On 13thApril 2019, the twelfth annual Record Store Day took place in stores all over the UK. On the event, which was created to “celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store”, hundreds of special releases were available in participating stores, from legendary artists such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, or The Prodigy.
People have been queueing in front of Coventry’s largest independent store, Frank Harvey’s HiFi Excellence as early as 2am, to get their hands on the limited-edition products, which were only available on this day. Aside from the special releases, the store also hosted live performances from local bands, demonstrations by various audio companies, and a prize draw for a special turntable.
“Every year we have had more vinyls released and conversely more sales, this year was extremely busy” said store owner Frank Harvey of the event. He added, “In essence, it also helps us to increase sales by people browsing our record racks and people adding extra vinyls to what they thought they wanted.”
Photo Credit: Danielle Lee
While streaming platforms have been increasingly popular in the past years, taking over physical sales as the primary source of consuming music in 2018, the sales of vinyl have been constantly rising for the past decade. Although the sales growth seems to be slowing, there was still a 1.6% increase in 2018, compared to the previous year. That may explain, why store owners are still optimistic about the future of vinyls, even in the digital age.
”We’re all used to music being something that surrounds us, but in the background,” said Tayzia Blinkhorn, who owns Fantayzia Records, also in Coventry. “With vinyl, you sit down, put the record on, turn it over, look at the artwork, read the lyrics – you interact with the music in a very different way. I think that’s the reason why vinyl endures, and people are starting to realize the importance of it.”
Frank Harvey added “As the millennials are growing up with streaming we expect that after reaching 35 and settled in life they become more aware of the amazing sound quality that you experience with playing on a good turntable system. Young people still want something tangible and real and that’s where vinyl comes in.”
They both agreed that Record Store Day is a great initiation and look forward to participating in it in the future.
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