A little more than a decade ago, the decline of the British record shop looked terminal. But, in a dramatic turnaround, numbers doubled in the first half of the 2010s, and even now, after Covid lockdowns, they are at levels not seen since the 1990s: 407 independent stores were counted in 2021. Since it came to the UK in 2008, Record Store Day – celebrated this weekend – has gone from having the sense of a charity appeal for the afflicted, to one of the biggest music industry beanfeasts in the calendar. But behind the vinyl hype, things remain precarious, and a record shop now is rarely just a record shop.
It’s commonplace for them to also be cafes or bars. But how about one with a built-in radio station (Some Great Reward in Glasgow or the Book and Record Bar in West Norwood)? Or with a bakery renowned for its pie and mash (Coffee and Vinyl in Torquay), an entire charcuterie counter (Bradford’s Record Café – whose blunt Yorkshire slogan is “Vinyl, Ale, Ham”), or an organic brewery and record label all in a stable block (Futtle, on the outskirts of a Fife fishing village)? How about one that exists for only a day each month and is as much party as shop (the Re:Warm pop-up in a Bournemouth bike shop-cafe), or one which is also the owner’s home (The Record Deck): a barge, setting up stall wherever it finds itself on the canal system?
The ways in which the shops are founded and run are just as various: quitting a successful 25-year tech career to start a shop with a membership scheme in a sleepy New Forest tourist town (Black Star in Lyndhurst), or setting up an employee cooperative to save an almost 60-year-old establishment (David’s Music in Letchworth). What unites them is very hard work.
Antony Daly, owner of 586 Records in Gateshead. Photograph: 586 Records
Fresh out of prison with £150 to his name, DJ Antony Daly joined a community interest company (CIC) (one whose profits are reinvested into the company to benefit local society). Daly has a location of his own now for his shop 586 Records in a former Auto Trader office in Gateshead, and a thriving mail-order business: he’s in the platinum club of the top 100 merchants on Discogs. But when he started seven years ago, it was only the CIC getting him on his feet, giving him a small space in an old office block in central Newcastle without requiring a long tenancy. He recalls “being in the premises six to seven days a week, never less than 12 hours, plus DJing Friday and Saturday nights until the early hours – all while struggling to get a passport which I needed to apply for funding, and unable to get on the council housing list due to my … previous tenancy.”
Fran Jones of Black Star – who ditched “a great career” in the first Covid lockdown to pursue his passion project – is privileged compared with Daly. But he too reports working 12-16- hour days. “Most people thought I was crazy to leave a very well compensated role for the shop life and the music industry – and most still do. It’s not easy starting a new business at the best of times, but during a global pandemic … wow.”
Ashlie Green in David’s Music in Letchworth.Photograph: David’s Music
The staff of David’s Music also committed to their current form during the first lockdown, although, as Ashlie Green says, hardly by choice and “in all honesty, fairly naively”. David’s was a bookshop that had sold music since the mid-1960s with a standalone record department from the early 80s – but when its owners sold up, the staff had to decide very quickly to club together as an Employee Ownership Trust (like the home-audio company Richer Sounds). “There was a fair bit of panic to begin with,” says Green. “This was March 2020 and the shop closed for lockdown just days before we signed the papers to be an EOT.”
But in some ways lockdown was a blessing, she adds. “It gave me time to learn how to build an e-commerce site myself and learn how it worked properly.” Just as Antony Daly had to integrate his initial store with his Discogs selling, David’s Music was dragged into the 21st century, and most shops now are an online-offline hybrid to some degree. Michael Johnson of West Norwood Book and Record Bar says the one thing he wishes he’d known when he started in 2013 was to defy “those thieving bastards Amazon” and put all his stock online to combat their dominance of the physical-music market.
We had to stop running our own record label because of Record Store Day clogging up pressing plants
Stephen Marshall, Futtle
Again, though, necessity was the mother of invention. “The vinyl revival was tentative when we opened,” says Johnson. “So we needed other sales avenues to support it.” In his case, that meant a licensed bar and wheeled record shelves that could be pushed aside to make an events space – then later, pushed by local DJs Alex Paterson of the Orb and Kev “DJ Food” Foakes, creating an online radio station, wnbc.london, streaming live from the shop.
This kind of enterprise keeps shops in the public eye, but also connects musicians and local communities. Antony Daly says having in-store sets brings younger DJs into a shop for the first time and “watching a vinyl DJ has then opened them up to the idea of buying records and learning to play from turntables”. Fran Jones has pledged that when Black Star’s membership scheme reaches 1,000 subscribers (they’ve got 650 in their first year), it will turn into a programme to fund demo recording or vinyl pressing for local musicians.
Stephen Marshall in Futtle Records, East Neuk of Fife, Scotland.Photograph: Futtle Records
Sometimes the social and community aspects are the first consideration. Talking to Stephen Marshall about Futtle, which he runs with his partner Lucy Hine, it’s obvious they’re not about hustle, but a quality of life that’s as slow as the cask conditioning of their organic ales. They sell mainly collectible old records and only select new material “either from folk that we know or bands that drop by to play, or things we really want to stock”. They only open at weekends, don’t sell online, and look askance at Record Store Day. “We don’t stock major-label, 10,000-copy limited reissues on coloured vinyl,” Marshall says. “We actually had to stop running our own record label because of RSD clogging up pressing plants.”
Taking it even further is the Record Deck’s Luke Gifford. His entire life is afloat with his record collection connecting to “a constant stream of music and music fans to chat to”, inspired less by anything on the high street than by a community of literal fellow travellers: “a herbalist, bookshops, crafters, artists, floating village halls, a curry boat, pizza boat, a potter, hat maker and blacksmith” roving the UK’s canals.
Gifford’s might not be a replicable business, let alone scalable – but it is emblematic of the sense of mission it takes to run a record shop in 2022. Shops may be ultra-specialist and refuse the commercial pressures of Record Store Day like Futtle, cater to a broad audience and embrace it warmly like David’s or Black Star, or remain ambivalent: West Norwood’s Johnson mutters about “major labels milking” RSD with special edition prices but ultimately accepts that “about a month’s turnover in a day cannot be sniffed at”.
But what links them all – in taking risks, investing savings, navigating post-Brexit import and export taxes, working those 12-hour days – is a total obsession with music needing a physical place in the world to connect around. And it brings rewards. “In a year,” says Black Star’s Fran Jones, “I have made hundreds of friends and am linked by thousands of records sold in person to thousands of real musical experiences. And I genuinely feel that and it feeds what I do – every single day.”
Record Store Day will have music fans queuing up this weekend – but how do these shops survive, and what do they bring to the high street in 2023? Our writer puts in a shift at Jumbo in Leeds to find out
As a teenager in Leeds in the 1980s, the centre of my universe wasJumbo Records. I bought all my New Order and Smiths singles there. The tiny unit in the Merrion Centre shopping precinct even hosted one of my earliest conversations with a pop star, when Billy Bragg played an in-store gig with loudspeakers on his shoulders. My week was geared around listening to John Peel, reading NME, watching Top of the Pops and heading to Jumbo on a Saturday to pick up the latest vinyl treasure.
“Saturday was like Record Store Day is now, but every week,” remembers Choque Hosein, who worked in Jumbo then. “People queued up for us to open and then they’d be four deep at the counter. One of the most memorable moments was when Blue Monday came out. We were just handing them over the counter in Jumbo bags, one after another. It was the same when Frankie Goes to Hollywood released Relax.”
Today’s Jumbo – which sells everything from rock and pop to dub, electronica and Americana – has a much bigger space in the Merrion than it did back then, but vinyl, CDs and posters still occupy every inch of space. For the run-up to Record Store Day (RSD), I have come back to spend a couple of days working here – filing records, manning the till and talking to staff and customers – to find out what role record shops play now and why they’re proving so resilient.
School of rack … Simpson’s co-workers Jack and Aidan. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Despite challenges such as the convenience of Amazon and streaming and an often gloomy narrative around bricks-and-mortar shops, vinyl is selling more now than it has since 1990. There are 426 independent record stores in the UK compared with a record low of 293 in 2012. Eleven are in the Leeds area, although customers aren’t often four deep at the counter. “It is different and you don’t always get that vibe,” says Jumbo’s Nick Fraser, a genial, enthusiastic 59-year-old who owns the store with his wife Justinia Lewis. “But we’ve got Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran selling masses of vinyl and we still get lots of kids coming in after school going: ‘Have you got the new one by Arctic Monkeys?’”
My first shift is a Sunday and although I’m not run off my feet, I have a steady stream of customers. Briony Bacon, 38, explains why she has turned away from streaming. “At first, to have this insane library of music at my hands was amazing,” she says. “But I found I never listened to whole albums. There’s something beautiful about listening to something from beginning to end as it was written on vinyl. It’s something I do with my husband. We’ve got an old 1950s radiogram that’s got such a warm, beautiful sound. Putting a record on and having dinner is so much more of an experience than what Spotify tells me to like.”
Bacon, who works for Channel 4, has come in for Metallica’s new album and says that the band’s 2000 decision to challenge early downloading site Napster in the courts has been vindicated. “At first it felt like filesharing was democratising music but it actually completely eroded the value for artists.” Jumbo manager Cody Barton, 29, agrees, saying that customers like buying physical because it supports a favourite band.
Obviously we know our stuff but there’s a fine line about how you speak to people. You’re trying to help them
Cody Barton, manager
Recent Jumbo customers have included Stewart Lee, Fontaines DC and players from Leeds United. In my first half hour, I talk to a range of people from the teenage girl buying Pixies’ Doolittle on CD (classics, especially Fleetwood Mac and Nirvana, sell well among younger customers), an older chap seeking a Jah Wobble album and a policeman seeking witnesses to a traffic accident. Journalist Jacob Rosenblat, 65, inquires about some obscure Israeli records, of which the staff manage to source half. He is a record-shop veteran who has visited 2,000 record stores in 140 countries. He first came to Jumbo 20 years ago and explains why he prefers shops to Amazon: “I’m talking to you now. I can’t talk to anyone on Amazon.”
Barton says such personal connection is key to a record shop’s success. “A lot of people come in because they see it as a place they can relax and be themselves, and have a conversation about music. It becomes a real social hub.” Each customer is greeted like a friend – out of courtesy, but also good business sense. As Rosenblat puts it: “If they’re not nice, I won’t go back.” The staff spend ages talking to customers about their preferences, sometimes gently suggesting alternative choices. “Obviously we know our stuff,” says Barton, “but there’s a fine line about how you can speak to people about that. You’re trying to help them.”
He is painfully familiar with the famous scene in High Fidelity where Jack Black plays a record store assistant as a sneering rock snob: “I can’t believe you don’t own this fucking record,” he says, gesturing at the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy. “That’s insane!” In my youth, some stores were like that: you would be terrified to approach the counter. “That’s completely alien to what we stand for,” says Fraser. “We welcome everybody. We want to be a place where you feel safe and at home because the city centre isn’t full of those places any more.” The Jumbo boss says he sees the shop as a “public service” and at one point tears out of the door after a customer to tell him that the record he was inquiring about is coming in this weekend.
Wild aisles … Jumbo’s premises are now bigger than ever.Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
“There’s two reasons why someone might want a record shop in 2023,” he says. “Some might have seen the queues for RSD and think: ‘I can have a piece of that.’ But a lot of us are people with a bit of money at the end of their careers who do it because it’s a passion.”
Jumbo was started in 1971 (initially as a concession in a larger bargain record shop called Bostock’s) by Hunter Smith, who had been selling reggae and soul singles from his Jumbo Mobile Disco. The former DJ and his wife Lornette co-owned and ran the shop for decades, switching premises three times before selling up in 2014. Fraser – who was the UK managing director of a US IT firm – had been a customer for years and loved the place. When he heard it had become available, he’d “had a glass of wine” and couldn’t help himself. “It wasn’t a business decision,” he grins. “I had friends who played golf and who spent a lot of money on playing golf, but I don’t do that. Friends told me I was a lunatic. They said: ‘I’ve got algorithms on my phone that tell me what I like. Why do I need a record shop?’ But others who still enjoyed physical music were utterly envious.”
Although the 52-year-old Jumbo logo is known far and wide, Fraser hadn’t quite anticipated what he was taking on: a business that employed nine (now 10) staff, needed new premises, had a very smelly carpet; an operation that “required a massive amount of detail but existed on bits of paper and Post-it notes”.
On Saturday, people will be queueing up outside the shop. Some will have been here overnight with camping chairs
Aidan Razzall, creative director
In 2007, seven years before Fraser bought Jumbo, HMV had made the disastrous decision to stop selling records, which meant it missed the start of the vinyl revival. By the time Fraser came on the scene, Jumbo further benefited when the chain temporarily entered receivership, “which affected their ability to sell new releases”, he explains. Although HMV now sells vinyl again and has returned to profitability, both these factors saw customers come to Jumbo at a crucial time.
Record Store Day was set up in 2007 to help independent shops. “It put rocket boosters under the vinyl revival and was a gamechanger,” says Ian De-Whytell, who runs Crash Records, Leeds’s other longstanding indie, which also houses crate-digging haven Wall of Sound in the basement. “People bought into the excitement about limited editions, artwork and special releases. It got lapsed record buyers interested again.”
I can feel the excitement about RSD in Jumbo: there are racks of records and posters for the day’s instore gig, headlined by rising Leeds indie foursomeEnglish Teacher. “On Saturday, people will be queueing up outside the shop,” says Aidan Razzall, 29, Jumbo’s thoughtful creative designer, who lays out the shop’s magazine and does much of its social media. “Some will have been here overnight with camping chairs.”
RSD has faced criticism for its highly priced limited editions and creating bottlenecks at vinyl production plants, hampering smaller releases, but Crash and Jumbo say that it’s still vital.
Fraser frets about the rocketing price of vinyl in a cost-of-living crisis, with many new LPs costing £30. “You can joke about them being essential but really, buying a record is a discretion,” he says. “It’s more important to keep warm.” Students are buying CDs again because they’re cheaper.
“I don’t want anyone to think we’re skipping around while the city centre burns,” he says, and admits the market remains challenging. During the pandemic, Fraser (with assistant manager Adam Gillison) kept Jumbo going by personally delivering records like a musical Father Christmas. “At one point I went to the wrong door and this old couple saw the Jumbo bag,” he chuckles. “They said: ‘Are you still going?’ We get that a lot, but we ended up chatting, socially distanced, for half an hour.”
Today’s record shops often need other strings to their bow. Vinyl Whistle in nearby Headingley, set up by former Premier League referee Jon Moss, doubles as a cafe. In their leanest years, Jumbo and Crash were helped by selling gig tickets. “Jumbo sold thousands of tickets for things like Leeds festival,” Fraser says. “But then Ticketmaster took over and their commissions meant we’d lose money on every ticket. So that was taken away.”
