Vinyl records make comeback on local scene
| Friday, Jun 06 2008 09:43 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 06:25 PM
BY THE NUMBERS
15:The percentage by which vinyl album sales increased in 2007 as compared with 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
70:The percentage by which vinyl sales are projected to grow this year over 2007 totals, based on sales in January through March, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
17.5:The percentage by which shipments of CDs declined between 2006 and 2007, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
68:The percentage by which shipments of turntables increased in the first four months of this year compared with the first four months of 2007.
BAKERSFIELD-AREA RECORD STORES
Darkstar Records and Books
1024 Truxtun Ave.
859-0241
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday
Downtown Records
1518 19th St.
324-5235
Noon to 8 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
Gigantic Vintage
1515 19th St.
859-1515
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday
Going Underground
1822 G St.
477-8475
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday
Midnight Music
1215 Olive Drive
399-3454
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Rockit Music
429 James St.
746-0822
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
World Records
1824 G St.
831-3100
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Images
Darkstar Records and Books owner Dan Robertson, left, and son Andrew Robertson. Dan has a long history as a deejay in Bakersfield.
Darkstar Records and Books offers a wide selection of vinyl records.
A photograph of Jerry Garcia greets customers at the entrance of Darkstar Records and Books in Bakersfield.
A collection of movie trailers are for sale at Darkstar Records and Books in Bakersfield.
For nearly 20 years World Records stocked no records. Unless you placed a special order, CDs were what you got.
Earlier this year, though, young people started asking for vinyl. Now World Records’ new home on downtown G Street boasts a record section with new releases and reissues by Amy Winehouse, Parliament, The Velvet Underground and others.
Vinyl’s back.
U.S. record sales were up 15 percent last year over the year before, fed by growing interest in independent record stores like World Records and Darkstar Records and Books, another newcomer to downtown Bakersfield.
The resurgence has many roots, ranging from purists’ ideas about sound quality to availability of turntables at major retailers to the desirability of belonging to an exclusive, anti-digital subculture.
Vinyl’s growing popularity could have side benefits for Bakersfield. Independent record stores tend to promote the local music scene more than chain stores do. And downtown’s cluster of music stores could make it more of a destination for out-of-town collectors, boosting local tourism.
What surprises many longtime record collectors is how vinyl appeals to so many young people born after much of the nation turned its back on records when CDs were introduced in the 1980s.
A THING FOR VINYL
Consider the enthusiasm of 19-year-old Brenndan Morlan. He has amassed 140 or so albums since he began collecting records three or four years ago, and now spends $100 a week on vinyl recordings of classic jazz, psychedelic rock and exotic funk.
His friends “don’t get it.”
“They’re just like, ‘How can you spend so much money on records?’” the Bakersfield sandwich shop employee said Thursday as he flipped through row after row of old vinyl at Darkstar on Truxtun Avenue.
Dan Robertson, the store’s co-owner along with his two sons, understands. His own collection numbers about half a million.
“I think (renewed interest in records) is almost a reaction against the digital,” said Robertson, a deadhead deejay who counted Buck Owens among his personal friends. He has been planning to open a record store for more than three decades.
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Distaste for digital music is common among record people. They tend to frown upon the carelessness others afford CDs, and relish the special care records require and the sense of history one gets when holding an album.
“It’s like having primary text from an author or a philosopher,” said 23-year-old Steven Koontz, the drummer for Bakersfield punk band Loser Life, which this week embarked on a European tour. Band members were planning to bring with them and sell more than 200 vinyl recordings of their music.
Then there’s the sound quality issue. Vinyl enthusiasts praise the medium’s warm sound as compared with digital recordings.
Listening to a record is “kind of like holding someone’s hand without a glove,” said Andrew Winton, a 29-year-old coffeehouse manager and regular at Going Underground, a punk music store on downtown G Street that sells and pays to have pressed many vinyl recordings that have never been transferred to CD format.
A RISING TIDE
The opening of two new record retailers so close in proximity has store owners hopeful that customers near and far will view Bakersfield as a hub for buying vinyl.
“The more the better,” said Alex Rodriguez, co-owner of downtown 19th Street’s Gigantic Vintage, which sells vintage clothing in front and records in back. “Kids aren’t just going to go to one (record store), they’re going to go to all of them.”
David Thomas, owner of Shafter’s Rockit Music, agreed. His 5,000-square-foot store, which has sold records since 1947, draws collectors from the Bay Area and the Los Angeles area. The more stores clustered in one area, he said, the more likely it is that serious collectors will come.
And when they drive in, collectors can drop big money. Jake Chavez, owner of Downtown Records on 19th Street across from Gigantic Vintage, said he once sold 200 records to a collector from Alaska driving on his way to a large show in Las Vegas.
STAYING POWER
Thomas suggested that independent stores such as those operating locally will outlast chains because of their personal touch.
“People want to go back (and) deal with neighborhood-type record stores where they can actually go in and talk about music,” he said.
This appears to be the case recently. Entertainment research company Nielsen SoundScan reported that three-quarters of all vinyl album sales in 2007 took place at independent music stores.
SIDE BENEFITS
But even aside from the business they do, record store owners say there is a benefit to having independent shops around: They help introduce young people to artists new and old.
Robertson, Darkstar’s co-owner, hopes to support the local music scene much the way Going Underground does, selling albums produced locally. He said that would mean opening up his offerings to include many different genres.
For now, though, he said he’s satisfied to be broadening the musical horizons of customers like 17-year-old Jordan Aguirre, who spent time this week checking out Robertson’s diverse collection.
Since becoming interesting in vinyl, Aguirre said he has come to a fuller understanding of the musicians who have influenced many modern recording artists.
“It’s kind of like an education,” he said.
