All language subtitles for Vinyl Nation

The very first year
that we did this,

these people were walkin' by us

and we were right
on the other corner

and they'd stumble out
after having had some drinks

and having a good time and
they would always be like,

"What are you guys doing, man?

Why are you campin' out?

This is weird, like
what's goin' on?"

We're like, "Oh, you
know, Record Store Day."

"Records, people
still buy those?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah,
they do, they do."

"Oh, so which one
are you looking for?"

Traditionally, no
one says what they want

because they're afraid

the people in front
of 'em will get to it.

Strawberry Shortcake.

Yeah.

- What are you here for?
- Weezer.

And she only likes
the colorful albums,

so basically anything,
Portugal. The Man.

Record Store Day is my
busiest day of the year.

It's bigger than my Christmas,

it's bigger than
my Black Friday.

It's all of those
days rolled together.

Well we're gonna see
more people in one day

than we normally see
in two months time.

Hey, hey, can you guys hear me?

We have three stations.

So the first station
is A through G.

The second station is halfway
through the G's through P.

The third is P to Z

and soundtracks are under
the name of the movie.

I know you're really
all here for "The Crow"

and it's under C.

So it's one title per customer,

but as many titles as you want.

One of my friends brought
me here a couple years ago

and I saw a couple albums
that I knew that I liked

and then bought
a couple of those

and then it just
kinda went from there.

I just love that it's
kind of a big community

that involves a lot of people.

I really like that.

These are actually
all of my friends

that I only see on
Record Store Days.

Like there's faces back
here that I recognize

and all these guys,
the same thing.

I don't even know
this guy's name,

but I see him every year.

- I'm world famous.
- Yeah, yeah.

Okay so this is the fifth one

and this is gonna be
the biggest one, right?

And what's the goal?

Quack.

- Quick-
- Quality-

Authentic connections.

Let's make friends, let's do it.

Welcome, go this direction.

Br through Gs.

Br 52.

♪ Rise up

♪ Don't be afraid

♪ Stand up for your sister

♪ Gotta drop this charade

I'm really excited,

'cause they said it's
going like hotcakes.

Right here we go.

♪ Let your heart be your guide

♪ Your strength can
push us through ♪

It's really weird because

even my parents and stuff
like that are just like

"Why are you getting that stuff?

You have all this
stuff on your phone."

I said, "I don't know,
it's really cool."

We are a record
family, absolutely.

A very musical household.

I like this one because
it has Minnie Mouse on it.

It reminds me of
when I was little,

like wakin' up in the morning,

hearing like the little scratch

and then some soulful
music playing.

And so it kind of takes
me back to that vibe.

- A pretty good haul today.
- You think?

It was a good
Record Store Day today.

I got Fleetwood Mac, Soccer
Mommy and Courtney Barnett.

We got a Gorillaz
album, Courtney Barnett

and a Weezer record
she was after.

This was a used record.

I've seen these guys
five or six times.

Roxy Music, Sublime.

There's another Tangerine Dream

and then the one
I really wanted.

♪ Let's move toward
a brighter day ♪

♪ Together we can
find a better way ♪

♪ Rise up

All right.

Vinyl,

it's the only way
to make sound solid,

like a solid format, like to
bring it into our dimension.

Otherwise it's just invisible
vibrations in the air.

Breaking the seal,

like opening the record
for the first time

and putting it on your
turntable for the first time

and dropping the
needle on the record.

I love opening the Jethro
Tull "Stand Up" gatefold

which has the pop up.

That always makes me smile.

I really like that you
can display a vinyl record.

I like looking at the art.

I like being able to
touch it and hug it

and hold it if I want to.

You have this physical,

rather substantial
thing you're holding

and that thing
promises, you know,

a portal into a moment in time

where your favorite
band played this song.

Artists care about vinyl a lot.

Many artists will say, "That's
the most important format

with which I present my art."

We've always released
our music on vinyl

and there is never any thought
of doing it any differently

just because that's
what we're into

and I think that's
what the people

who buy our music are into.