They still sell tickets, but have upped the number of instore gigs, while Crash does “outstores”: fans buy a bundle of an artist’s new album plus entry to an exclusive local show. “Who wouldn’t want to see Suede or Tom Jones at the [tiny] Brudenell?” asks De-Whytell, who explains that promoters, venues, bands and shops form a “Leeds musical family” who support each other, even when they’re rivals. “If we don’t stock a record, we’ll send people to Jumbo and I’m sure they do the same”.
I do a lot of writing and poetry. When I applied for the job it was nice they were interested in that side of my life
Martha Boyd, newsletter
Before my second shift, I wander across to HMV, now on the floor below Jumbo’s old site in the St Johns Centre. It is massive and colourful but baffling: discounted Rolling Stones box sets displayed alongside posters, Star Wars action figures and Pokémon plushies. Fraser insists Jumbo must remain “recognisably a record shop”.
Everyone mucks in at Jumbo but the staff have their musical specialities – for example, 26-year-old Jack Donnison is the “weird and esoteric” expert – and their own stories. Spike Elwell, 19, started with work experience aged 15. Razzall’s father was a priest who didn’t have pop records in the house until a parishioner died, leaving him “an incredible record collection, Kraftwerk 12-inches and all sorts”. Martha Boyd, 26, does the shop’s newsletter: she’s the only woman staffer in while I’m here, but Jumbo has always been co-owned and co-staffed by women.
“Record retail is still a very male-dominated world,” she says. “The collector’s mentality is sometimes a very male thing, but there’s me, Kelsey [Killick, 25, artwork/branding, books and magazines] and Sally [Canlin, accounts]. My dad shopped here and I was desperate for a job here since I was a teenager. I do a lot of writing and poetry so when I applied for the job it was really nice that they were interested in that side of my life.”
‘I will now sell five copies of False Lankum by Lankum’ … Simpson warms to his assignment.Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
For many, working in a record shop can be a dream job and a life-changing experience where you meet lifelong friends and make connections. “I literally leapt for joy when they took me on,” says Hosein, who became a Mercury-nominated musician [with Black Star Liner], producer and promoter after working in Jumbo and later Crash. “I was obsessive about music, but it was also a way to meet people who could further my career. I’d hand demos to the sales reps.’”
Some staff are also musicians or DJs, and the shop is still a magnet for touring artists and tour managers, but nobody I meet plans to leave what Razzall calls “the best job I’ve ever had”. They’ve worked here for between three years and 34, they’re friends and know regular customers personally. Council worker Peter Collinson, 34, came in as a 16-year-old indie kid for a Leeds festival ticket and has been returning ever since. “If you buy a record, it’s yours for ever,” he smiles, perched on a chair on the small purpose-built instore stage. “I got into music through my dad’s records and now I’ll sit with my son and he’ll pick one of mine out.” He makes a lovely point: “When we’re no longer here, our children will have our records and know who we were.”
It is closing time on Monday, and I find myself feeling sad to leave. I’ve loved it here and leave armed with recommendations from my co-workers. Earlier, Barton told me: “I’ve still got the records I started buying aged 14 and can tell you where I bought them all. I can’t do that with Spotify.” If record shops have a long-term future, it will be because of the special relationship between humans, our music and the places we obtain that from.
Fraser smiles. “When someone asks for a record, you hand it over knowing they’ll go home and play it and it might even change their life. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
onectamos con Fernán Nuñez, provincia de Córdoba, donde nos atiende Bartolomé Jaén. El olivarero rockero con más de 200.000 discos de vinilo. Pura veteranía, conocimiento, simpatía, generosidad y muy alegre pasión por la música. “Oye cómo va” del álbum Abraxas de Santana y “¿Con qué te lavas la cara?” de Emilio José fueron sus primeros discos. Bartolomé Jaén, coleccionista desde el año 1971, nos detalla su itinerario coleccionista para conseguir una discoteca de más de 200.000 vinilos. Todo comenzó por un single y un comediscos. Además de disfrutar de las melodías, se recrea en el examen los créditos y las letras. Se fija en el detalle y advierte errores, rarezas cotizadas con un encanto especial. Bartolomé cuenta con discos para reproducir a las más variadas revoluciones por minuto. Desde singulares ediciones a 16 RPM con música de orquestas a 33, 45 y 78 RPM, más alguna que otra antigüedad en soporte de cilindros de cera. Habitual de las Feria de Discos, Bartolomé organiza encuentros en Granada, Málaga, Jaén, Alicante, Extremadura… lugares de encuentro donde compartir. De hecho comparte su pasión por el rock andaluz. Músicos de conservatorio que mezclan con el flamenco y el rock, un fenómeno opacado por la movida madrileña, que vuelve a ocupar su lugar en la historia discográfica como los legendarios Triana. Los discos que más valora, las ediciones españolas de The Beatles, la discografía de Smash, Medina Azahara, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley… joyas imprescindibles en la discoteca de todo coleccionista. Conversamos sobre carátulas y canciones censuradas, compras y ventas en todocoleccion, su aspiración de crear un museo… Con un consejo para coleccionistas finaliza uno de los episodios más entrañables y auténticos del podcast de todocoleccion.
nly at the end of our interview does it dawn on both of us that Anton Corbijn has been sitting in front of his huge vinyl record collection at his home in Amsterdam the whole time. It is fitting: not just because Corbijn, now 68, initially made his name by photographing Joy Division and went on to shoot and make music videos for the likes of Depeche Mode, U2, the Killers and REM, but also because he has just directed a documentary, Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), about the celebrated record sleeves of Aubrey “Po” Powell and the late Storm Thorgerson.
Hipgnosis was one of the trailblazers of album cover design during the golden age of the late 60s and 70s. It conceived the artwork for hundreds of bands and artists including juggernauts such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, 10cc and Paul McCartney, all of whom Corbijn has interviewed for this movie. Although they are often more identified with the pre-punk period, their dizzyingly inventive portfolio stretched into 1983, when the partnership ended.
Corbijn is relentless in his own creativity and deeply serious about his art. Along with his portrait photography and music videos, he is known for dramatic movies such as Control, about Joy Division’s Ian Curtis. This autumn, he’ll be shooting Switzerland – a drama about the author Patricia Highsmith, starring Helen Mirren – while also continuing to work closely with the resurgent Depeche Mode, designing the stage sets for their current Memento Moriworld tour.
Variety is key to his longevity. “I’m so careful not to fall into a predictable direction,” he says. “After Control, I was offered countless biopics. I could have easily fallen into that trap and I am determined not to. I don’t like people calling my photographs rock photography. It’s the portraiture of musicians and many other disciplines. People like to pigeonhole because it’s easy. I like to be a multidisciplinary type of person.”
I ask about the inspiration behind the title of his latest movie. “Squaring the Circle means doing the impossible,” he says, “but it also represents the circular record going into a sleeve.” Doing the impossible is only a slight exaggeration. What Thorgerson and Powell pulled off in terms of design, long before the days of digitisation, was remarkable. Just take a look at Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy cover created at the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Northern Ireland, or Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here sleeve where a stuntman was set on fire to get that brilliant cover shot.
Corbijn unfortunately never met Thorgerson before his death in 2013, although was clearly intrigued by his reputation for having brilliant ideas and a very sharp tongue. “I would have liked so much to have had a conversation with him,” Corbijn says. “I think [Pink Floyd drummer] Nick Mason summed him up perfectly: ‘Storm Thorgerson was a man who wouldn’t take yes for an answer.’ He seemed at heart a sweet man, just fighting for his thing with a singular focus.”
The genesis of Squaring the Circle came about with an approach to Corbijn, not the reverse, which is how most of his commissions happen. In this case, Powell visited Corbijn in his native Netherlands in late 2020 to sell the project to him. Corbijn describes Powell as having “the gift of the gab”. Powell adopts the role of narrator throughout the film (Corbijn calls him a “natural”). All the interviews are conducted in signature Corbijn black and white, with the animated presentation of the album artwork in vibrant colour, giving the design the spotlight it deserves. The opening and closing scenes are beautifully shot with a steely Powell, walking purposefully through bleak countryside, his art portfolio strapped to his back. As Corbijn points out, it’s a fine line between being celebrated for your art and being endlessly defined by it: “Po is carrying the past with him. He’s very proud of it, but maybe it’s also like a stone around his neck.” The scene was inspired by the famous cover of Led Zeppelin IV, depicting a man in a rural setting with a pack on his shoulders. Corbijn wanted this image to “come alive” in the documentary.
Thorgerson and Powell were very different individuals, but that difference worked perfectly. Corbijn explains their dynamic: “They loved making things,” says Corbijn. “One with great ideas and one with the technical skills to execute these ideas.” He knows first-hand how demanding it is to deliver album design in its entirety: “I have done a lot of record sleeves in my life, but I’ve not designed that many. I may have taken the photo on the sleeve. Hipgnosis however, did everything. It’s amazing they came from nothing in a way. Neither of them were educated in the visual sense. They found ways to do the impossible.”
Listening to the songs throughout the movie – Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter, Wings’ Band on the Run – you wonder how vast the music budget for Squaring the Circle must have been. However, it seems the love for Hipgnosis and what they had achieved for so many artists made licensing the soundtrack possible. “There was an enormous amount of goodwill towards Hipgnosis,” Corbijn says. “People just wanted to make it [the movie] work. They were generous. Everyone was proud of their albums and the work they had done with them.”
The documentary is packed with dry English humour, but also moments of poignancy. Powell recalls the profoundly sad sight of an overweight and almost unrecognisable Syd Barrett arriving at Abbey Road studios in 1975 during the recording of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, seven years after he had left the band, an event that clearly upsets the band’s surviving (if estranged) members to this day.
Whether you’re a seasoned record collector or making your first entry into the world of record collecting, this is a comprehensive guide on the most influential, friendly and absolute must visit record shops in Europe; from old favorites in Berlin to new small record shops in Lisbon. Many of the record stores listed below are record stores specialized in electronic music, but a few extra tips were included for all the crate diggers out there who want to go beyond the usual suspects. Enjoy the read and long live vinyl!
A delicatessen shop and a record store (yep, you read it right!). Tongues sells fresh produce from local farmers including meat, cheese, bio products and freshly prepared meals. This store also offers a fine selection of vinyl records, from House and Techno to Indie rock and dubstep or reggae.
Das Market / Photo Credits: Das Market
DAS Market Zieglergasse 40/Ecke Westbahnstrass, Vienna
Run by Fritz Plöckinger, one of the pioneers of house music in Vienna, Das Market is a well-stocked vinyl specialist in Techno, Disco and House. One of the best places to buy interesting electronic music records in Vienna.
Large selection of vinyl records, CDs, books, music DVDs and band shirts. Good independent record shop specialized in indie, alternative, dub and electronica.
DOCTOR VINYL, RUE DE LA GRANDE ILE 1 GROOT EILAND — 1000 BRUSSELS
The dinosaur of record stores in Brussels. Stocking a large selection of cutting edge electronic music, Doctor Vinyl is the record store that Jeff Mills, Dave Clarke and other famous and well respected DJs visit when they’re in town.
VEALS & GEEKS, RUE DES GRANDS CARMES 8 LIEVEVROUWBROERSTRAAT — 1000 BRUSSELS
Cool indie record shop specialized in various underground music genres, including jazz. Veals & Geeks sells mostly old psychedelic music from USA, UK and Japan, but you can also find music from Eastern Europe, german rock, and other underground genres from all over the World.
The Collector has been in business since 1983. There you can find a large collection of rarities from jazz, rock, classical, to other genres. Good selection of second hand records.
Wally’s Groove World / Photo credits: The Vinyl Factory
Record shop specialized in electronic music with a great selection of collectors and rare items, new and second hand records. If you’re wondering if the shop has anything to do with Beligum’s legendary deep house label called Wally’s Groove World, the answer is yes. The label actually emerged out of this store when upcoming and local artists used to shop there and would give Koen Van Immerseel aka DJ Koenie (the shop owner) their demo tapes because they knew that DJ Koenie wanted to support emerging talents and release their music on vinyl.
Music Mania / Photo credits: Music Mania
MUSIC MANIA, SINT-PIETERSNIEUWSTRAAT 19, 9000 GENT
Legendary record store in Gent. Nicely curated selection, you can find a bit of everything from the ’60s to new stuff . New and second hand Indie rock, breakbeat, rarities, Reggae, alternative electronic music, etc.
Czech Republic
Happyfeet / Photo credits: Happyfeet
HAPPYFEET, VODIČKOVA 704/36, 110 00 PRAGUE 1-NOVÉ MĚSTO
New and second hand vinyl records. This small record shop in Prague specialises in old Suprafon and Panton-branded Czechoslovak pressings. Also sells soul, funk and jazz.
PHONO.CZ, OPATOVICKÁ 156/24, 110 00 PRAGUE-NOVÉ MĚSTO
The only record store in Prague that is not mostly focused on second hand records. Offers a wide selection of funk, soul, jazz, latin, afro, hip-hop, disco, rare grooves, dance music, rock, pop.
Denmark
Dorma 21 / Photo credtis: Dorma 21
DORMA 21, Kompagnistræde 20c, st. tv. 1208 Copenhagen
Little and cozy Berlin style record store focused on quality electronic music. The place to go for every electronic music lovers visiting Copenhagen.
Small independent second-hand record specialized in Punk rock and experimental music. You’ll also find a good selection of progressive rock, electronic, disco, and soul records.
Mint Records / Photo credits: The Vinyl Factory
Mint Records, Gammel Kongevej 140A, 1850 Frederiksberg Copenhagen
Definitely worth a trip if you’re visiting Copenhagen. Upstairs they have a good selection of soul and jazz. Downstairs you can find bargain bins and sections for rock, pop, country, reggae, world music and Danish music.
All genres but mainly indie. Good selection of records released by local and independent danish labels. Route 66 also releases minor danish acts on their own label, Danish Vinyl Production.
Fantastic selection of rock, pop, indie, jazz, dance, psyche, metal, punk, blues, soul, jazz, and new releases. Records are a bit expensive but you should visit Sound Station anyway because it’s one of Scandinavia’s best-stocked record stores.
Crate: Beer and Vinyl / Photo credits: Crate: Beer and Vinyl
Crate beer and vinyl offers a small selection of records (500–700). These guys sell mainly second hand records and offer a wide selection of rock, blues, soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop and everything in between. And as the name says, they also sell beer.
Estonia
BIIT ME RECORD STORE / Photo credits: BIIT ME RECORD STORE
In business since 1971, specialising in nordic music, folk, ethnics, jazz and and other not-so-commercial genres. Probably the best record store in Helsinki for jazz and not-so-commercial genres from around the World.
Second hand record store in Helsinki. Wide range includes rock, folk, heavy metal, disco, funk, soul, reggae, jazz, rap, world music. Redhill Records also offers a fine selection of Russian and Eastern — European vinyl.
SYNCROPHONE, 4–6, RUE DES TAILLANDIERS, 75011 PARIS
One of the best record stores in Paris for House, Techno & other electronic music genres. Syncrophone has been an important part of the French house and techno scene for nearly 10 years, so it’s no wonder many french DJs select Syncrophone Records as their record shop of choice in Paris.
