Record Store Day will be huge at Richmond Records this year

Vinyl has scratched-back a noticeable share of the music market these past few years, and sales are even rivalling those of CDs in some outlets.

[Read Five vinyl platters that changed my life by Gazette editor Matt Lawrence.]

The future of music may be digital, but the tables are turning: physical formats can still flourish, and they offer some distinct benefits.

Everyone from teenagers to the elderly are purchasing vinyl, helping put the spotlight back on the legacy music format.

On Saturday, April 22, music fans will descend on bricks-and-mortar record stores around Australia, to get their vinyl fix.  

It will be the tenth annual Australian Record Store Day, an event that began in the US in an attempt to claw-back some of the market lost to digital downloading.

The day celebrates the humble record shop, and lures customers back into independent - or ‘indie’ - record stores with exclusive pressings released especially for the occasion.

Richmond Records on Windsor Street has been hosting Record Store Day celebrations for a number of years now, and this year customers can expect live music, prizes, and in-store offers.

There’ll be 20 per cent off all second-hand vinyl, and if you spend over $50 anywhere in the store you’ll go into the draw to win an Ion-branded compact turntable.

Lyn Earle, owner of the store, said she expected a number of collectors to turn up on the day, primed to get their hands on some much-anticipated, limited edition releases.

She said part of the magic of Record Store Day is that these releases remain a surprise until the day, so she ‘kept mum’ on the details. Though she did reveal there might well be “some Bowies, and some Pink Floyds”.

“There’ll be something special about all of them that makes them collector’s items, whether it’s for a general collector or someone that just loves that particular artist - for example, the record could be coloured or have a red splatter,” Ms Earle told the Gazette.

“[The event] is getting bigger every year. I think the Hawkesbury is a bit behind the city, which has had a massive response in previous years, but I think it’s finally wielded its way out here and we are expecting a big day this year.”

Richmond Records has recorded a clear upswing in demand for vinyl, especially over the past three-to-four years. Ms Earle said the format now contributes more to her bottom line than CDs.

“It’s not just a rise - it’s massive. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to go anywhere, either,” she said.

And it’s not just in Richmond: vinyl is making a comeback across the board. Record sales in Australia rose a massive 70 per cent in 2016, representing the sixth consecutive year of growth for the industry, according to the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). 

In the UK, vinyl sales actually outstripped digital music sales in December for the first time ever, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). 

And these figures include only new pressings, so they don’t account for all those records that change hands at markets and thrift stores.

Richmond Records began by buying and selling second-hand records (which they still do today), then started seeing remasters of old classics on their order list. “Like Yellow Brick Road, things like that,” said Ms Earle.

“Now it’s got to the stage where, when a new release of a big artist comes out - even a small artist - they’re coming out in CD, deluxe CD, and vinyl.

“And the great thing they’re doing now is that vinyls come with a download, so if you buy the vinyl - which is slightly more expensive than the CD - you end up getting three formats: the vinyl, the digital, and then you make your own CD.

“So people are coming in and they’re not buying a CD - they’re buying a vinyl. And this last year it’s really hotted-up.”

Plus, since the format is by no means new, the demographic purchasing records is diverse.

“There are the oldies who’ve stuck with vinyl, and then those who maybe gave away all their records and are now replenishing them. There are also the collectors, and then there are the young ones who’ve realised the sound is so much better,” said Ms Earle.

“Vinyl does sound better. It’s a much warmer sound. Records have a far greater range of frequency than CDs, and MP3s are even less - more compressed.”

Ms Earle has a growing collection of records at home, which she plays on a vintage record player - a cabinet design with built-in speakers.

The shop sells players, too, including turntables and turntable systems, as well as portable models that are battery-operated, ones with built-in Bluetooth, and ones you can hook-up to your computer to make digital copies of your older records.

These form part of the store’s ‘lifestyle’ offering, which includes books, instruments, and men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and accessories, including a range of ‘piercings’.

The shop has themed rooms for 50s clothing, classical, country, metal, relaxation, and of course vinyl, and runs a coffee shop out the back called Chocolate Drop Cafe. They’ve also just launched a ‘pop-up restaurant’, which uses locally-grown, seasonal produce.

Richmond Records has experienced a number of reincarnations since it was established in 1976 by the members of Aussie music group, The Four Kinsmen. Ms Earle has owned the business for the past 12 years and said she is aware of it moving premises on four different occasions.

The most recent move was in 2010 when Ms Earle relocated it from Richmond Marketplace to its current premises, following what she described as a lease dispute with centre management. “They said music is dead,” she said.

“There was a petition from the locals - we got 8000 signatures. It didn’t change things though, and we ended up moving here - which is the best thing we ever did.”

Ms Earle admitted it was a tough time for her business, which had been struggling to get through the GFC. This also coincided with the rise of digital music.

“At the time, I was actually with a buying group that had an attrition rate of over 50 per cent in 12 months - in Australia, record stores were closing at the rate of about six a month,” she said.

“There wasn’t much talk of vinyl at that stage, but we had begun selling some second hand, as well as some other stuff associated to music, that wasn’t actually music - like shoes and clothing. I said to myself then, the thing about our store needs to be that we’re not just a record store: we’re a music lifestyle store. And we survived because of it.

“Record stores that were trying to survive realised they had to diversify. There was a choice: some went to musical instruments, and some went to vinyl. I went to vinyl, and it’s the best thing I ever did.”