While vinyl has technically been obsolete since compact discs were invented, those who attended the first annual Santa Clarita Record Show on June 11, hosted by Airwaves Records, drew in music connoisseurs who apparently didn’t get the fax.
In fact, this isn’t a recent phenomenon — vinyl record sales have increased every year for the past 17 years. Vinyl sales hit an all-time low in the 1990s before steadily increasing in the 2000s.
While sales are nowhere near where they were during the golden age of records, their upward trend hasn’t wavered, and attendees and vendors at the Record Show — held at the Canyon Country Community Center — listed several reasons as to why it’s resurgence is happening during an age when physical copies of most things are becoming harder to find.
Jeff Lui, a record collector whose Instagram page has seen success since he launched it during the pandemic, said that his collection was already full and his thirst for rarities brings him to record shows — where niche vendors can sometimes have what he’s looking for.
“I think it’s great that records have come back,” said Lui. “In some ways it’s been bad for me because it’s getting harder and harder to find stuff. But, I enjoy seeing everybody getting into it.”
Aside from sifting for diamonds in the rough, there are other perks of vinyl that you can’t get with other mediums, according to those at the event. One is that newly printed vinyls come with a digital download. Since this doesn’t work the other way around, you can have both a physical and digital copy of an artist’s work when you buy the record.
The other is the intangible benefit of a tangible hobby — the community. Patrons of a show or shop don’t just walk in to get what they want and leave, they mosey and chat with other shoppers or the person working the register — who are very commonly the owner of the business.
This results in giving and receiving recommendations, talking about new music, developing relationships and meeting interesting people.
Steven and Anthony Beeby, owners of BOHO records in Newhall, carried their family business over from England and maintained it until they decided to open up a record store. They always loved selling and collecting records, selling them at flea markets and other events, but their favorite part about it was meeting new people. The Beeby brothers said it’s hard to enter a record shop and leave without making a new friend.
“We get a customer, they’ll spend an hour, two hours and you just chat. And then another person comes in, and they start chatting with you and then that person starts joining the group as well. Those three, four people would talk for an hour, and what’s kind of difficult (is) trying to sell while you’re at it, like help customers,” Anthony said as he chuckled. “It’s such a community, it really is.”
Another interesting fact about the record store business, according to almost every owner who was at the event, was the lack of competition. Shops simply don’t compete with each other. Instead, they’ll actually buy from each other to bolster their own collections or send customers to each other instead of trying to steal them.
“There is no competition. It’s camaraderie. I think those who look at it as competition, they won’t last,” said Anthony. “You can never have enough records no matter who you are, no matter how big your inventory is. You can’t have everything that people want. It’s impossible.”
Since music is vast and varied, record store owners usually emphasize a certain genre or category of music. This was on full display at the event. Mr. Blue Notes was a vendor that specialized in jazz, Fullerton 70 had a huge Latin music collection, and some vendors specialized in movie soundtracks.
“We may have a record that’s more expensive than the one they have, but you know, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna mark mine down just to make sure I’m competing with him or vice versa,’” said Chad Weatherford, owner of Airwaves Records. “We all shop at each other’s place and then we all love music. He may be buying stuff for me, for himself, because we all love music. That’s all really what it’s about.”
Weatherford considered the first record show a success and said he expects it to continue annually, as long as records are still bought.