Superfly Records Paris / Photo credits: Superfly Records
Collectors/Vinyl record shop in Paris run by Paulo Goncalves & Manu Boubl offering a fine selection of rare second hand soul, jazz, Brazilian, African and Latin records.
L’International Records / Photo via Paris Electronic Week
Independent store with a vast collection (both new and second hand) offering everything from indie pop & rock to krautrock, house, techno, dubstep, ambient, drone, hip-hop, funk, soul, afro and reggae.
One of the classic record stores loved by many Parisian underground DJs. Techno Import is known for its fine selection of techno records and all sorts of underground electronic music.
Te Iubesc Record Shop / Photo credits: Te Iubesc Record Shop
Record label and record shop. Te Iubesc Record Shop opened its doors to the public in 2014, aiming to promote good music of all genres. Selections include: techno / house / minimal / jazz / blues / classical / rock / pop.
An old independent record store specialized in black music ranging from House, Garage, Hip-hop, Soul or Funk to Boogie, Jazz, Brokenbeat, New Jazz, Latin and Reggae. Betino’s is one of those stores where you can always find a nice mix of fresh and new, and old and legendary.
Independent record store specialized in jazz, experimental electronics, metal, rock and everything in between these genres, from krautrock to drone, noise, free jazz, etc. Great free jazz label too.
Lyon’s leading vinyl specialist. Specialized in house and techno music and everything in between, Chez Emile offers a fine selection of music from local artists but also new and second hand vinyl from all over the World.
Legendary record shop (and distribution house) founded by Mark Ernestus from the legendary Rhythm & Sound duo. The place to visit in Berlin for cutting-edge electronic dance music, from techno, house to dub and bass music. But your probably already knew that.
One of Berlin’s finest record stores specialized in Electronica, Dubstep, Techno and House music. Known as the best shop in town to find overlooked gems and dig for rare favorites at affordable prices.
Project of a former Discogs seller, The Record Loft is probably Berlin’s finest specialized second hand record store for all sorts of electronic music. This place is a record collector’s dream.
OYE RECORD STORE, ODERBERGERSTR. 4, 10435, PRENZLAUER BERG, BERLIN
House and disco specialists. You can also find there hip-hop, jazz and brand new electronic 12-inches.
Over 2.000 records to dig, along with a big selection of streetwear and sneakers. You can also order from the wide range of records available at hhv.de online shop and pick up your records at the store next day.
Public Possession / Photo credits: Public Possession
Public Possession is an Independent record label and lovely boutique record shop based in Munich, offering a carefully curated selection of quality leftfield / house / techno records.
If you visit the seaport city of Hamburg, you must pay a visit to Smallville record store. Although they have a fine selection of House, Techno, and everything in between, the focus is mainly the kind of contemplative deep house and techno that the increasingly loved Smallville label has been putting out in the last few years. The record store is owned by 3 fine DJs/producers Julius Steinhoff & Just von Ahlefeld (Smallpeople) and Peter Kersten (Lawrence), who usually hang-out there and share their passion for music with their customers (another great reason to visit the place and buy some records!).
Hamburg’s best record shop for second hand vinyl records. Good selection of new releases as well. Perfect for oldies / 60s / indie rock / punk / electronica, classic, jazz and pop. They also sell posters T-shirts, original postcards, DVDs, buttons and audiobooks.
Another good record store in Hamburg. These guys sell mainly vinyl records, but you’ll also find some CDs. Good selection of Soul, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Afro, Psych, Soundtracks,etc.
This is the place to check out in Athens if you’re a house and techno head. Habeat Records offers a fine selection of underground and hot-right-now house and techno records.
One of Budapest’s nicest record shops for techno and house vinyl heads. They also also stock electronica, electro, drum’n’bass, breakbeat, hip-hop, funk and reggae.
Probably Iceland’s leading vinyl record store, offers tons of records from a wide variety of musical genres, from jazz to soul, funk and afrobeat, to rock and punk or electronic and classical music, as well as new and old icelandic music.
Smekkleysa Bad Taste Record Store. Photo credits: Tim Boddy
Record store with good collection of local icelandic music and international music (from electronica to soul, jazz, indie, rock, etc). Bad Taste Records is also a legendary local label since the eighties, releasing milestone records by artists like the Sugarcubes or Sigur Rós.
Legendary’ record shop, record label, listening lounge and general hang-out spot in Reykjavík featuring from the best of Icelandic rock, to jazz, classical music, alternative, indie and electronic music.
ALL CITY, (GROUND FLOOR) 4 CROW STREET, TEMPLE BAR, DUBLIN 2
All City is an art shop and record store. All City sells an eclectic mix of house, techno, hip-hop, soul and funk, as well as releases from their own in-house record label. This place is pretty much like a candy store for street artists and vinyl heads.
SPINDIZZY, 32 MARKET ARCADE, SOUTH GREAT GEORGE’S STREET, DUBLIN 2
This place is good for all styles, but they’re pretty famous for their large selection of second hand Dance music 12”s. You can find a bit of everything from Techno, House, Electro to drum’n’bass, electronica, ambient or IDM.
Owned by the same guys behind Le Disque Distribution & Ambiwa Records, Le Disque has a wide and nice selection of vinyl records and cds. Genres include: House, Disco, Funk, Classics, Cosmic, Techno,Chicago House , Detroit Techno, Deep House, Minimal, etc.
Serendeepity / Photo via Serendeepity
SERENDEEPITY, CORSO DI PORTA TICINESE 100–20123 MILAN
Nice concept store in the city centre, specialized in vintage, vinyl records design and books. Big stock of house, techno, electronic, jazz, blues, experimental, r’n’b and world music.
Small record shop in the old town of Vilnius. Nice selection of second hand vinyl records from classical music to jazz, soul, disco, funk, pop, rock and metal. Good spot also if you’re looking for Lithuanian music released on vinyl.
One of the best and nicest record shops in Amsterdam. Rush Hour is specialized in House, Techno, Electro, Disco and everything in between. Also a legendary record label and distributor.
Redlight Records / Photo credits: Redlight Records
Small but well stocked record store in the heart of Amsterdam’s red light district. One of Amsterdam’s finest record stores, specialized in second hand vinyl records covering everything from ambient, Jazz, Disco or Folk to Funk, Rock, House music etc.
InDeep’n’Dance Records / Photo credits: InDeep’n’Dance Records
Clone was founded in Rotterdam as record store in the mid-90s after Hotmix closed. Today, Clone is one of the World’s most legendary record labels and record stores, loved and admired by vinyl heads and electronic music lovers from all over the World. Clone specializes in all sorts of experimental & underground electronic music.
Norway
Råkk & Rålls / Photo credits: Råkk & Rålls
Råkk & Rålls, Akersgata 39, 0158 Oslo
Second hand music paradise. Råkk & Rålls is probably Oslo’s biggest 2nd hand shop by far. Massive three floor space where all music genres are well represented, from metal to Nordic disco, and where you can also find stuff like furniture, dvds, computer games, etc.
Scandinavia’s biggest all-jazz specialty record store and coffee shop located in a super cool little back yard in the centre of Oslo. Bare Jazz is also a nice place to hear good live jazz music.
FLUR, AVENIDA INFANTE D. HENRIQUE, ARMAZÉM B4 CAIS DA PEDRA — SANTA APOLÓNIA, 1900 LISBON
Located on the waterfront in Lisbon, a very short walk from Lux (Lisbon’s best electronic music club), Flur is Lisbon’s finest record store offering a carefully curated selection that spans a full gamut of genres often neglected by other local record stores: ambient, house, techno, pop, rock, noise, electronica, jazz, drone, experimental, krautrock, disco, boogie, italo, hip-hop, dub, reggae, funk, soul, library, dubstep, UK funky, country, film music, African and latin styles,etc.
Record label and record store based managed by one of Lisbon’s finest DJs, Jorge Caiado. Carpet & Snares is specialized in house & techno. They also have a selection of underground electronic music second hand records. This shop has also played an important role in promoting new talents like André Leiria.
Cool shop, mainly selling second hand records and CDs. These guys focus more on heavy metal, punk but they also have a good selection of Jazz, Portuguese music, World music — West African boogaloo, Brazilian tropicalia, and if you’re lucky you might find some interesting electronica records as well.
Groovie Records is a Portuguese label that has been releasing garage/fuzz/psych vinyl records since 2005. Their store near Cais do Sodré is definitely worth a visit if you’re looking for indie rock, brazilian psych, tropicalia and other good stuff.
Discolecção / Photo vialisbonrecordshops.com
Discolecção, Calçada do Duque, 53-A 1200–156 Lisboa
Must stop in Lisbon if you’re looking for second hand vinyl records. You can find there a bit of everything from free jazz classics to Beatles, rarities to asian, prog-rock, etc.
If you’re not into heavy metal don’t even bother visiting Glam-o-rama. If heavy metal is your religion, then this record shop is definitely worth visiting in Lisbon. Well, to be honest, you should visit Glam-o-rama anyway. They actually also have a fairly decent selection of prog, indie or even jazz and fado, in CD, vinyl or DVD, new and second hand.
Louie Louie, Escadinhas do Sto. Espírito da Pedreira, 3, 1200–290 LISBOA
Coffee shop and record store located in one of the most touristic parts of Lisbon, Chiado. LOUIE LOUIE has a bit of everything for all tastes: from dance music, to african, brazilian, fado, rock, second hand records and new records. They also sell CDs and DVDs.
MAU GÉNIO, Estrada de Benfica, 731A — Shopping Center Nevada, Shop 9 1500–089 Lisboa
Good store to visit before going to a Benfica football match (the shop is located quite close to Benfica’s stadium). If you’re looking for second hand records Mau Génio is definitely worth visiting. Massive selection of second hand vinyl, CDs, DVDs as well as books, covering a wide range of genres, from rock to classic music. Pro tip: If you buy at least 3 records, they’ll offer you a discount.
Located in the same building as Carpet & Snares, a shopping mall called Espaço Chiado, this record store actually has two separate shops: one on the 1st floor and second one on the 2nd floor. On the 1st floor you will find mainly second hand records: from Disco to jazz, classical, soul, rock, indie,etc. On the 2nd floor you’ll find mainly Portuguese music, Brazilian and World music.
Great hosts, music & cocktails. This pretty much sums up what Bar Capitão Leitão is all about. This cozy spot in in the quirky neighbourhood of Marvila is a bit different than what you might expect. It’s actually a bar famous for tasty cocktails and local craft beers, but it’s also the smallest record shop you’ll find in Lisbon, with a small but nice selection of House and Deep house records. The owners, Will and Viviana, apart from being the warmest and nicest hosts and bartenders you could find in Lisbon, are also music lovers (Will is actually a DJ).They regularly host small house music parties at Capitão Leitão and a series of outdoor parties in Lisbon called Studio Club.
More than just a record store, Matéria Prima has become a meeting point and cultural hub for the Porto underground music scene. The store is specialized in electronica, drone, noise, indie rock, but also have a good selection of house and techno.
The only record shop of its kind in Bucharest. Owned by a local DJ, Ioana Parlog, Misbits is all about deep house, techno and dub techno, but also has second-hand records featuring other genres from funk, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, classical music, romanian pop and jazz.
Located in the central district of Malasaña, this shop is a venture formed by two previously existing record stores in Madrid, Is The Place and Recycled Music Centre. Good stock of both new and second-hand dance music records, and spanish house and techno labels.
Record store run by Arnau and Gerard, two young Catalan music enthusiasts who before opening Discos Paradiso travelled by bus around Europe to look for vintage vinyl. Good selection of underground electronic music, including techno, house, electro, dubstep and everything in between.
Subwax Bcn / Photo credits: Subwax Bcn
SUBWAX BCN, Carrer del Marquès de la Mina, 2, 08003 Barcelona
Subwax is one of Barcelona’s hot spots for crate diggers, but it actually started as a record store based in Malmö, Sweden. It was founded by Jimi Disko & Jeff Bennett in 1994 under the name Cosmic One Records, but in 2003 Jimi & Jeff rebranded it as Subwax Records. In 2012 Jimi ended partnering with Stefan Gulito and moved to Barcelona. Subwax specializes in rare electronic music, reggae/dub music and also have a large selection of second hand classics.
Sweden
Snickars Records / Photo credits: Snickars Records
Perfect for lovers of black and dance music: Soul — Funk — Disco — Hip Hop — Techno — House — Jazz — Pop- Rock — World — Reggae etc. They also sell new records from local Scandinavian and selected labels in various genres.
Chris Farrell, started Idle Hands as a label whilst working at the legendary record store Rooted Records. When the shop closed down he was encouraged by friends to take the plunge and bravely ended deciding to open his own record shop in 2011. That was great decision because Idle Hands (label and shop) is today a major player of the Bristol scene. If you’re visiting Bristol, make sure you head there for new 12’’ records — they have a fine selection from house and techno, to dubstep, grime and everything in between.
Kristina Records / Photo credits: Kristina Records
This Dalston based record shop attracts crate diggers from across London. Kristina Records is one of London’s finest record stores specialized in new and second-hand vinyl across most genres of underground music, but mainly electronic music.
This record shop on Portobello Road is a slice of music history. Since opening its doors in 1973 Honest Jon’s has been stocking a truly eclectic and unusual range, from blues, house, german & detroit techno to soul, reggae, world music and selected oddities.
One of London’s leading vinyl specialists in electronic music. Friendly staff. Pretty good selection of house, techno and everything in between. Good recommendations on the racks.
Sounds of the Universe / Photo credits: Sounds of the Universe
Located in Soho, these guys are owned by the legendary London-based label Soul Jazz Records. Really nice store to explore and discover music you may not have been completely exposed to in the past. SOTU tends to slightly focus more on hip-hop, funk and soul but the shop sells all-non mainstream music: Reggae, Punk, Techno, new wave cosmic disco, House, Funk, African, brazilian, Nigerian compilations and electronica.
ALAN’S RECORDS, 218 HIGH ROAD, EAST FINCHLEY, LONDON, N2 9AY
Excellent independent second-hand record shop with friendly staff. Great place to find rare and collectable items. Soul, Reggae, Chicago/New York/House & Deep House, Techno, Balearic, Blues, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Rock, Punk, World Music.
One of the latest additions to the London’s growing list of dance-music oriented independent record stores, stocking everything from the latest house and techno releases to the best in underground disco from the 70′s and 80′s.
Rough Trade first opened in 1976, West London, on the doorstep of punk. Iconic leftover of the punk era, 41 years later it’s still great place to find rare and interesting records in London.
Rat Records / Photo credits: Rat Records
Rat Records, 348 Camberwell New Road, London, United Kingdom
Rat Records is one of the good second hand vinyl record shops you can find in South London. These guys stock everything from Reggae and Rock to Jazz, Soul, Blues and Hip Hop.