It elevates the
totality of an album

in a way that I think
is kind of beautiful

if you're in love with an album.

Look at this, it's so pretty.

It's got massive artwork
that's meant to be looked at,

it's meant to be touched
and it smells good.

When I was in high school
I had a huge crush on a guy

and I boxed up
some of my records

and I took a turntable
over to his house

and I played him vinyl
for the first time.

And that's pretty powerful,
that worked really well.

Every record can have
its own unique sound

depending on who has owned
it, who's touched it,

where it's been.

That's really important to me.

Sometimes when I want to
listen to vinyl just by myself,

I just go right
here and just dance.

You're listening
to the whole album,

not just one song that you like.

You can't fast forward.

Boggles the mind, it's
just not the same experience.

I play records
for people in here

and it's like the first time
they've ever heard the record,

it could be their
favorite record.

I mean that's probably the
first thing humans ever did

was to tell stories

and while the way

that we tell them has
changed over millennia,

the desire to do it has not.

Personally, I like telling
stories through records.

Before I met you, when I
was living in Indianapolis,

I got my first record
player on my own.

It was pretty cheap,

but I got it because I was
just at a point in my life

where I was like, "I
want to do what I want do

and I think I would
like records,"

and I think I would
like certain things

that I think I've been avoiding

because I didn't want
to be seen a certain way

or looking like I was trying
to hop onto some trend,

especially a white people trend.

Like I'm sorry, like it's not
that there's anything wrong

with being white,

it's just that I'm not
trying to be a black person

that hops onto white
people's trends.

That's how you end up,

you know, being a black white
supremacist, which I'm not.

So...

A lot of these are new

Like this Mavis Staples is new.

Kelly just got that,
"Only for the Lonely."

My husband loves soul
music, but please understand

that when he talks
about loving soul music,

he's really talking
about the music

of like a middle-aged, black
divorcee in the late-'90's.

Like that's what
he's listening to.

We were both in the English
department and we were writers.

I think I kind of knew

that Kelly was into
older music after that

because when we went
on our first date

and we went four
wheeling on our first date,

he took me four
wheeling in the mud.

She didn't know it was a date.

I didn't know it was
a date, that is true.

And we got in his truck

and we were on our
way back to campus

from like this place
he had taken me out to

and "Brown-Eyed Girl"
came on the radio.

You know he's lookin' at the
road like nothin's happenin',

but he slips his hand over
and puts it on top of my hand

and I was

both like rollin' my eyes
and completely charmed.

'Cause I was like, I'm black,
of course I have brown eyes,

but also like this is really
cute and I love this song

and I really like that
he's listening to the song

and like he's playin'
the song right now.

Rolling your eyes and charmed

is probably a common experience.

It's a common experience,

rolling my eyes

and being also completely
charmed, yeah.

Listen, there's something
sacred about the whole thing.

12 by 12,

33 rpm,

the visual idea of this thing
spinning for 18 minutes.

The idea that a needle,
first off, it's a diamond.

I mean it's kids,
all the fuckin',

this is like some Zork
shit, it's sacred,

you know what I mean?

Like there's a diamond

that's like bumping in
between this canyon.

It's such a horrifying-complex
point of consternation

to even think about a
stupid little, you know,

stylus moving
through this groove.

I mean I'm learning
new things every day

and I've been doing
this for 18 years.

It's actually happened that's
someone has walked in before

and, because I'm
getting to the point

where I'm old enough now and
they're young enough now,

so that someone
walks in and says,

"Oh, albums have music on them."

You're like, "This
is a music format?

Wow."

He spent the entire time

staring at the needle
touching the groove

and watching it move and
looking at the speakers

and going back and forth like
it was some kind of alchemy.

This is like 100 years
old, how is this possible?

It's magical, it's mind-blowing

how the fuck it works.

♪ Covering my eyes
from far away ♪

So sound is vibration.

Frequency

is sound per second

and then music is a unique
collection of frequencies.

And that's just moving air

and that's what's beautiful
about vinyl is that

it's taking that movement

and making it a solid,
tangible artifact.

