When I was younger, I spent a lot of time browsing music shops and buying second-hand records from garage sales. Then along came Napster, iTunes, and eventually Spotify & Pandora, which essentially murdered the physical music media business….or did it?
In VINYL RESTING PLACE, Juni & her sisters grew up in the family record shop just outside of Austin, Texas, listening to a wide variety of music. Now that vinyl is making a resurgence, the sisters open Sip & Spin Records, where they serve up great music & fun coffee creations…while solving a murder that threatens their family business.
“Although we have all gone from vinyl records, to cassette tapes, to CDs and then MP3s, there is something innately vintage in the vinyl that means it has held our interest and its worth for many years. In this article, let’s unpick why vinyls have stood the test of time and what makes them so special and so collectable.” – Top 5 Benefits Of Having Your Own Vinyl Record Collection, Sept 22, 2022 By Yotam Dov in We Rave You
“Like many other music fans of all ages, vinyl has gripped me.” Why Vinyl Means So Much More Now, Oct 15, 2022 by Keith Jopling in HypeBot
Shops like this one inspired Sip & Spin Records, and I love to see them thriving:
“Once a relic of the past, vinyl records are making a comeback.” – from “East Texas store says vinyl increasing in popularity” by Arthur Clayborn and Christian Terry for KLTV (Jul. 13, 2022)
With demand increasing, the vinyl comeback is flourishing, so much that it’s hard to keep up with it!
“The arrival of the compact disc nearly killed off record albums, with vinyl pressing machines sold, scrapped and dismantled by major record labels. Four decades later, with resuscitated record album sales producing double-digit annual growth, manufacturers are rapidly rebuilding an industry to keep pace with sales that reached $1 billion last year.” – from “Manufacturers struggle to keep pace with vinyl record demand” by David Sharp for AP News (June 24, 1975)
“…Vinyl is undeniably popular in a way that would have seemed like a quaint, desperate dream ten years ago” – https://www.gawker.com/culture/on-vinyl – People are buying records, but why? Gawker (July 23, 2022)
Vinyl Sales are increasing with no end in sight:
“It’s no secret that vinyl is resurgent. After being eclipsed first by CDs in the 1990s and then by streamed digital music, records were nigh impossible to find in mainstream stores for many years, until around 2008, when the manufacture and sales of vinyl albums and singles began to grow again. Since then, the trend has only accelerated, with market analyses predicting continued annual growth between 8 percent-15 percent for vinyl musical products over the next five to six years.” – The Vinyl Countdown by Alex Greene in The Memphis Flyer August 3, 2022
“According to a study by the luminate midyear report, record sales have increased 361% since the start of the pandemic..” – Vinyl Records Making a Comeback ABC6 News
Who exactly is driving this vinyl revolution? (see what I did there?)
“During the first half of 2022, vinyl album sales – the only segment of recorded music for sale that continues to grow, according to Luminate’s Midyear Music Report – were driven by younger women, with 34% of female buyers in the Gen Z category, while 62% of male buyers of vinyl were Gen X-ers or Millennials (31% for each)…While it may be dwarfed by digital track sales, vinyl LPs accounted for more than half (53%) of sales of all physical albums in the U.S. from January to June of this year.” – From Who’s Driving Up Vinyl LP Sales In 2022? It’s Probably Not Who You Think., Inside Radio (July 22, 2022)
“In fact, it is the interest of younger people that has helped rejuvenate vinyl sales. Even though many younger people don’t actually have the facility to play vinyl records, they are still buying them. This shows that at least part of the attraction is not related to the musical quality of the product they are buying.” – Resurgence: The Remarkable Rise In Popularity of Vinyl, ShoutOutUK (July 29, 2022)
I hope that Sip & Spin Records will blossom as much as the vinyl record resurgence that inspired it!