Rye Wax / Photo credits: Arianna Power
RYE WAX, THE BASEMENT, THE CLF ART CAFE, 133 RYE LANE, LONDON SE15 4ST
Opened in 2014, Rye Wax is a vinyl and comic book store located in Peckham. Nice selection of comics, graphics novels, CDs and the latest quality electronic music and second-hand titles.
Reckless Records / Photo credits: Reckless Records
Reckless Records, Berwick Street Market, 30 Berwick St, Soho, London W1F 8RH, UK
Record shop specialized in second hand 7 and 12 inch vinyl, lots of prog, psych and jazz in the front. Also sells 1960s and 70s rock/pop, new wave, indie, lo-fi, techno, house, disco, funk, soul, hip-hop, blues and everything in between.
Starting from a humble record stall in Camden Market during the mid 80s, Sister Ray has steadily grown into one of London’s most iconic record shops. If you’re looking for new wave and punk rock Sister Ray is the right place to lose yourself. Great for new records. Not much in the bargain department for used vinyl though.
Perfect for crate digging krautrock, library and soundtracks records. Also offers a solid selection of disco 12″s, rock, hip-hop and a commendable dedication to 7″s.
Cosmos London boasts about 10,000 records, with a big focus on soul, rare groove, jazz psych, Latin and disco. Perfect if you like spending an entire afternoon crate digging rare british records, private pressings and soul classics.
Nice curated collection of rare groove, funk, soul and reggae pieces of wax. Ask Rob for vinyl tips and he’ll pick you out a few gems.
Eldica, 8 Bradbury St, Dalston, London N16 8JN, UK
Tucked away behind Dalston Junction Eldica has become a bit of an underground dream destination for DJ’s, Producers and lovers of black music across Europe. Packed with crates and crates of second hand gems, from Jazz to funk, soul, disco and reggae.
Opened in 2013, The Book & Record Bar has a quite large selection of second hand, rare and collectable records & books. It’s the perfect destination if you’re into Rare UK psych, jazz and folk.
Mike’s Record Shop, Unit 29–31, Indoor Market, 98–100 Wood Street, London E17 3HX
THE hidden gem for truly dedicated diggers. Mike’s Record Shop in the Indoor Market, Wood Street, specialises in Sixties, Seventies, Rock, Punk, New Wave, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Psych, Reggae, Soul, Progressive Rock and more good stuff.
A Soul, jazz, funk mecca just around the corner from East Putney tube station. Nice selection of CDs and vinyl records including jazz funk, modern soul, disco, classic and rare soul and jazz.
Rubadub / Photo credits: Rubadub
RUBADUB, 35 HOWARD STREET, GLASGOW, LANARKSHIRE G1 4BA
Glagow’s finest record store. Rubadub stocks a great array of CDs and vinyl and is a real heaven for fans of electro, house, Detroit techno and reggae.
Piccadilly records is Manchester’s leading outlet for independent music. Piccadilly has a great reputation, not just in Manchester but worldwide, offering a huge selection of vinyl in all types of genres, from indie rock to funk, soul, jazz, disco, reggae, house, techno, minimal wave, electro-pop, etc.
In the centre of Madrid we found this part books and records store with a huge selection of new a classic releases. They have also a great selection of soul and jazz records at great prices. In their basement they have a lot of used records that cost a long time to dig.
According to many record collectors, “The best store to sell and buy music and movies in the center of Madrid”. Antique vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, Blu Ray, collectibles, out of print, curious things, offers…, etc.
They have mainly indie, alternative and folk new releases. Although they have some used records they sell mint records. They also have a very nice selection of printings for sell in their walls. His owner is a very nice person and will be happy to help you if you don’t know something about a band.
Record Store with both used and new vinyl and CDs. They buy used LPs, singles and Maxis. Nari, the owner, is a very nice person and will help you to find that record you want. Highly recommended. He also sells in eBay, Discos and his own website. Must visit if you ever go to Madrid.
Como ‘merchandising’ o como fetiche, el elepé vive una segunda juventud donde el factor sonoro no es lo más importante para la Generación Z
Nacho Blanch en la habitación donde guarda su colección musical en Barcelona.David Ramírez
Cuando tenía 12 años, a Nacho Blanch le regalaron un tocadiscos por Navidad. Coleccionaba música desde que tenía uso de razón; en un rincón de su cuarto ya acumulaba varios vinilos de su artista favorita, Lady Gaga, aunque no tenía dónde reproducirlos. “Con 10 años yo no sabía nada de la calidad sonora del formato. Compraba discos simplemente porque eran vistosos, porque molaban”. Ahora, con 25, el joven catalán dedica su tiempo libre a la compraventa de vinilos por Wallapop y Vinted. Su trabajo en Amazon le ha permitido, además, ahorrar lo suficiente para reemplazar su viejo tocadiscos de maleta por un equipo profesional de 400 euros. También ha ampliado su colección en medio millar de títulos.
El afán coleccionista de Blanch no es algo excepcional. Juan Carlos Rodríguez, de Tenerife, también recibió su primer tocadiscos como regalo de Navidad hace un par de años, aunque llevaba comprando cedés toda la vida. “Nunca tuvimos un tocadiscos que funcionara en casa, pero siempre me fascinó el formato”. Una vez conseguido el aparato en cuestión, amigos y familiares comenzaron a regalarle vinilos en cada ocasión señalada. El primero, recuerda, fue Sunsets & Full Moons de The Script. Los dos últimos, la reedición de Dile al sol de La Oreja de Van Gogh y Bellodrama de Ana Mena.
Con 10 años no sabía nada de la calidad sonora del formato. Compraba vinilos porque eran vistosos y molabanNacho Blanch, coleccionista de vinilos
Cada vez son más los jóvenes que, frustrados ante la inmaterialidad del streaming, recurren al formato físico para satisfacer su apetito melómano y su voracidad consumista. Como la ropa, también regresa la música en formato más vintage. “Mucha gente compra los discos físicos no sólo para reproducirlos, sino por el placer de convertirse en coleccionistas. Es una especie de moda. Muchos de los elepés que compro ya los tengo como cedés, pero luego ves lo bonita que es la estética de vinilo y te pueden las ganas”, reconoce el tinerfeño. La práctica encierra, por tanto, una elevada dosis de fetichismo.
Según un informe reciente de Luminate -principal fuente de datos sobre el estado de la industria musical a nivel internacional- los miembros de la Generación Z gastan un 18% más de dinero en música que el oyente promedio y tienen un 27% más de probabilidades de comprarse un elepé, lo que explica el empujón a las ventas de vinilo en la última década. Lo más curioso, sin embargo, es que estas compras no se deben tanto a un deseo de escuchar la música en ese formato, sino a otras cuestiones: más del 50% de los compradores de vinilo no posee un tocadiscos.
“Quien se compra un elepé muestra un grado muy elevado de compromiso con el artista”, sostiene Antonio Guisasola, presidente de la asociación de Productores de Música de España (Promusicae). “Lo que busca la gente que consume este formato es algo más que la calidad en la escucha. Hay un punto de merchandising y un punto de vinculación emocional con el artista que no se encuentra en YouTube u otras plataformas”.
Ambos puntos pueden explicarse tomando el ejemplo del vinilo más vendido en 2022, con 945.000 de copias. Midnights, de Taylor Swift, se comercializó en cuatro coloresdiferentes, animando a los fans de la artista a adquirir todas las versiones para completar la colección, como si de un álbum de cromos se tratase. Bastaron unos minutos para que sus seguidores arrasaran las tiendas físicas y digitales con un único objetivo: hacerse con la tetralogía y ser los primeros en compartir la hazaña en redes sociales. Ni siquiera el precio, que superaba los 50 euros por unidad, consiguió disuadirles.
El vinilo ha pasado así de ser un producto de nicho, destinado a entendidos y personas de mediana edad, a un artículo vinculado al fenómeno fan para (casi) todos los públicos. “Cada vez hay más oferta, sobre todo online, y es algo que a los jóvenes nos faltaba. Cuando ibas a una tienda independiente, o incluso a la Fnac hace años, era muy fácil encontrar música de los 70 y 80, pero no tanto algo contemporáneo”, afirma Blanch.
Hay un punto de merchandising y un punto de vinculación emocional con el artista que no se da en las plataformasAntonio Guisasola, presidente de Promusicae
El último lustro ha sido testigo de una inversión de las tendencias: ahora el perfil del consumidor “ideal” no es tanto el adulto de 50 y 60 como el veinteañero y treintañero. Comenta Guisasola a este respecto que muchos solistas y grupos de música aprovechan para sacar directamente el álbum en vinilo y, normalmente, “es la gente joven que les sigue quien le da una oportunidad al formato como una forma de conectar con ellos”.
Los elepés más vendidos son, de hecho, el principal indicador de esta transformación: si en 2010 eran reediciones de clásicos del pop y el rock como los Beatles o Led Zeppelin, el panorama de esta década es muy diferente, con discos actuales copando los primeros puestos de la lista. Opina Rodríguez que el mercado “se ha adaptado a un sector del público muy específico: el consumidor de música comercial que no encontraba vinilos de sus grupos favoritos”. Para muestra, cinco botones: entre los 10 artistas con mayores ventas en 2022 se encontraron, además de Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny y The Weeknd.
“El mercado ha visto que hay un filón importante para rescatar una industria que se encontraba en crisis y que no trataba de cuajar entre el público más joven”, considera Juan Carlos Rodríguez. Señala que el “motor del coleccionismo musical” se encuentra ahora en el vinilo porque su lanzamiento está planteado como un producto exclusivo: de tirada limitada, firmado o con algún obsequio promocional.
“Mi tesoro más preciado es un set de Lady Gaga formado por 12 vinilos de su álbum Born This Way dentro de una caja de terciopelo azul. Solo hay 3.000 ejemplares en el mundo” cuenta Manuel Sánchez, gaditano de 28 años, mostrando orgulloso una imagen de la caja con el grabado “2602/3000”. Blanch se hizo con otra de estas ediciones de lujo por más de 200 euros en 2014, tras años ahorrando para conseguirla, y confirma que la caja de vinilos está “muy cotizada ahora en las webs de segunda mano porque fue una tirada muy limitada”. Su precio actual supera los 800, cuadruplicando el original.
Cuatro de los vinilos de la edición especial de ‘Born This Way’ de Lady Gaga.David Ramírez
Coinciden los entrevistados en que poseer un álbum en físico refuerza la sensación de propiedad. “La idea de tener en casa algo de tu artista favorito es completamente diferente a pagar una suscripción a un servicio de streaming. Cuando vas a un concierto, puedes llevarte el disco para intentar que el artista lo firme, es un recuerdo más”, comenta Blanch. Todo ese encanto, esa práctica ritualista, gira en torno a lo material y no tanto a lo virtual. “Yo acostumbraba a comprar vinilos esporádicamente, no fue hasta la pandemia cuando decidí empezar mi colección”, cuenta Sánchez, quien describe la experiencia de manera casi religiosa, utilizando expresiones como “sentir la música visualmente”.
El factor nostalgia y la propia romantización del arte del coleccionismo confluyen en el tacto de la carátula y en el aroma de las páginas del libreto. Para Rodríguez, la calidad del libreto de los cedés se ha visto reducida sustancialmente en los últimos tiempos. “Algunos tienen solo cinco o seis páginas con fotos mal sacadas y ni siquiera incluyen las letras o los créditos de las canciones. Ya que te vas a gastar el dinero, quieres que la edición esté a la altura, y eso suele estar muy cuidado en el caso de los vinilos”.
Lo cierto es que, en un mercado físico que continúa menguando, el vinilo se mantiene como un pilar fundamental en nuestro país. 2022 cerró con unas cifras que confirmaban la tendencia al alza de los años anteriores, así como el sorpasso al cedé en términos económicos. En marzo, Promusicae publicaba su último balance, cuyos resultados revelaban que los vinilos suponen actualmente el 53% de la facturación del mercado físico y generan un valor anual de 29 millones de euros en España frente a los 26 millones del cedé, equivalentes al 47% de las ventas.
El motor de la música en físico se encuentra ahora en el vinilo porque su lanzamiento está planteado como un producto exclusivoJuan Carlos Rodríguez, coleccionista
Afirma Guisasola que el público “está dispuesto a pagar lo que sea por este formato, que atrae tanto a los nostálgicos como a las nuevas generaciones”. Nuevas generaciones que auparon Motomami, el álbum de Rosalía, a la cima de las listas. En el top 5 de vinilos más vendidos en España durante 2022 le acompañaron Harry’s House (Harry Styles), Midnights (Taylor Swift), El Madrileño(C. Tangana) y La cuarta hoja (Pablo Alborán).
“Hace una década, los discos de estrellas pop como Madonna, Rihanna o Katy Perry no llegaban a España en forma de elepé”, recuerda Blanch. “Ahora están reeditándose esos álbumes para que la gente de veintitantos podamos tener la música de nuestra adolescencia en la estantería”. En la estantería… o en la pared, porque aquellos coleccionistas sin tocadiscos optan también por comprar vinilos con diseños únicos y rocambolescos para enmarcarlos, en un ejercicio decorativo no apto para cualquier bolsillo. Algo así como los pósteres de la Superpop, pero de lujo.
¿Significa todo esto que la Generación Z va a cancelar en masa sus suscripciones a Apple Music y Spotify para consagrarse por completo a la música en formato físico? Para nada. Según el informe de IFPI, el mercado musical global está dominado por las plataformas y se prevé que lo siga estando en la próxima década. Aterrizando los datos, casi 17 millones de españoles usaron uno o varios servicios de streaming de audio durante 2022, de los cuales 5,2 millones contaban con suscripciones premium, un 18% más que en 2021.
Romanticismos y fetiches aparte, los jóvenes melómanos conviven con el streaming en paz y armonía. No les cuesta reconocer que, en su día a día, les resulta más cómodo llevar la música en el móvil. Dejan el tocadiscos -si lo tienen- para momentos especiales; ratos “de desconexión y disfrute” donde la música recibe toda su atención. “Spotify, entre otras cosas, me permite escuchar las canciones meses antes de que salga el disco, hacer listas de reproducción combinando varios artistas y también contener mis gastos. Si fuera por mí, estaría todas las semanas comprando vinilos, y tampoco es plan”, admite Rodríguez.
Todos describen el coleccionismo de vinilos como un pedaleo cuesta abajo y sin frenos: una vez caes en la tentación, es imposible salir del bucle. Porque, cuando los centennials se obsesionan con algo, lo llevan al extremo, para bien o para mal. Reconoce Sánchez que es fácil subirse al carro de comprar vinilos por moda ya que, últimamente, todos los artistas sacan versiones en este formato. “Sin embargo, tienes que estar dispuesto a gastarte mucho dinero a la larga”, advierte. Touché.
21 June 1948: A symphony lasting 45 minutes was played on two sides of a 12-inch long playing record, spinning at 33⅓ revolutions per minute.