The way it works is
sound is gonna be sent

to these two magnets.

There's a sharp diamond
stylus right here

and that's gonna take the
mechanical vibrations of the music

and carve it into
this blank disk.

When I was first in a
band, like around 17,

and like you know
really getting a grasp

of what it means
to create things.

Just seeing an actual vinyl
record and like holding it,

it just made it, like, if I
really am proud of this thing

I just put my heart and soul in,

it only makes sense to put
my money where my mouth is.

So I started
scouring the internet

and was like how could
I do this myself,

because I do everything myself,

and that's why the record lathe

became the most
viable option for me.

We're ready to cut.

Now it's etching the sound.

It's magic, obviously.

It's so temperamental
and difficult

to get every step right.

To write the songs, to
have a functional band,

to have a functional vision,
to have a good engineer

and a good studio and then
a good mastering engineer

and then a good
like lacquer cutter

and then a good plater,
you know, plating person,

like Gary Salstrom

is the really famous
plating person at QRP.

He fuckin' wrote me an email,
I was like almost fainted.

This guy's amazing.

Unlike compact discs

you're not opening a
door and pushing a button

to start a series of
events on a computer.

We have somebody
handling the lacquers.

We make a duplicate of that
through a series of cleaning

and sensitizing
steps, silver it,

put that in the plating
tank, make a master.

This is the mother
made from that master.

I listen to that,

make sure it's the
quality is what we want,

make any repairs that
might need to be done

and then we make a stamper
that's gonna press the records.

Stan here is unloading a stamper

that's just been
made from a mother

and later on he'll
separate those two parts

and the stamper'll go
out to the press room

and press records.

If everything's done right,

that stamper is an exact
mirror image of the mother.

On a job board at
school I found a posting

and I started off
just sanding stampers.

I realized this is pretty cool.

I can get free records and...

This is the vinyl that's
gonna press the records.

This is virgin vinyl that
we get from a company, TPC,

that's made in Thailand.

The vinyl is heated up
in stages, makes a puck.

That puck'll be moved in, onto
the center pin of the press

and that's gonna compress
into the biscuit.

Record's pressed between
the dies, or stampers,

mounted on each side.

It's gonna cut off
the excess vinyl

and it comes out the front end.

This is where they're
allowed to cool

and everything's hand inspected.

Two people in our QC department,

one will be looking
at the records

and the other will be listening,

identifying any
potential problems.

This is where we do
all the listening.

This is Jamie.

He can look at defects and
he's checking centering.

We want the record to be
as concentric as possible,

so it's really critical

and it's probably one
of the toughest things

that we have here to get right.

Other than that,

he's listening to it
to make sure it's free

of any non-fill, tics, pops,

stains, scratches,
things like that.

I feel guilty sometimes

'cause I get really stressed
out about makin' records

and one of my best friends said,

"There's no such thing
as a vinyl emergency."

And I try to remember that,

but it's amazing how
stressed out you can get.

You know when we're
talkin' about vinyl records,

the process that we use
is incredibly similar

to the process that was used
to make records in 1880.

For the first what, maybe,

70-plus years of recorded music,

records, whether they're
made vinyl or from shellac,

but the basic form,
right, circular.

And that was pretty much the
only format that existed.

Every record
is made with the same care

and to the same
high-fidelity standards.

The 12 inch format succeeded

because you can see it
from across the street

in a record store window.

When you talk about the LP era,

what you're talking
about is consumer culture

welcoming in large
groups of people

who previously were not
affluent enough to be targeted.

It was very affordable,
it sounded great

and you could have a sort of
relatively cheap experience

of urban affluence across
all these demographic lines.

When people were
moving into the suburbs,

often the records and
the record players

were part of the culture

that they were able to
bring into their house.

Records are a piece of art.

You are going on a ride,

a ride on a diamond
tip as it plunges down

through a canyon of sound
where music is made.

It's probably
really not until 1970s

that things like cassettes
and then 8-tracks

and of course by the
1980s, the coming of the CD

now provide
competition for vinyl.

