Friday, February 15, 2008
For the record, this vinyl buyer is a true musichead
Ralph Berrier
Riffs, the regional music scene as heard by The Roanoke Times reporter Ralph Berrier, will appear weekly on Sundays.
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Like a lot of 22-year-old dudes, Sam Lunsford is into music. He plays in a couple of bands and even works at a record store. Like most dudes into music, he has thousands of songs in his collection.
Unlike most dudes, though, he has all those songs on vinyl albums. He owns about 500, from old 78 rpm hillbilly records he inherited from his great-grandparents to reissues of classic-rock LPs to new releases from cool bands.
"I've got a good needle and a good setup" on which to play those records, Lunsford said from behind the counter at Plan 9 Music, where he works. The store sells CDs, DVDs and, yes, vinyl.
Other musicheads are into vinyl, he said. Plan 9, which moved to Grandin Road from Towers Shopping Center in December, sells more vinyl records than DVDs, he said.
"And people buy a lot of DVDs," he said.
The image of the modern-day vinyl buyer is that of the middle-aged, geeky record collector who prattles on about "sound quality" and "warmer tones" and "sonic spectrum" and other audiophile-speak. He's the guy with 2,000 albums in his collection, including rare Japanese imports of Engelbert Humperdinck records.
That depiction would be considered a cliche, except that it's mostly accurate.
Now, however, younger geeks ... I mean collectors ... are getting into the act. Plan 9 carries a selection of recent releases by Arcade Fire, Ryan Adams, The Decemberists and other groups that produce vinyl versions of their work.
Most of these LPs are considered vanity projects (again, owing to the inherent geekiness of most musicheads) that are expensive to produce and far less profitable than CDs. Fewer than 1 million vinyl records are sold each year, according to SoundScan, although some analysts think the number is much higher because the music industry doesn't have a good way to count sales of used records, especially on eBay.
There's enough demand that Amazon.com has added a Web page for vinyl records.
Still, times are tough for record stores, even Plan 9.
Though sales initially doubled at the new location, 2008 hasn't gotten off to a banner start. The new location is larger and boasts a performance space, but so far the store is only hosting one show per month. The next gig, on Feb. 22, will be another benefit show by Doug Cheatwood and the Bastards of Fate, who lost their gear in a warehouse fire last month.
I hope Plan 9 makes it, although it's tough to be optimistic about the future of any record store. The good thing about the new digs is that it increases Grandin Road's cool factor. The street has a critical mass of artsy-type businesses, with the record store, the Grandin Theatre, a ballet company, a used bookstore and a few neat restaurants lining the block.
Vinyl records certainly won't lead to an economic revival in the music business, but their place in the collective consciousness of serious music lovers is secure.
"It's so much more personal to have a copy of something," said Plan 9's assistant manager, Jamie Booker, 24. "I know iPods can dock into everything in the world, but there's something personal and better about having something you can touch and share and experience."
Of course, she's going to say that because she needs to sell records. But she really means it. She doesn't download songs.
Lunsford does, though. But he likes those old records, too.
"People are weird," he said. "They'll always want to collect things. As long as we keep collecting, there'll always be records."