CBS Laboratories chief engineer Dr Peter Carl Goldmark (r), and sound engineer Rene Snepvangers, who helped develop LP microgroove record production, 1 June 1948. Photograph: CBS/Getty Images
New York, 20 June A symphony lasting 45 minutes was played on two sides of a 12-inch gramophone record at a demonstration here. The average 12-inch record plays for only eight minutes.
The record is known as the “Columbia LP (long playing) Microgroove.” It is also being made in the 10-inch size with a playing time of 27 minutes. The material from which the records are made is unbreakable.
Long playing records
By Desmond Shawe-Taylor The Observer, 21 May 1950
For almost two years the American record market has been stimulated and also bewildered by the impact of the Long-Playing record – or LP, as it is there universally called. From across the Atlantic came echoes of the battle: company after company entering the field, new concerns springing up on all sides, wild claims and counter-claims made on behalf of each system, and self-respecting turntables asked to revolve at three different speeds – 33⅓ rpm, 45, and plain old-fashioned 78. As the confusion spread, many small dealers and record buyers retired into their shells with gestures of despair.
During this period the well-informed English collector has been able to sit back with a superior smile. Splendid! By all means let the Americans see their new invention through the awkward teething stage; neutrality, for the time being, had distinct advantages. But the period of our neutrality is almost over. Next month Decca release a first English list of some 50 LP records, together with a variety of apparatus on which to play them; and it seems likely that the Gramophone Company will soon follow suit.
First, some facts. The new Decca records have the same essential features as the American Columbia LP Microgrooves, which in July 1948, started the ball rolling. Each side of a 12-inch record plays for between 20 and 25 minutes; each side of a 10-inch record for some 16 minutes. This startling result is achieved by the use of a narrower groove and a playing speed of 33⅓ revolutions per minute. The records are made of a plastic material, lighter than shellac and almost free from needle hiss. Prices will not, at present, work out much cheaper than before: that is, one LP will cost about as much as four ordinary records of the same size and category. (Decca explain that while royalties are unaltered, material and processing are far more expensive, and the number of rejected pressings far higher).
LPs cannot be played on an acoustic instrument. But the owner of a radio-gramophone, or even a plain radio, can buy for under £10 a playing-desk and pick-up suitable for LP only; for another £5 he can buy a twin-speed motor (33⅓ and 78) and a pick-up with two easily interchangeable heads; or he can buy a “two-way” Deccalian for £37 16s, which is little more than the cost of the normal model.
The convenience of long-playing records for symphonic and chamber music, and for opera, can hardly be exaggerated.
Let’s face it: if your records are dirty, it doesn’t matter how good your turntable is.
Not only does keeping your records clean ensure the longevity of your collection and your needles, it allows you to have the best listening experience too.
There’s a vast amount of options to clean your records out there. Anti-static brushes, cleansing solutions, and record cleaning machines are all valuable options, and in truth there’s no do-or-die, ‘correct’ way of going about things – so don’t stress too much. You just need to assess how dirty your records are, how many you want to clean at a given time, and what you’re comfortable spending.
An important thing to remember is that if you’re buying used records that have taken a battering, or have discs that are dirty to the point of no return, cleaning your records will not magically bring them back from the dead. Prevention is always better than cure.
Moving up in price, you’ll find that manual options like solutions and brushes are not as common. What you’ll come across more often are record cleaning machines. They serve as a more viable option in ensuring dust and unwanted particles within the grooves of your records are eliminated completely.
While different manufacturers promise different experiences, most record cleaning machines offer a system that involves some kind of fluid, a brush to spread the fluid, and typically a vacuum to suck gunk out of the grooves and dry the record.
What typically drives up the price is how involved you have to be in the process, and the overall build quality of the machine.
With anything we recommend, we always advise that you read up on what is being offered and make sure it aligns with what you’re looking for.
Pro-Ject VC-E Record Cleaning Machine
Price: £349 Pros: Cleans records in about two rotations Cons: Bulky
Verdict: If you’re looking for a fast and efficient record cleaning machine that won’t make your wallet weep, you’ll be more than satisfied with Pro-ject’s VC-E model.
Pro-Ject already make outstanding turntables, so it only makes sense that they make a machine that ensures spotless records too. The VC-E promises to clean your records in about one or two rotations, and to leave them dust and debris-free. It does this in seconds, meaning you can not only listen to your records faster but clean through your entire collection in less time too.
Okki Nokki One MK II
Price: £435 Pros: Can handle 7″, 10″, and 12″ records; quiet; easy to use Cons: Dust cover and clamp are not included
Verdict: The Okki Nokki One MK II is an easy-to-use and quiet vacuum record cleaning machine that will leave your records so clean you could eat off of them. (Please don’t actually eat off of your records.)
This Dutch brand specialises in offering a single-control, simple-to-use, bi-directional vacuum cleaning machine that ensures your records are so clean the only thing you’ll be hearing is what was recorded in the studio. It’s also really quiet, particularly when compared to other machines at this price range.
VPI HW 16.5 Vinyl Record Cleaning Machine
Price: £600 Pros: 30 years in the game; deep clean Cons: Boxy, dated design
Verdict: If you want to make sure your records are cleaned to a microscopic level, then the VPI HW 16.5 is what you need.
VPI dropped the original HW 16 three decades ago. The newer 16.5 model offers an upgrade to that lengthy legacy, and does the same job – cleaning records – very well. It takes about 35 seconds per side to clean a record fully, which is a little on the slow side, but what you’re left with will look like a brand new record. It’s also super sturdy, has a crazy high torque 18 RPM turntable platter, and sports a vintage old-school design which will appeal to some.
New square reverberates to Clash songs as musicians gather in Spanish city to celebrate.
It is a small square, set away on the far side of the magnificent Alhambra complex, but friends say the Placeta Joe Strummer inaugurated on Monday evening in the southern Spanish city of Granada would have delighted the Clash frontman.
With its white walls, reddish sand, pine trees, carved drinking fountain and views of the spectacular Sierra Nevada, the square reverberated on Monday night to the sound of Spanish Bombs, London Calling and other Strummer songs as musician friends from Britain and Spain gathered to celebrate.
“He liked the city a lot,” said Esperanza Romero, whose family first brought Strummer to what would become one of his favourite cities. “For me he was like a soul brother.”
Romero and Strummer shared a west London squat when he was a struggling musician and her sister Paloma was the future Clash singer’s girlfriend – sparking his interest in Spain and the city where their brother Fernando was studying, Granada.
“He was just one more of the crowd, but very charismatic. He always had time for people and was very warm and accessible,” she said.
The Spaniards helped introduce him to the culture of southern Andalusia and the work of Granada’s most famous poet, Federico García Lorca, who was shot by a rightwing death squad during the Spanish civil war and buried in an unmarked mass grave in the hills above the city.
Strummer later included both Lorca and Granada in his 1979 song Spanish Bombs on the London Calling album, and once tried to find and dig up the poet’s grave. “He was very interested in anything that had the smell of freedom and of revolution,” Romero said.
Paloma went on to become Palmolive, the drummer in the punk group the Slits, before moving to the US and becoming a committed born-again Christian.
Esperanza went out with Richard Dudanski, the drummer in Strummer’s pre-Clash band, the 101ers, who later played with the former Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten in Public Image Ltd. The couple eventually moved to Granada.
After Strummer and his fellow band member Paul Simonon sacked the guitarist, singer and songwriter Mick Jones in 1983, the Clash began to fall apart and he sought refuge in Granada.
Joe Strummer playing with the Clash in 1979. Photograph: George Rose/Getty Images
It took locals a while to recognise the by now internationally famous musician. “At first I thought he was some drunk,” José Ignacio Lapido, whose punk-rock band 091 Strummer went on to produce, told the British film-maker Nick Hall. “He had his little notebook with him and he showed me the poems he had in English.”
Strummer was in Spain when critics panned This is England, the single from the band’s final album, Cut the Crap. “I just went, ‘Well fuck this,’ and fucked off to the mountains of Spain to sit sobbing under a palm tree,” he said later. He eventually found a house in nearby Almeria, bought – and managed to lose – a prized Dodge car, and produced an album for 091.
A Facebook campaign to name a city square after him began last year, and it turned out that even Granada’s conservative-run city hall contained some Clash fans. “It got into the local newspaper, the socialists made the proposal and finally all parties voted in favour,” Dudanski said.
Monday night’s acoustic jam session brought together family, including Strummer’s daughters Jazz and Lola, and friends, including musicians from the Pogues, the 101ers, 091 and his backing group in the three years before his 2002 death, the Mescaleros.
On 1st June, Dutch band DeWolff produced the world’s fastest studio-to-store record – Recording at 1 pm in the Artone Studio at Record Industry, then exactly 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 38 seconds later, the first 12-inch vinyl single ‘Rosita Rápida’ was sold at Sounds in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. DeWolff played a 20-minute live version of the song ‘Rosita Rápida’ with a six-piece band, in front of an audience, resulting in two sides of a 12-inch direct-to-disc. After that, the Record Industry team quickly got to work making the moulds with which the vinyl was pressed. In the meantime, the cover was also printed and folded. After pressing, the band cycled from Record Industry to Sounds in the centre of Haarlem in 10 minutes, where the first copy was sold to the lucky fans, and the clock was stopped.
“It was really cool to be able to do this in front of the audience. Recording live is great, but to also see the entire production process up close and to be able to bring your music to the store in the form of a fresh record is something else,” said the band.
Anouk Rijnders is CCO of Record Industry, one of the largest vinyl pressing companies in the world, producing more than 11 million records per year, and he remarked: “It feels very special to be able to do this in-house with DeWolff and our team on the 25th anniversary of Record Industry. In the process from recording to store, we go through about eight steps, where everything has to fit together seamlessly. The fact that everything succeeds even within three hours is an incredible team effort.”
The old studio-to-store world record stood at three hours, fifty-five minutes, and twenty-one seconds and was held by Jack White, of White Stripes fame. The Third Man Records owner responded during the attempt saying “Wishing you the best of luck on this attempt. Please post pictures of the metal work being made and the records being pressed, everyone at Third Man would love to see and are all wishing you luck as well. I hope you break the record (not literally).”
El periodista británico William Chislett quiere donar una colección de 450 vinilos de música clásica que pertenecieron a su padre, abogado y musicólogo en Oxford.
El pasado 9 de mayo, en medio del fragor de las celebraciones por la festividad de San Isidro, el periodista británico William Chislett (@WilliamChislet3) publicó un tuit: «Vivo en Madrid y tengo 450 vinilos de música clásica heredados de mi padre, musicólogo en Oxford y en condición prístina. Busco un sitio donde puedo donarlos«.
En el propio mensaje, que al momento de escribir este artículo acumula más de 900 retuits y más de 1.000 «me gusta», daba una pista de que acudir a Twitter no había sido la primera –ni la única vía– por la que ha intentado dar salida a los cientos de vinilos: «He consultado algunos conservatorios de música y no tienen espacio«.
Según nos cuenta el periodista en una entrevista telefónica, la colección completa de su padre estaba formada por entre 3.000 y 5.000 vinilos. Antes de morir en 1984, donó una gran parte de ellos a la Facultad de Música de la Universidad de Oxford, pero le dejó seleccionar una parte de esos vinilos para conservarlos. Son los que ahora quiere donar.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1655933441530273792
«Tengo dos hijos. Que yo sepa a ninguno le interesa la música clásica, y tengo una cierta edad en la que estas cosas hay que pensarlas. Lo que no quiero es que cuando yo muera esos vinilos los tirasen o terminasen en la calle o qué sé yo. Además, creo firmemente en las donaciones públicas«.
Una colección de vinilos que podría acabar en Madrid
Que esos vinilos pasen a formar parte de la colección de alguna entidad pública es una de las condiciones que William establece para hacer la donación: «Así la gente tendrá más acceso«.
Otra condición («aunque no es completamente firme») es que la entidad a la que se donen pueda emitir el certificado regulado en el Art. 16 de la ley 49/2002 de régimen fiscal de las entidades sin fines lucrativos y de los incentivos fiscales al mecenazgo, que le permitiría desgravarse el valor tasado de la colección.
Además, quiere donar la colección al completo, sin fraccionar. La única excepción que ha hecho ha sido con la Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE), a la que ha donado unos 20 vinilos de música española de compositores como Falla y Albéniz, pero «ya no quiero fraccionarla más. O se acepta toda o nada«, señala.
La colección de más de 400 vinilos de William || Imagen cedida por: William Chislett
Entre los vinilos –de los años 50, 60 y 70– hay música de compositores como Mozart, Beethoven, Dvořák, Elgar… Entre las instituciones públicas que han manifestado su interés por hacerse con la colección se encuentran la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, la Universidad de Valladolid, una fundación malagueña y la Biblioteca Musical Víctor Espinós del Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Conde Duque, en Madrid.
A día de hoy, según cuenta a este medio, se encuentra en conversaciones con diferentes instituciones y por el momento «no hay nada decidido». «Siendo una herencia de mi padre me quiero asegurar de que acabe en un buen sitio, para respetar su memoria y que la gente pueda hacer uso de ella».
Otras donaciones de William a España
El germen de las donaciones de William se remonta a la que le hizo a la Biblioteca Nacional de España de algunos libros de Arturo Barea, a raíz de su exposición en el Instituto Cervantes sobre el autor en el año 2018: «Me escribieron un correo de agradecimiento por haberlo hecho en vida. Mucha gente, con buena intención, les manifiesta su deseo de hacer donaciones, pero si no dejan por escrito esa voluntad es una oportunidad perdida», explica al otro lado del teléfono.
«Eso me hizo pensar en que no podía dejar pasar más tiempo para donar los libros y los vinilos». Así, en los dos últimos años ha donado 500 primeras ediciones de novelas en inglés a la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares y 500 libros sobre España (en español y inglés) a la Universidad de Cantabria. Y solo es cuestión de tiempo saber cuál será el nuevo hogar para la colección de música que reunió su padre
En la era dominada por la música digital y las plataformas de streaming, hay algo especial en disfrutar de la calidez y la autenticidad del vinilo. Audio-Technica ha sabido capturar esa magia y llevarla al siguiente nivel con su tocadiscos portátil Sound Burger.
El Sound Burger, un clásico icónico de los años 80, regresó con fuerza para deleitar a los amantes de la música analógica. Este tocadiscos compacto y liviano es el compañero perfecto para aquellos que desean disfrutar de su colección de vinilos en cualquier lugar y en cualquier momento. Lo que hace que Sound Burger sea tan especial es su diseño ingenioso y su estética retro. Un tocadiscos que encarna el espíritu de la época en la que el vinilo dominaba la escena musical. Es una pieza que rinde homenaje a la historia y a los amantes del vinilo de antaño, pero también es una declaración de estilo para los audiófilos modernos.
