl revival: The introduction of other technologies by 1990 had seemed to make the once popular vinyl record obsolete. However, a recent revival in vinyl album sales calls this assumption into question. Statista reported that vinyl album sales in the United States have grown for the fifteenth year in a row, while other physical album sales, such as CDs, are declining. Last year, vinyl records also accounted for 62% of all physical music product sales. With so many different and more convenient ways to listen to music, one question remains: why have vinyl sales increased in the past years. The comeback of vinyls has coincided with the popularity of “vintage” inspired trends in fashion and design. The rise of vinyls could be seen as a product of these vintage trends; however, vinyl collectors and listeners point to other reasons for the popularity of vinyl records. Bennett Lang, sophomore music performance major, expressed why he chooses to collect vinyl records.