Phillips
announce the next best thing

to live music: compact disc.

They were smaller,

in theory, they sounded better.

Pure sound played by laser.

Digital is arguably
a more perfect format.

It has consistency.

It potentially has
a lower noise floor,

a greater dynamic range.

I think the record industry
in some way was saying,

"You don't want your
records anymore,"

to the general public.

"You have to have CDs."

Record sales begin
to fall off a cliff.

I mean the high
point, the zenith,

is around probably
"Thriller," right, around 1983

and then everything begins
to precipitously drop off

from that point.

The long-playing album will
only be 41 years old this year

and already it's headed
for early retirement.

Like drive-in movies
and gas-guzzling cars,

it's another
casualty of progress.

Records, you know,
huge pain in the ass.

It's heavy.

My back is probably not in
the best shape it could be

because of vinyl records.

Every time I've moved
I've amassed more records

than the previous time I moved.

So every time it's more and
more of a pain in the ass.

I don't, you tear my shit.

It drives me nuts how
easy it is to damage,

how easy it is to warp,
how easy it is to skip,

how easy it is to
break the spine,

how easy it is as a cat owner

to have a shelf full of records

get wrecked in one fell swoop.

Ow, no, too late.

I had it in crates

and whenever it would get warm,

I would move them
from room to room

because I was like, if
they warp, I'm done.

Vinyl wasn't perceived
to have much value in 1990.

People would bring
in all their records

and on top of the pile
would be their turntable.

You know it's like,
"Here you go."

So we used go to different
cities across the East

and we would basically
stand in a hotel room

buying records for
10 days straight,

box 'em all up and
ship 'em to California.

It was a formula that
worked right off the bat.

But there was this
just glut of vinyl

that had been dumped.

Stores just full of records.

You could be
buying these records

that are worth so much
now for $5 or less.

The condition was
always, you know, iffy,

but that was an especially
good time to find records.

I always had a
fascination with records.

I've also played the drums
since I was nine years old

and so I was always in
bands, interested in music,

my parents loved music and I
loved working in record stores.

It's all I've ever
done my entire life

since I got out of high school.

We have three stores now

and each one of them
would be considered

the largest record
store on the planet.

We became a place for weirdo
record geeks like myself

to have a good job and
create a community.

It's a perfect job for me.

I get to sleep in late, I
get to wear my hair long

and just be myself.

The record shop in
the pre-internet days,

it was where you would go to
find your crowd of people,

it was where you would go
to find out about music

and records and
buy concert tickets

and maybe see a band play.

That's just where anyone
who was interested

in all that kind of
stuff was hanging out.

Goin' to a record store
was part of my life.

It was something I always did,

I never imagined I
wouldn't be doing that.

So I was opening a
record store in the '90s

and Dr. Dre was just
about to drop Snoop.

It was an interesting time.

My musical experience
was difference

than the older guys who'd
opened record stores before me

and everybody's gonna put
a little bit of themselves

into their space.

Well I think the typical Sound
Garden employee is people

who truly love records
and record stores.

This is where they'd
want to hang out.

We don't care if you have a
drink while you're working

or you're high on weed.

We don't really give
a shit, you know?

It's not like we're
school bus drivers here.

It's a community of people

who are very similar
to their customers.

I feel like if you
walk into my store

and you can't find
something you like,

then I have somehow
failed in my mission

to be a record shop.

I want the kid who walks in,

if she's eight or
nine years old,

to find her favorite record

and as she develops
her own musical taste

over the next 10, 20 years,

she can find everything
that she likes

here at the record shop.

I'd never seen anything
like it in my life

and there are people

standing in front of record
bins going like this.

So I just kind of saddled
up to one of the record bins

and I start flipping through
and felt like, you know,

this is a world that
I wanted to be in.

You know you basically are
gonna get turned on to things

just by looking this
way or that way,

as opposed to having
something fed to you

by some logarithm.

There's a lot of records
that only exist as records,

so going into like a
dusty record store,

digging under the shelves
into the other crates

and it's almost like
being an archeologist

and digging out stuff.