Equipado con características modernas
A pesar de su apariencia clásica, el Sound Burger está equipado con características modernas para satisfacer las necesidades de los amantes de la música de hoy. Ofrece conectividad inalámbrica Bluetooth, lo que permite una experiencia de escucha sin cables. Además, cuenta con un puerto USB-C para una carga rápida y conveniente.
Reproducción suave y precisa
El sistema de tracción por correa del Sound Burger permite reproducir discos de 33-1/3 y 45 rpm, lo que significa que puedes disfrutar tanto de tus sencillos favoritos como de tus álbumes completos. Su sistema de equilibrio dinámico asegura una reproducción suave y precisa, mientras que el motor de corriente continua garantiza un funcionamiento sin problemas.
Compacto y liviano pensado para viajar
El Sound Burger también ha sido diseñado pensando en la portabilidad. Es lo suficientemente compacto y liviano como para llevarlo a todas partes, ya sea para animar una fiesta, disfrutar de un picnic o simplemente para disfrutar de música en tu hogar. Además, viene con un cable de audio RCA, lo que te permite conectarlo a tu sistema de sonido doméstico o a altavoces activos, brindándote la flexibilidad de disfrutar de tu música como prefieras.
Nuevos colores para el tocadiscos portátil
El tocadiscos portátil emblemático de la reconocida marca japonesa experimentó un relanzamiento el año pasado, cautivando la atención con su vibrante tono rojo retro. Esta iniciativa fue parte de la celebración del 60 aniversario de Audio-Technica y, para sorpresa de todos, se agotaron en todo el mundo en cuestión de días. Ahora, Audio-Technica presenta el tan esperado regreso del icónico Sound Burger, esta vez luciendo una elegante combinación de colores blanco y negro. Además, para deleite de los entusiastas, una versión llamativa en color amarillo llegará al mercado durante el verano de este año.
Magia del vinilo con sonido excepcional
Si eres un amante de la música y buscas una experiencia única y envolvente, el tocadiscos portátil Sound Burger de Audio-Technica es la elección perfecta. Disfruta de tus vinilos favoritos en cualquier lugar y revive la magia del vinilo con estilo y calidad de sonido excepcionales.
Características técnicas de Sound Burger
El mismo fantástico diseño del Sound Burger, pero con muchos elementos actuales Conectividad Bluetooth Puerto de carga USB-C Tocadiscos portátil con tracción por correa Reproduce discos de 33-1/3 y 45 rpm Adicionalmente, un motor de corriente continua de alta precisión mantiene una rotación estable Plato de aleación de aluminio fundido a presión con sistema de amortiguación 12 h de batería Aguja ATN3600L reemplazable Accesorios: Adaptador para 45 rpm Cable RCA (3,5 mm macho a RCA dual macho) Cable USB para la carga (USB tipo A / USB tipo C™)
Precio y disponibilidad
El Sound Burger (AT-SB727) de Audio-Technica estará disponible en blanco y en negro a partir del 31 de mayo de 2023 exclusivamente en la página web de la marca por 229 €.
Sobre Audio-Technica
Audio-Technica es una marca japonesa que fue fundada en 1962 en Tokio, Japón. Desde sus inicios, la compañía se ha centrado en la fabricación de equipos de audio de alta calidad, incluyendo micrófonos, auriculares, tocadiscos y otros productos relacionados. A lo largo de los años, Audio-Technica ha ganado reconocimiento y prestigio a nivel mundial por su innovación tecnológica, su atención al detalle y su compromiso con la reproducción precisa del sonido. La marca ha expandido su presencia a nivel internacional, convirtiéndose en un referente en la industria del audio y siendo elegida por profesionales y amantes de la música en todo el mundo.
im Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, is one of us. As a kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 1970s, collecting vinyl was of paramount importance, and he got himself a day job just so he could buy records and go see concerts. (Sound familiar?)
Fast-forward to the present day, where Kerr and his megaplatinum-selling band Simple Minds have just released their 18th studio album, Direction of the Heart, via BMG on 180g black vinyl that was manufactured in Poland. (Orange and silver LP variants are also available, for those so inclined.)
Direction marries the best sonics and songwriting intentions of the band’s high-profile 1980s recordings with modern-day sensibilities. “That’s the ideal — and it sounds like it’s an obvious ideal, but it’s never easy to do,” Kerr allows. “However, I think we’re pretty darn near it here, because the past is the past. You can’t go back. Recently, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84 [which was originally released on LP in September 1982] by playing it in its entirety at the last gig of our tour [at Summer Sessions in Edinburgh, Scotland, on August 13]. So we cango back to playing that record while knowing that you can’t completely go back — but you can evoke, and you can connect that kind of feeling we had when we were 19, and 20. But it would be like trying to build the Brooklyn Bridge again now.”
That said, Kerr prefers to look ahead, artistically speaking. “It’s a different world,” he agrees. “There are different materials. There are different people. We know too much, almost — and I don’t say that in a bad way. There’s an idealism that comes into it, and I think if we can conjure up the essence of those early art-rock days — but do it with more focused songwriting that comes through experience — and then get that all together on an album, it’s not a bad combination.”
Not in the least. To delve into all that conjuring and more. Kerr, 63, and I got onto Zoom together across the Pond to discuss how important buying vinyl was (and still is) to both him and his Simple Minds songwriting partner, guitarist Charlie Burchill, why it was crucial to shape Direction of the Heartspecifically as a two-sided record, and how important an influence David Bowie albums remain as part of his creative life to this day. I opened up and I was able to see / The vision thing, you got the vision thing. . .
Mike Mettler: I’ve long felt like Simple Minds have fully embraced vinyl throughout your 40-plus-year career. How important has the vinyl resurgence been to you as an artist and a listener? How do you feel about it?
Jim Kerr: Well, first of all, initially, it’s just mind-blowing. And there’s a great story you’ve probably heard — I dunno how many years ago this would be now, but Sony wanted rid of one of the main vinyl pressing plants in Holland [Haarlem, since renamed Record Industry]. And this kid [Ton Vermeulen] who was just pressing up vinyls for DJs, he took it off them for a song. They wanted rid of it, and they just gave it to him! And now, they’d move the earth to get it back! (laughs heartily) I mean, who could have foreseen that?
But embracing vinyl — t’s been an amazing thing. For me, even just the culture of it — the culture of not only the putting the needle on, but the artwork, the whole thing. Walking around with your own [vinyl] billboards, seeing who you wear. It was how you cut your cloth, what tribe you were part of, and all that culture. Thank God there are still remnants of that — and growing remnants. New remnants.
Mettler: Speaking of new vinyl, let’s get into Direction of the Heart, which runs for a nice 40ish minutes. Were you thinking of sequencing it for two sides, right from the start? What was the thought process when you guys started on it? Kerr: It’s just inherent. I mean, that whole CD thing of 13 tracks — first off, no one’s got 13 good tracks. Forget it! It’s like, if you give me 13 tracks, my heart sinks. It’s more like, “Give me your best three.” You know? “Give me your best two sides.”
We still see it as roughly 43, 44 minutes — if you get there. I mean, I would have it at 37, 38 [minutes], but people feel like they’ve been ripped off. That’s just the same as adding to the seven days in a week. No one’s going to convince me any different. They might try and change it, but . . . (laughs)
Mettler: Well, only The Beatles are allowed eight days a week. Everybody else — probably not. Only them. Kerr: (laughs) Okay. That’s the only one. Only they can get away with it. But that album length, it’s just inherent. There’s something about it. Listen, I even feel it in podcasts. A lot of podcasts are 42 minutes, 45 minutes. Enough’s enough.
Mettler: Yeah, you should know when to not overstay your welcome. When it came to the recording process, I know this is a bit of a lockdown record, but were you and Charlie [Burchill] able to be in the same studio together, and everybody else kind of came in remotely, so to speak? How did you guys do that?
Kerr: That was one of the real positives about it. Because we were locked down, and because there was nothing else able to go on, Charlie and I not only did get in the room together — we were the only ones in the room! It’s fortunate that we get on. Because it was just us for a lot of it. Towards the end, we augmented stuff, but for the longest part of it — the biggest part of it — it was the two of us. That’s how we started the band — it was the two of us.
There was nothing else going on — no distractions. There was a real commitment there I’d like to think is perceivable in the music. We got really, really into it. And it gave us a chance to not just go with the first thing, but to kick the tires a bit. Things would be sounding real good, and it would be like, “That’s done. That’s done.” Then we’d go back two weeks later: “That’s not done. Let’s go again.”
Again, one of the things coming out of that thing was that while the whole world ground to a halt, we found a way of at least keeping the creativity going.
Mettler: Was there any one track that you didn’t have to mess with too much, one that just kind of fell into place easily? Kerr: The opening track, “Vision Thing,” just felt right. It just felt like, this is what the record’s all about. It really did. And from the opening chords, it’s like, “Yeah, this is where we want to be.”
Kerr: The song’s a celebration of life — essentially, my dad’s life. He passed during the record [being made]. But that’s in a real sweet spot, because we’re playing it live just now, playing at festivals. A majority of the audience don’t know it and certainly don’t know what it’s about, but they’re jumping up and down because it’s a real joyous journey. In amongst the chords, there’s an obvious sentimentality due to the subject matter. I think that’s a sweet spot between joy and sadness, between darkness and light — all that stuff. If you can get in there, it’s a good place to be.
Mettler: There is a signature feel going on with it, for sure. Another track I’d like to get more into is “Solstice Kiss,” and the way it starts out — I almost feel like it’s a not-too-distant cousin of “Belfast Child” [a linchpin track from Simple Minds’ May 1989 album, Street Fighting Years], in a way. Was that intentional? Did you want to have that connection point sonically? Kerr: That’s bang-on, yes. That’s one of the songs written by our bass player, Ged Grimes — well, the music anyway. And Ged has this connection to Celtic music. He does a lot of music in the game world, and he worked on a couple of things recently that were using the very best Celtic musicians.
He came up with this tune, and at the start, there was this whistle thing that was very reminiscent of “Belfast Child” that we thought, when we heard it, “You know what? Elaborate on it.” So, there’s a little “Stairway to Heaven” at the start (chuckles), but then it comes in with the suitable bombast.
And by the very name “Solstice Kiss” — it’s ethereal, and you can very much feel the skies. I guess the title itself made me wanna write about that, or that kind of romance. I could feel all those pictures in the music.
Mettler: I can see that, literally. It’s a beautiful thing. As to the vocalizations on the record, I feel like there’s a lot of interesting, layered vocal choices — again, something I feel like is a hallmark of yours. When we hear another voice, whether it’s male or female — and I believe Sarah Brown is your female vocalist. . . Kerr: (interjects) Sarah is amazing, yes!
Mettler: No pressure to obviously match your previous work because in the ’80s, you had the great voice of Robin Clark’s along with you. That helped thread the needle of the sound you wanted for this record, I think. Kerr: Well, it’s great that you mentioned that — going back to the ’80s, and those records we did with Robin Clark. At the time, of course, Jimmy Iovine was producing that album, [October 1985’s] Once Upon a Time. I would have a loose notion of something, and he would say, “Just go for it! What is it you’re trying to do here?” I’d say, “Well, we’re trying to get this sound — I remember seeing this singer that did the Bowie thing” [i.e., Clark sang backing vocals on March 1975’s Young Americans]. Jimmy said, “Why don’t we get her, then?” “Ok, great! Could we get her?” “Yeah, we can get her!” And she would come in, and it’d be great.
[MM adds: Just cue up tracks like “Sanctify Yourself,” “All the Things She Said,” and “Alive and Kicking” to see/hear exactly what we mean!]
Record Industry produces millions of records a year in the Netherlands. Photographer Alastair Wiper spent a day capturing the music-making magic.
Creating the master
A cutting machine etches a groove into a lacquer or DMM copper disc, the first step in creating the master record.
EIGHT-TRACKS GAVE WAY to cassettes, which gave way to compact discs, which gave way to streaming audio and hi-res files. If there’s one constant in the music biz, it is that every format eventually yields to newer, better technology. All but vinyl, that is. Somehow, records have not only endured, but lately they’ve enjoyed a renaissance.
It’s odd when you think about it. Records are archaic technology, a format that is not at all portable and subject to all manner of degradation, from scratches and skips to pops and clicks, if it isn’t properly and lovingly cared for. But audiophiles insist vinyl offers superior sound. We’ll stay out of that debate, but you have to admit it is pretty cool how vinyl works.
“Sound is converted into microscopic ridges and valleys, stamped onto vinyl, played back through an extremely sensitive needle and amplified thousands of times in your living room,” says photographer Alastair Philip Wiper. “It’s almost unbelievable.”
That’s a bit of a simplification, but you get the point. There’s a process to it that borders on artistry, something Wiper—who loves records—discovered during a visit to Record Industry, a pressing plant in the in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The British photographer followed every step in the process, from making the master to pressing the wax to shrink-wrapping the finished product. “Seeing how it’s done really makes you realize how amazingly clever this old-fashioned technology is,” he says.
They’ve been pressing vinyl there since Dutch record label Artone opened the now 70,000-square-foot factory in 1958. Columbia Records took over in 1969, printing about a gazillion records over the years (more than 40 million copies of Michael Jackson’s Thriller alone). But as CDs gobbled up sales, Sony (which merged with Columbia) sold the factory to Ton Vermeulen, a former DJ, in 1998.
Of course, the vinyl biz went into a tailspin with the rise of compact discs, but it’s rebounded in recent years. Hardcore audiophiles never gave up on the format, of course, but hipsters and nostalgic baby boomers helped fueled a resurgence that started in 2006, and sales remain strong. In fact, sales surged 30 percent last year, marking the 10th consecutive year vinyl saw increasing sales, according to Forbes. Although vinyl is but a tiny share of all music sales, its increase came even as digital and physical sales continued to decline as streaming rose. Given the boom in business, Record Industry can crank out around 30,000 records a day.
Wiper visited Record Industry while on assignment for *Norwegian *magazine and found the place pulsing with life. Loudspeakers broadcast classic rock and pop, competing with the clank and hiss of 33 presses busily churning out records. “They told me at the factory that all sorts of artists like One Direction and Katy Perry are getting their tracks released on vinyl now,” he says. “I have no idea who the hell would buy that.”
Every record begins in the mastering department, a space as clean and tidy as a microchip factory. Here, a cutting machine etches a groove of constantly varying shape into an acetate disc called a lacquer (copper discs are used as well, though the process for those is slightly different). A technician sprays the lacquer with silver and puts it in an electro-forming bath to produce a layer of nickel. The nickel disc separates from the original to make a negative. The process repeats again to make a positive disc from which the final stamp is made.
On the factory floor, a press fixed with two stampers—side A, side B—flattens a vinyl puck between them like a sandwich for about 20 seconds. The edge is trimmed to make a tidy circle, and the record allowed to cool for a few minutes before going off to sit for anywhere from three hours to overnight. Then it goes into a sleeve, the sleeve into the cover, and the whole thing shrink-wrapped and stickered.
