Elton John? Dire Straits? What is going on here?
Who's buying all of those golden oldies up on vinyl? The answer may surprise you...
Hello.
Sorry for intruding on your Saturday, especially one that’s so sunny and beautiful here in Auckland. I hope you’ll forgive me - it’s Record Store Day. To celebrate it, I decided to ask local, independent retailers how they survived Covid-19 lockdowns last year, and how things are going now.
I hung out at Real Groovy, Auckland’s longest-running record shop, for an afternoon, and it was fascinating. I watched them clean second-hand records, sort and categorize boxes of records coming in, and I got to see behind the scenes, wandering through a sort of mega warehouse of vinyl that customers don’t usually get to see.
While I was there, I was told something that shocked me. Vinyl sales are huge, of course - that’s what helped keep all those stores alive during lockdown. But who’s buying it? The answer to that took me a while to understand. I didn’t believe it. Then I saw it first-hand for myself.
Lets’ go…
Chris Hart is standing between two shelving units groaning under the combined weight of tens of thousands of surplus records. On the left of the Real Groovy store owner are vinyl albums stacked in neat alphabetical rows. On his right are cardboard boxes chock-full of second-hand records yet to be sorted.
Around the corner, the relentless hum of an ultrasonic cleaning machine can be heard as two full-time staff members turn dusty old treasures into as-new releases.
When Covid-19 lockdowns were enforced last year, Hart feared all of this, the iconic Auckland store he'd owned and managed for the past four decades, was over. “That's exactly what I thought,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh well - I'm two years short of retirement.’”
Hart has been through tough times before. In 2008, receivers turned up, took the keys off him and made him tell his 70 staff members they were out of a job. He survived by scraping together the money to buy Real Groovy back from the bank.
He recently turned 65, but Hart isn't eyeing up retirement just yet. He's got something else to thank for surviving Covid-19. Because of all those shiny black polyvinyl chloride discs heading out the doors, Real Groovy didn't just survive - it's thriving. Vinyl sales went through the roof, and they haven't stopped. “The online sales absolutely grew - hugely,” Hart says.
To cope with demand, Real Groovy has 70,000 records stockpiled, ready to replace those already on the shelves in its Queen Street store. Cardboard boxes of secondhand supplies arrive from overseas constantly. In a nearby carpark, a new secondhand-only sister store called Dingbats has opened.
Right now, Real Groovy's team can't satisfy demand. Some customers are coming in twice a day to sift through bins and dig for treasure. “We don't have anywhere near what we'd like to have,” admits Grant McAllum, the store's music buyer. “We can't get enough records. More and more people are getting into it.”
Vinyl's popularity has been on the rise for a number of years, but last year, that trend intensified. Worldwide sales are up 30 per cent, according to a recent Recording Industry Association of America report. From his position above the store, checking sales data and ordering depleted stock, McAllum has watched all this happen first-hand.
“Your Pink Floyds, your Led Zeppelins, Jimi Hendrix, that stuff is always sellable,” he says. “Now more so than ever.” Right now, Real Groovy can't get enough copies of Dark Side of the Moon. On the day I visit, it's sold out.
New vinyl is difficult to get, with nine-month waits reported at pressing plants around the world. Turntables are in hot demand too. “On Friday I sold a $5000 one,” Hart says. “On Monday I sold three between 6-9pm on the website.”
To make his point, he picks up a pile of paper and begins pointing to names on it. It's a list of records by Bell Biv DeVoe, The Doors, Fats Domino, Human League and Crosby, Stills & Nash. That's not sales data from 20 years ago - that was yesterday.
Even more of a surprise is who's buying those classics. “We get people coming in with their kids ... the kids are getting into vinyl,” Hart says. “The dad's saying, ‘Oh yeah, I used to have a turntable. Let me help you set that up, son.’”
McAllum agrees. “I know shitloads of people getting into records, 15, 16, 20-year-olds,” he says. “They're buying Taylor Swift and Harry Styles and Lana Del Rey, but they're buying them at the same time as Dire Straits and Bruce Springsteen.”
