Insiders in the vinyl record business are expressing cautious optimism that the industry will weather its latest crisis.
But it could be a hard road ahead.
But I think these guys have endured their share of challenges through the years.
Stephanie Gonot for EW
Theyre a very creative and resourceful group of business owners.
Especially in the independent world, the odds are stacked against you a lot of the time.
Optimism is necessary for survival.
Theres also been reason for optimism in recent years.
However, at that point, the industry was already facing two immense crises.
Then came the pandemic, which pushed these not-insignificant problems almost entirely out of mind.
By mid-March, she continues, All of our attention and focus went to the pandemic.
Every level of the vinyl industry soon felt the viruss impact.
Tours, a major source of record sales for artists and labels, were canceled.
New album releases were postponed.
Pressing plants shut down, or found themselves with nothing to press.
Im sending out more records in a week than I would typically send out in months.
Prior to this, we didnt have a solid online store.
He hopes a new system offering in-store shopping by appointment will help sustain the business.
The good thing is that these stores are such a big part of the community, Paschal notes.
I think it’s more important than ever to people to help support that.
Indeed, the tight-knit indie community has mobilized to help rally support for stores.
At the same time, they need the new product.
So stretching it out over that time period felt like the most logical thing to do.
Slowly, a semblance of normalcy is returning.
Prior to all of this, everyone was pretty much trained in everything.
Thats now seen as possibly a bad thing.
People want to work, and thats the great part about all this.
Yet uncertainty remains rampant.
Even if that situation is averted, the experience of browsing a record store may never be the same.
Still, he fervently hopes this most tactile of industries can one day do in-person business again.