Wiper captured each step with his Nikon D810. The beauty of the images lies in the realization that you’re seeing something so recognizably iconic being made. One shows the golden puck for a gold record just the moment before it’s squeezed between two stampers. In another, a freshly pressed disc hangs at the center of a packaging machine, its bright red vinyl outshining the blue cables and gray mechanical parts surrounding it.
For Wiper, the shoot was akin to a spiritual journey. The photographer began seriously buying records in the mid-’90s when he began a DJ gig–“old soul and R&B and other weird things”—and quickly got hooked on the hunt. He spent countless hours rifling through second-hand shops across eastern Europe, where he recalls picking up pristine 50-year-old records for cheap. His collection has soared past 800 albums and singles, including classics by The Beatles, Jimmy Cliff, and his favorite, Edwin Starr. For him, the tangibility is key.
“It doesn’t sound the same on Spotify, all clean and without the crackles,” he says. “Records have been part of my life in one way or another for as long as I remember, so seeing how they are made and visiting the factory that undoubtedly made some of the records in my collection was experiencing the birth of something close to my heart.”
Tras varios décadas exiliado de muchas casas del país, el vinilo vive desde no hace muchos años su segunda oportunidad.
Ya se vuelven a ver en las estanterías de las escasas tiendas de discos que hay en la región, pero a penas hay rastro en ellas de joyas de la música como Madonna, The Beatles o Annabel Lamb. Discos que sólo se pueden hallar en ferias como la que se ha organizado este domingo en Badajoz.
“Son cosas que no se pueden encontrar ya tan fácilmente ni por otros medios como Internet”, nos ha explicado una de las asistentes a la feria. Discos que “por lo que veo están en muy buen estado tanto las carátulas como los discos a la hora de reproducirlos después”, nos ha asegurado otro de los compradores.
El regreso del vinilo
Y es que como ave fénix resucitado, el vinilo se ha convertido en un buen reclamo y sobre todo un sueño alcanzable para los extremeños de la ‘Generación X’, es decir, aquellos que nacieron entre 1965 y 1981.
La nostalgia aquí juega un papel fundamental porque “todo es apetecible. Voy a coger algunas cosas que en su día no tuve y que ahora te hace un poco rejuvenecer también”.
Para otros, esta feria es un regalo porque “llevo coleccionando vinilos desde hace 40-50 años y me gusta mucho. Como puedes comprobar soy un fanático del rock”.
Sin duda, aquí se puede encontrar de todo “cosas más antiguas como de Nino Bravo… y cosas antiguas de cuando éramos niños: ‘Los mundos de Yupi’ que me ha sorprendido y me lo llevo sí o sí”, nos decía una mujer mientras rebuscaba entre los discos.
Y es que ya lo dicen, el tren solo pasa una vez en la vida.
Los discos de vinilo han vuelto. No sabemos si para quedarse, pero de momento siguen resistiendo el paso del tiempo. Incluso podríamos decir que nunca se fueron. Y es que por mucho que podamos disfrutar de la alta fidelidad, hay géneros musicales cuyo sonido gana mucho encanto cuando sale de un tocadiscos plataformas en red como momox. Son muchos los artistas actuales que aún hoy en día publican sus trabajos también en este formato, aunque es en el mercado de segunda mano donde a veces podemos toparnos con auténticas joyas. En este artículo os contamos un poco más sobre este mercado.
Vinilos que van y vienen
Somos muchos los que hemos crecido con los vinilos. No obstante, con la llegada del CD, estos acabaron, en el mejor de los casos, en un rincón y en el peor, en la basura. Si eres de los que los guardó o de los que ha heredado una buena colección de sus padres, estás de enhorabuena porque, en la actualidad, son muchas las opciones que existen para sacar algún provecho de ellos.
Por supuesto, si tienes un buen tocadiscos, habrá muchos de los que no te querrás desprender. Hay clásicos que nunca pasan de moda. Pero, seguramente hay otros que, sinceramente, no te motivan. El resurgir de los vinilos ha reavivado un mercado de segunda mano en el que se puede dar salida a lo que no se quiere y que, a la vez, te ofrece la posibilidad de adquirir auténticas joyas que han aguantado bien el paso de los años y que te apetece disfrutar.
Así pues, son muchas las plataformas en red como momox que te permiten sacarte de encima los que no quieres y, de paso, recuperar algo de dinero para invertir en nuevos vinilos para tu colección. Para los que no sean amigos de las opciones online, en muchas ciudades hay tiendas físicas de vinilos que también los compran.
Cómo conocer el valor de un vinilo
Tanto si quieres comprar como si quieres vender, hay que tener en cuenta algunas variables a la hora de fijar o aceptar un precio. Así pues, algunos aspectos importantes a tener en cuenta son:
El estado del disco. Si el disco tiene alguna raya o desperfecto, se ve doblado, si la funda está rota o si falta algún elemento (por ejemplo, muchos vinilos incluyen un libreto con las letras de las canciones o alguna información extra), estos pierden valor. Es imposible valorar muchos de estos elementos cuando la transacción es online. Por ello, algunas páginas especializadas en este tipo de compraventa usan una escala para indicar el estado del producto. La más clásica es la Goldmine, en la que “Mint” sería el nivel más alto, el equivalente a un disco en perfectísimo estado, mientas que “Poor” sería el nivel más bajo, que indica que el disco no tiene ningún valor.
Primeras ediciones, ediciones especiales o limitadas. Tendemos a pensar que los discos más antiguos son los que tienen más valor. Pero no es así. Por ejemplo, al igual que los libros, en el caso de los vinilos puede ser que se saquen varias ediciones. Y como en el caso de los libros, la primera edición suele ser la más valorada. Y cuanto más limitada, es decir, cuantos menos ejemplares haya en circulación, más especial y más valor tendrá. Eso sí, como siempre, el estado del disco sigue siendo el elemento principal. Una primera edición en mal estado no nos aportará mucho beneficio.
Para hacerte una idea de lo que puedes conseguir, puedes echar un vistazo en la red a las diversas plataformas o páginas especializadas y ver como se cotiza ese vinilo en cuestión. De ese modo, te puedes hacer una idea de si estás ante un pequeño tesoro o si vas a sacar poco de esa venta. No obstante, no te desanimes, aunque no tengas ninguna joya, si tienes unos cuantos vinilos para vender que no están en mal estado, puedes sacarte algo de dinero con ellos.
Los más buscados
A modo de curiosidad, existen muchas listas por la red acerca de los vinilos mejor valorados o más buscados por los coleccionistas y aficionados a este formato. Y cada una es diferente. No obstante, hay algunos trabajos que aparecen en casi todas ellas. Por ejemplo, el Yesterday & Today de los Beatles con su macabra portada de carniceros; Bleach, el primer disco de Nirvana; el demoniaco The Black Album de Prince o el mítico Led Zeppelin I. Por otro lado, si te va más el producto nacional, una primera edición del primer disco de Vainica Doble, lanzado en 1971, puede rondar los 2 000 euros. Con casi toda seguridad no tienes ninguno de estos en casa. Pero eso no quita que puedas tener, con un poco de suerte, alguna cosa de valor. Y si no… ¡siempre te quedará la música!
Si coleccionas o tienes en tu vida alguien que colecciona música debe haber sido llamativo ver como hace unos años pasaba de comprar CDs, el formato que en los 80 definió la forma en que se escuchaba música en los hogares, a comprar discos de vinilo. Es que sea por el amor de los coleccionistas, los diferentes detalles del sonido o la pura nostalgia el disco de vinilo se convirtió en el principal producto para adquirir la música en formato físico.
Este año, por primera vez, las ventas de los vinilos superaron a los CD en Estados Unidos, un dato que en España se alcanzó el año pasado, cuando el 54% de las ventas de formato físico fueron para los «acetatos» y 44% fueron a su hermano pequeño (el otro 2% se lo quedaron los casetes, que también han hecho un pequeño regreso). Es quizás una sorpresa, aunque una que venía tiempo gestándose, de hecho es primera vez que esto ocurre en el país y en el mundo desde 1987.
Hay varios motivos. Algunos más bien pasajeros, como la nueva moda de la «tecnología vintage» que revivió también a Kodak y Polaroid, y otros más profundos, como es la mayor fidelidad de las grabaciones sobre las aplicaciones de streaming y el formato digital o directamente el ingreso que significa para artistas y disqueras vender un disco físico por encima de una reproducción. Lo cierto es que poco a poco los datos han mejorado, y el retorno del formato físico ya representa un 11% de los ingresos de la industria musical, lejos de su pico por encima de 50% pero nada mal para un posterior a Napster.
Lo cierto es que hubo varias cosas que ayudaron a dar el último empujón. La desaparición de la bandeja para discos en los nuevos ordenadores y de los reproductores en los coches, la pandemia que ayudó a que la gente pudiese pasar más tiempo revisando su colección y los esfuerzos de la industria como el internacional ‘Día de la tienda de discos’ o de lanzar ediciones especiales de varios colores han ido poco a poco empujando esta industria a su actual renacer.
EL CD ES MENOS PERSONAL
Lo cierto es que además hay una relación personal entre el oyente y el disco de vinilo que el CD no puede imitar del todo. En el fondo no hay demasiada diferencia entre poner un compacto en un reproductor y poner Spotify a través de unas cornetas con bluetooth, es algo que diferencia al vinilo que puede permitir al artista ser bastante más creativo en cuanto al arte y el material impreso que acompaña la música. Es algo que en España han aprovechado figuras tan variadas como la banda Vetusta Morla o la candidata a Eurovisión Chanel.
Es algo con lo que otros formatos directamente no pueden competir. La relación que el oyente puede generar con sus discos físicos tiene mucho más de experiencia que solo poner la canción que tengamos ganas de escuchar en Spotify o Youtube. Hay también algo de comunidad en la idea de ir a la tienda de siempre a preguntar por un nuevo lanzamiento o una edición especial. Sin embargo, irónicamente, el que las ventas estén mejorando no necesariamente es una noticia que beneficie a las tiendas locales.
SE VENDE MÁS VINILO PERO LAS TIENDAS SUFREN
Lo cierto es que a medida que el formato ha recuperado su espacio una parte de los compradores se ha mudado a páginas web como Amazon o a comprar en grandes superficies como FNAC o el Corte Inglés. De hecho no es casual que en Madrid ‘Discos metralleta’, una de las tiendas históricas de la capital, haya decidido devorada por sus dos vecinos más grandes en Callao.
Es un equilibrio complicado. A medida que las ventas de este formato se vuelve a normalizar lo esperado es que los compradores los adquieran en los sitios donde suelen comprar de forma regular. Es una realidad de la que no se puede escapar en estos procesos, pero sí que afecta a las pequeñas tiendas que construyeron su negocio sin tanta competencia cuando eran un producto más bien de nicho. También es cierto que cada vez son más las empresas dentro de la industria musical las que se han sumado a este resurgir.
No es casual que Spotify haya incluido los discos de vinilo entre los ejemplos de la mercancía que los artistas pueden vender a través de su nuevo marketplace. Es que entienden la importancia que tiene para la industria, y que solo con presentarlos allí sirve como rama de olivo para los músicos que suelen quejarse de lo que reciben de la aplicación.
De hecho si se puede agregar un motivo más para comprar un vinilo es lo que representa para artistas de medio cartel. Ya hace un par de años que Víctor Carmelo Cabezuelo, vocalista de Rufus T Firefly, contaba que podía conseguir en ventas del formato físico de un fin de semana de lanzamiento los mismos ingresos que por varios años de streaming, y esto es ya suficiente motivo para cuidar esta industria.
Las listas de discos más vendidos se han convertido en una herramienta más de las muchas que existen para entender las dinámicas actuales a la hora de consumir música. Pero ya no son la única herramienta posible.
El rock y el heavy metal siguen siendo géneros con un respetable impulso de compra física -a menudo el coleccionismo sigue moviendo la compra de material físico, ya sean CD’s, vinilos, cajas o ediciones deluxe, etc- pero difícilmente lideran el mercado como podían hacerlo en otros momentos de la historia.
La mayoría de bandas internacionales de heavy metal venden apenas unas pocas cientos de copias en nuestro país, a veces tan solo decenas. Lo mismo sucede en cualquier otro país. Es por ello que, con el ánimo de representar más fielmente la realidad del consumo de música, se han ido incorporando otros métodos de cálculo en la confección de listas de éxitos. El streaming se ha convertido en el método rey de consumo de música, por lo que en la industria de la música se usa una proporción de 1500 streams o 10 descargas digitales de pago como equivalente a la venta de una unidad física de disco.
Una posición codiciada
Los reconocimientos a las ventas en España se han ido adaptando progresivamente a lo largo de los años y se han dimensionado a la realidad del mercado. Así pues, con 20.000 copias vendidas se consigue el disco de oro, con 40.000 el de platino y con 1.000.000 de copias vendidas se consigue el de diamante. Para los fuera de serie se guarda el disco de Uranio: corresponde a 50.000.000 de copias vendidas, algo que en nuestro país solo han conseguido artistas como Queen, Raphael o AC/DC. Antiguamente, el disco de oro se lograba con ventas de 50.000 copias y el de platino con 100.000 copias vendidas. Artistas como Alejandro Sanz habían logrado alcanzar los 22 discos de platino en sus mejores años, como cuando editó el superventas “Más” en 1997.
Si bien las discográficas de nuestro mundillo suelen enviar comunicados cuando un artista consigue alcanzar una determinada posición en las listas de ventas, lo cierto es que eso tiene un valor escaso a día de hoy. Calculando bien el momento de lanzamiento de un disco y los competidores que hay esa misma semana en el mercado, se puede lograr un número uno al no tener contrincantes destacados. Es decir, si Taylor Swift edita disco una semana, es muy difícil que un grupo de heavy metal logre alcanzar la primera posición esa misma semana.
Sin embargo, en una semana de un periodo sin demasiados lanzamientos importantes y trabajando muy bien la preventa, se puede conseguir que un grupo “de nicho”, como son los grupos de heavy metal en nuestro país, logre la codiciada primera posición. Si el artista hace una buena campaña de preventa y las “ventas finales” suceden todas en la fecha de lanzamiento del disco, es posible que el disco alcance el primer puesto de las listas por pura aritmética
Visto y no visto
Así pues, es frecuente observar como en las listas de nuestro país aparecen destacados grupos de rock y metal protagonizando respetables puestos en las listas en una semana determinada para desaparecer de ellas a la siguiente semana o irse a parar al número 98. Grupos con cifras respetables pero humildes respecto a los colosos de la música latina, reggaeton, trap o artistas en lengua española en general logran rutinariamente colarse en las listas pero sin mayor recorrido. Es por ello que es mucho más realista observar cual es el Top 100 Anual de discos más vendidos en nuestro país.
Poco sorprendentemente, las listas oficiales de Promusicae no reflejan la total realidad de la venta de discos, pero ofrecen pinceladas. Así pues, es posible que si compras un disco en la tienda Pentagram de Barcelona, tu compra no se refleje en las listas porque dicha tienda no reporta a Promusicae. Algo que suele estar limitado a grandes superficies como Fnac o El Corte Inglés.