Why would kids want to listen to Dire Straits - a band that broke up in 1988 and hasn't released a new album in 30 years? “A lot of it is trophy buying,” McAllum says. “They can Instagram it.”
That's not a complaint. “It's a fantastic situation for us,” he says. McAllum is relieved that Real Groovy's weathered yet another storm. “I believe in what we do, I believe we do it as good as anybody,” he says. .“We've never given up. We've never stopped selling records. Here we are, and we've helped fuel that trend.”
Jeremy Taylor's noticed a lot more kids in his store lately too. The manager and co-owner of Wellington's Slow Boat Records is amazed at how fast the vinyl trend is moving. “The store has been busy with a steady stream of people through the doors since re-opening at level 2 last year,” he says.
“(There's) a lot more young people and people really keen to either recapture their youth or flesh out their collections of the classics.” Albums by Elton John and Queen are popular thanks to recent biopics, as well as “classics” by Bob Dylan, Prince and The Beatles.
But Taylor's been surprised by the popularity of previously “uncool” acts like Billy Joel, the Alan Parsons Project and - yes - Dire Straits. Even cheesy film soundtracks like Saturday Night Fever or Grease are selling well. “I'm stoked and always just a bit surprised how much love people still have for an archaic format,” he says.
Garry Knight, the manager of Christchurch's Penny Lane records, thinks something else might be driving this trend - Netflix. “Older stuff is played in a lot of the TV series and streaming shows,” he says.
Knight's also not complaining. When lockdowns were enforced, his turnover “plummeted to near nil”. Instead of turning online, Knight doubled down. He believed customers would return eventually, so he used lockdowns as an excuse to stock up.
It worked. As soon as lockdowns eased, customers returned in droves.
As Record Store Day looms this Saturday, Knight says it's a reminder that shops like his offer an experience that can't be replicated online. “Buying local from any local record shop around the country is so important compared to online,” he says. “Flicking through the bins with like-minded shoppers in store and talking to people who love music is what it is all about.”
Are kids really buying Dire Straits albums? On a busy Thursday afternoon in Real Groovy, I decided to test this theory out. Within seconds, I spot Amber and Nick, two students still in their school uniforms who are standing shoulder to shoulder, flicking through record bins.
They're 17 years old, but they're not browsing albums by big name pop stars like Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift, artists that dominate the music streaming services they have on their phones. Their tastes skew a little older.
“I have Pink Floyd and Dire Straits, stuff like that,” says Nick. “I grew up with that music.” They buy vinyl, yet neither owns a turntable. Instead, they put the artwork on their walls, then take the records to play at friends or family members who own one. “When you listen to your record player, it just sounds nicer” says Amber.
Together, they visit Real Groovy, and Marbecks further down Queen Street, regularly because “it's cool” and offers an experience completely different to streaming. They're there for the fun of it, to dig through the crates, to participate in the same ritual performed by music lovers well before CDs or iPods or streaming came along.
“I want to go look for (records),” says Nick. “There's a thrill in finding the particular album you like.”
Record Store Day is today! Check the website of your local store for stock listings and events. This story first appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
Everything else you need to worry about this weekend…
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is among the best, and most beautiful, gaming experiences I’ve had. But you’ll need a Playstation 5 and a pretty decent television set to really see it as it’s intended to be. It’s worth the investment. It’s incredible…
I watched the first episode of Loki this week. Disney+’s series on the rogue Marvel villain risked watering down the fan favourite, and a few reviews suggest this might have happened. I don’t agree - I love the future-retro vibe, the rewritten rule-book, and Tom Hiddleston chews up so many scenes he’s in.
Something that slipped under the radar this week is Apple Music’sspatial audio announcement. If you’re a paying subscriber (I am) it’s billed as the biggest step forward since stereo sound, and makes you feel “like you’re inside the songs” according to Apple. I’m still trialling it, but so far, I’m impressed.
Finally, celebrate the return of Lorde by lighting one up with your fennel bong…
Enjoying Boiler Room? Find out how to support it here.