Let’s face it: music changes. The album that changed your life in high school, may sound dated to your children. Even the physical nature of music changes. Instead of taking up space on a shelf, music consumes hard-drives.
Collecting vinyl records has become increasingly popular. Although you can find vinyl records at trendy stores like Urban Outfitters and even grocers like Whole Foods, don’t let this fool you. In 2015, LPs only accounted for 1% of total music sales.
People like Adam Bartlett, founder of Gilead Media and Eroding Winds Distribution in Oshkosh, WI, aren’t afraid of risks. At the grand opening of his record store, he explains how connecting people to music has been his dream.
“A buddy of mine, runs a record label, messaged me earlier today and he put it well. He said, ‘I think it’s every dude who runs a record label’s dream to have their own shop,'” says Bartlett.
Novice collectors may not know where to begin. Andrew, who’s been listening and collecting records since the 90s, relies on one resource for discovering new music.
“Listen to your friends,” says Andrew. “Everybody I know listens to music, so you got to listen to what they say . . . I don’t fish for the sake of fishing. I listen to people who listen to good music.”
Local musicians Jesse Ponkamo and Amos Pitsch prefer another approach: clearance.
“Just go to the dollar bin. Look into the dollar bin,” says Ponkamo.
“I dig through dollar bins and sometimes buy stacks of records that look like they might be cool,” explains Pitsch. “Recently, I found out about this soul singer Edwin Birdsong just because the cover was cool and it was a dollar.”
You may be asking: “Yeah, records are trendy now, but don’t trends change?” Or better yet, “Why invest in one format? It’s only going to change.”
Adam Loper, a graphic artist, tackles these questions from a different perspective. For him, it’s more about an experience that digital music can’t capture.
“There’s not a great way to scroll through and just get cool reactions from album art as easily as it is actually going to a store and thumping through normal regular sized LPs,” explains Loper.
A person’s passion for music may be the only thing about music that doesn’t change. Before you go to your local record store, Carri Tetzlaff reminds us of a common pitfall.
“There’s a lot of people I know that buy a lot of records and don’t spin them,” says Tetzlaff. “Enjoy them. Listen to them. They’re meant to be enjoyed at home. And it should be an experience for you to sit down and drop that needle down on the record player.”