En cualquier caso, hoy en día uno puede comprar los discos en Amazon y no estar comprándoselo al almacén de la distribuidora española de turno, sino a una extranjera, de modo que la venta tampoco cuenta. Y, del mismo modo, algunas tiendas de discos optan por distribuidores como el holandés Bertus para comprar referencias de distintas distribuidoras a la vez de manera más cómoda. Bertus sería el equivalente a comprar aceitunas de Aldi, Hummus del Mercadona y yogures de Lidl en una misma plataforma.
Adicionalmente, muchos metalheads compran a través de las webs de la discográfica o incluso en el puesto de merchandise del propio grupo cuando viene de gira, lo cuál contamina aún más los resultados.
Con un poco de margen
Dicho sea todo esto, tomemos con un poco de perspectiva los resultados del Top 100 Anual que arroja la web ElPortaldemusica.es , la web oficial a través de la que Promusicae muestra semanalmente cuáles son los lanzamientos más exitosos en España.
En 2022 no hubo una gran cosecha para el rock. De manera muy coherente con la realidad musical de nuestro país en 2022, el listado anual está encabezado por los lanzamientos de Bad Bunny (“Un Verano Sin Ti” se pasó 34 semanas del año en las listas, alcanzando el quíntuple disco de platino, o lo que es lo mismo 200.000 unidades equivalentes vendidas), Rosalía (“Motomami” pasó 41 semanas en lista, alcanzando el doble disco de platino) y C. Tangana (su disco de 2021 “El Madrileño” estuvo 96 semanas en las listas, siendo doble disco de platino). Las primeras posiciones están completadas por Harry Styles, Rauw Alejandro, Sebastián Yatra, Bad Bunny, Manuel Carrasco, Taylor Swift y Mora. La música cantada en nuestro propio idioma reina en las listas españolas, sin duda.
C. Tangana (Foto: Lolo)
Nos tenemos que ir hasta el puesto número 18 para encontrar a un artista donde las guitarras jueguen un cierto papel. Es el caso de Leiva y su “Cuando te Muerdes el Labio”, editado en 2021. Lo mismo sucede con “Cada Vez Cadáver” de Fito y Fitipaldis, que pese a haber sido editado en 2021, acumula ventas en 2022 suficientes para quedarse en el puesto 21 de los más vendidos.
Más abajo en la lista, el ‘boss’ Bruce Springsteen alcanza el puesto 32 de la lista de 100 más vendidos en el año 2022, sin alcanzar el disco de oro oficialmente y con tan solo siete semanas en las listas, ya que el disco fue editado el 11 de noviembre del 2022. En el número 40 se cuelan Marea con su reciente “Los Potros del Tiempo”, editado poco antes de acabar el año. Bandas de “rock” como Imagine Dragons se quedan en el puesto 45 con “Mercury-Act 1”
Más cerca de “nuestro rollo” encontramos el disco homenaje a Triana “Llegó el Día”, el más reciente trabajo de Medina Azahara, que ha pasado unas sorprendentes 26 semanas en las listas de venta y se queda en el puesto 56 de los más vendidos del año 2022. Robe se cuela en las listas con “Mayéutica” en el puesto 78, mientras que Red Hot Chili Peppers alcanzan el 83 con “Unlimited Love” y Maneskin alcanzan el 84 con “Teatro d’Ira” tras 77 semanas en lista y siendo la banda de rock más mainstream de la actualidad.
En terrenos netamente metálicos, Rammstein se quedan en el puesto 93 con “Zeit”, tras 16 semanas en lista.
Comparativamente hablando, en 2021 alcanzaron el Top 100 más artistas de rock y metal, con Iron Maiden (en el 23 con “Senjutsu”, que fue número uno en la semana de su lanzamiento), AC/DC (puesto 51 con “Power Up”), Måneskin (52 con “Teatro d’Ira), Héroes del Silencio (puesto 80 con “Héroes: Silencio y Rock & Roll”) y Queen (en el 84 con la BSO de “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
El poder del vinilo
Pero hace tiempo que los lanzamientos físicos dejaron de ser el vehículo más conveniente para transportar la música, desbancados absolutamente por la ubicuidad del streaming. Sin embargo, muchos de los que compran música en soportes físicos lo hacen por coleccionismo y, si de coleccionar música se trata, el vinilo es el soporte rey. Majestuoso en su presentación y mucho más cálido en su sonido, los rockeros prefieren éste formato para coleccionar las obras de sus artistas favoritos. Así pues, si observamos el Top 100 de Vinilos más vendidos en España en 2022, que refleja mucho mejor la venta física pura al no entrar en ponderaciones de streamings y digital, encontramos a más artistas afines a nuestro mundillo.
Pese a que los primeros puestos siguen copados por Rosalia, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, C.Tangana y Pablo Alborán (esos vinilos “regalo” pesan mucho), si que encontramos más arriba a Bruce Springsteen (“Only the Strong Survive” en posición número 10), Fito y Fitipaldis (“Cada Vez Cadaver” en el puesto número 14), Red Hot Chili Peppers (puesto número 16 con “Unlimited Love”), Ghost (un respetable puesto 27 con “Impera”), Måneskin (en el 29 con “Teatro d’Ira), Robe (“Mayeútica” en el puesto 31), Marea (un puesto 35 con “Los Potros del Tiempo” en poco tiempo), Loquillo (38 con “Diario de una Tregua”), Miguel Ríos (puesto número 40 con “Rock and Rios” en su edición 40 aniversario), Ilegales (puesto 42 para “La Lucha Por La Vida) o Muse (en el 44 con “Will of the People”).
Maneskin
Más allá están Pink Floyd (puesto 46 para la reedición 5.1 de “Animals”), Pearl Jam (el recopilatorio “Rearviewmirror” se queda en el 55), M Clan (el puesto número 60 con “En Petit Comité”), Medina Azahara (en el número 61 con “Llegó el Día”), AC/DC (en el 67 con “Power Up” del año 2020), Toundra (en el 70 con “Hex”), Iron Maiden (“Senjutsu” en el 71), Héroes del Silencio (en el 73 con “En Directo” y el 78 con “Héroe de Leyenda), Scorpions (puesto número 80 con “Rock Believer”), Rammstein (82 con “Zeit”), Ozzy Osbourne (puesto número 98 con “Patient Number 9”) y Alice in Chains (en el número 100 con “Dirt”).
En resumen, el público del rock y del metal sigue siendo mucho más cercano al vinilo que al CD. Y si la ponderación nos pone junto a artistas de otros géneros populares en nuestro país, nuestra música sigue siendo cuasi marginal en lo que a ventas se trata. Pero a la hora de la verdad, Iron Maiden pueden vender 47.000 entradas en un estadio de nuestro país y no vender ni un 10% de esa cantidad en copias físicas de su disco más reciente de estudio. Otros como Red Hot Chili Peppers pueden convocar a casi 100.000 personas en dos fechas de estadio pero no alcanzan unas ventas que den ni para el disco de oro. Son las diferentes caras del rock en unas dinámicas de consumo musical que responden a factores generacionales y de conveniencia mucho más que en otros estilos.
No le importó nada a Samuel González Massó abrir una tienda de discos en plena decadencia del vinilo, una caída en picado paralela al ascenso y ebullición del cedé. Fue un visionario de horizontes lejanos. Desde el principio tuvo claro que esa batalla de formatos sonoros la ganaría el formato analógico. Solo había que esperar, y no tenía prisa porque en Honky Tonk (Falperra, 18)estaba en su salsa, rodeado de cientos de ejemplares de sus mágicos objetos favoritos, platos giratorios surcados por líneas que contienen música.
El vigués comparte afición con otros compañeros —muchos de ellos músicos— que pasaban tanto tiempo con él en el local que al final acabaron contratados cumpliendo jornada laboral. Óscar «Pelda», Pablo o Iván fueron algunos de esos dependientes tras el mostrador que hace seis años atiende Kino Seoane turnándose con Samuel.
Kino, que ha tocado la batería en bandas como Os Resentidos, Skacha y Transilvanians, siendo cofundador de las dos últimas, es otro adicto a las 33 revoluciones por minutos.
Honky Tonk, que podría haber sido escenario de películas como Alta fidelidad o Empire Records, conserva ese poso de tienda de discos de los 90 con algo de club social donde la clientela tiene el espacio justo para pasar entre cajones llenos de ejemplares ordenados por géneros musicales. Los compradores se dividen entre los prácticos que van a tiro fijo y los románticos que se entretienen buceando hacia adelante y hacia atrás como buscadores de tesoros esperando dar con la sorpresa en el siguiente movimiento de los dedos. Y a veces, llega. Esa sensación es la que no se consigue comprando discos por internet, por eso siguen tiendas como esta viguesa, que sopló las velas de su 25 aniversario el año pasado.
«Nese intre no que abriu non había tendas que apostasen polo vinilo. Estaban en retirada e Samuel foi un pouco kamikaze, pero funcionou e viuse que pasou como con todas as modas, que son cíclicas. E pode que marche de novo, pero volverá», vaticina el músico, que alaba un formato perdurable en todos los aspectos. «Se os cuidas, son eternos. Nós temos na tenda exemplares usados dos anos 50, 60 o 70 e están perfectos. Estéticamente é indiscutible que son mellores que o cedé; a nivel do son depende do tipo de gravación, e como obxeto para fetichistas, pois non hai comparación», afirma.
El regreso del vinilo trajo una recuperación de un público que había desaparecido y al que a veces es difícil dar de comer porque quedan muy pocas fábricas de discos para abastecer tanta demanda repentina. «Seguían con nós os coleccionistas e os nostálxicos como nós, que somos os primeiros», reconoce. Pero advierte que también se acerca ahora gente que está
descubriendo ahora el disco, no solo jóvenes; y los arrepentidos, los que se pasaron al cedé, se deshicieron de sus colecciones y ahora tratan de recuperarlas. Seoane opina que el momento álgido del retorno y la locura por el vinilo ya pasó, «pero se nota que crecemos. Temos moitas máis visitas», admite.
El músico y discoadicto recuerda que la tienda viguesa está ubicada a escasos metros de la famosa fuente de la Falperra formó parte, en el ecuador de su historia, de un entramado de comercios alternativos de ropa y copas que llevó a ser conocida como el Portobello vigués. Ellos fueron los supervivientes, pero desde el año pasado les acompaña dos portales más abajo Río Lagares, otro establecimiento que también despacha vinilos y funciona como local cultural con exposiciones y eventos literarios y artísticos.
Honky Tonk ha albergado conciertos. No muchos, por falta de espacio, pero, por ejemplo, sí durante las celebraciones delRecord Store Day, evento que ha contribuido a la recuperación del formato con ediciones especiales. La tienda viguesa ofrece a los consumidores discos de reciente fabricación junto a piezas de segunda mano. La compraventa sigue funcionando, pero en su caso se decantan por los estilos que más trabajan (rock and roll, soul, folk americana, jazz, latin o cantautores), sin descartar nada a priori, ya que todos los gustos son respetables, pero hay géneros como la copla, la zarzuela o la música clásica que no tienen cabida en este local donde, además, despachan entradas para conciertos, libros, grabaciones musicales y también algunas señeras revistas de música de segunda mano. Junto en un momento en que la edición de publicaciones especializadas en papel también está en retroceso.
Season Four continues to celebrate the heritage of the bricks-and-mortar record store
Vinyl has continued its startling comeback to become one of the most popular media formats around. Despite a low point in sales during the dark days of 2013, vinyl is once again the music aficionado’s medium of choice, outselling physical CDs in the UK for the first time in 35 years(opens in new tab) according to the ERA.
To celebrate the format’s continuing mainstream popularity, online documentary series Behind the Counter, produced as a collaboration between Record Store Day, Classic Album Sundays and Bowers & Wilkins, has returned for a fourth series looking at the finest independent vinyl distributors facilitating this continued resurgence.
The 12-part series returned this year on January 31st, celebrating once more the vendors and enthusiasts who continue to push the startling rejuvenation of a once-threatened format. New episodes have already been released, with the twelve-part series running weekly ahead of this year’s Record Store Day on April 22nd. Dropping every Tuesday at 10am GMT, each instalment can be watched on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube.
Series four features the following diverse array of stores: 81 Renshaw, Liverpool; The Vinyl Whistle, Leeds; Voxbox, Edinburgh Music From Big Blue, Glasgow; Sister Ray, Soho; Sound Records, Stroud; Vinilo Record Store, Southampton; Ventnor Exchange, Isle Of Wight; Winyl, Manningtree; Soul Brother, Putney; Starr Records, Belfast; Truck Store, Oxford.
Behind The Counter clearly demonstrates that the appetite for a personal connection to the music we buy has only grown during this impersonal age of limitless streaming, digital downloads and other non-physical formats. “I don’t think a community exists unless it’s got a record shop in it,” claims Ian Smith, owner of Music From The Big Blue in Glasgow, one of the stores showcased in the series.
The show’s official partners, British audio heavyweights Bowers & Wilkins, are firmly in agreement: “We have loved watching the popularity of vinyl continue to grow,” said Giles Pocock, Vice-President of Brand Marketing at B&W. “It’s such an important format and we deeply value the unique role that independent record stores play in bringing these records to music fans.”
After a significant period of long production times we’re happy to inform you there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
As you may have heard, we have purchased brand new Pheenix Alpha presses to expand our capacity, which we are installing as we speak and putting them into production one by one. As a result of that, our current production time for 12” is now back to four months for re-orders and finished product after approval of testings (8 weeks for 7”). Testings take four weeks. We expect to improve even more on these turnaround times soon as we continue to expand our production the following months. Please contact RI for an update, also if you need us to work a miracle .
Looking forward to receive your orders, please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or to request a tailor made quote.
Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of music lovers buying albums on vinyl, and in 2021, the medium’s sales were the highest they have been in 30 years.
The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) found that vinyl has earned $80.9million in profits so far in 2022, a stark increase from this time last year when vinyl made $72.1million.
The British Phonographic Industry found that over five million vinyl records were sold last year, which shows an eight per cent increase from 2020.
The biggest selling vinyl records of 2021 were ABBA’s Voyage, 30 by Adele, and Sam Fender’s Seventeen Going Under.
The ERA also found that vinyl is outselling CD, which has had a decrease in sales by 8.1 per cent this year, as well as PlayStation games, despite having a 6.5 per cent year-on-year climb. However, vinyl has only been beaten by Nintendo Switch games, despite the fact that their sales have been down 12.5 per cent year on year. In comparison, vinyl is up by 12.2 per cent.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley states: “Vinyl’s rise and rise seems unstoppable. For a 74-year-old analogue format to eclipse the digital-age technology of games platforms is quite extraordinary. Ten years into its long climb back to favour, the vinyl revival is most definitely here to stay.”
Record Industry Spain 