I love digging in the crates.

Unfortunately I always
wear a really nice shirt

when I should be wearing
a really grungy shirt

to go dig in the crates.

I think fun is really
the bottom line to it all.

It's fun to go to stores.

You bump into somebody you know,

you see what they're buying.

I go up the block
here to Record City,

maybe pop into my bar
up there, Westbury Inn,

have a beer.

Yeah, after a beer I
definitely get more records.

My strategy is to
just be comfortable

and touch all the
records in the store.

I'm a terrible browser.

I'm like anything
could be in there.

He's like-

Anything could be in there.

And often anything is.

For people who like
to collect records,

the thrill of what
might be behind the door

of that little shop, you know,

I've never been
stunned to find an MP3.

Finding something that,

the day before you didn't
even previously know existed,

like finding a South
African pressing

of the first Stooges album.

To most people
that's going to seem

entirely inconsequential.

Like, "Oh, is it
different music?"

"Oh no, it's the same
master that was used

at the Columbia Pitman pressing
plant in the United States."

"Oh is it a different cover?"

"No, it's the same picture."

"Well what's
different about it?"

"Well they used a slightly
different back cover orientation

and the center
label's different."

"That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

That makes...

That's the highlight of a month.

That is really, really exciting.

Who are the most
passionate weirdos?

They're passionate
weirdos is who they are

and by the way, I
subscribe to that,

you know I am a
member of the tribe.

Music had been a way of
dealing with depression for me,

a way of being less lonely

as I kind of left my
hometown very young

and was moving around

and very often didn't
have anyone around me.

You know I'm like
poor and 18 years old

and what ended up
happening is somebody,

who was a little older than me,

took me into their big
demo room, sat me down

and played me a live
David Bowie recording

on this like $300,000
LYD Dynaudio system

and absolutely wrecked
my frame of reference

for what good sound was.

It was like okay, well I can
have this emotional experience,

this anti-depressant experience
and I can have it be better?

Sign me up.

I have a nice
sound system at home.

I have a very nice turntable.

I keep my records clean

and when I'm listening to a
record I have to pay attention.

See, this is hi-fi,

okay?

High fidelity.

Audiophiles are the worst.

They are the worst, come on.

They are passionate

about all the wrong things
about vinyl records.

They prefer to complain
than to just sit back

and ignore that .01%
of imperfection here.

And I'm sure this will be used
against me in a court of law

and I've just dug my own grave.

I get as much.

I think the dominant image
you see of record collectors

and the media tends
to be some version

of "The Simpsons"
comic store guy.

Someone has mixed an
"Amazing Spider-Man" in

with the "Peter Parker, The
Spectacular Spider-Man" series.

This will not stand.

I'm not saying
that's completely false

because I've met people that
certainly fit that profile.

But I think over the years,

I've met a very, very
diverse array of people

who are into records.

You don't necessarily see
that reflected, though,

in the depictions that we
have for record collectors.

Nah, that one's not so great.

This is the one I'd recommend.

It's a, I mean this track
alone by Memphis Minnie

is worth about $500 if
you own the original 78.

Wow.

It always has been

kind of a boys club kind
of thing historically.

I think that's a stereotype
and I would beg to differ

because I was buying vinyl
when I was a teenager

and I'm not a young white
male or a middle-aged white,

or I wasn't, yeah.

The big struggle that
the high-end audio industry

has identified for itself
is this evolving discussion

that's about how to reach out
to women, people of color,

you know all sorts
of youth, minority,

all of those sort of sectors

that they've never
touched on before.

And ironically, they continue
to do the exact things

that are not helpful
in that pursuit

and that is to treat
women like children

and young people
like they're idiots

and people of color
like criminals.

If you want to change things,
you have to just do it.

The fact that then I
thought that vinyl belonged,

in a certain sense, to that
certain kind of white man,

was definitely
encouraged by the images

whenever anybody was
talking about vinyl.

You guys are snobs.

No, we're not.

No, seriously, you're
totally elitists.

You feel like the
underappreciated scholars

so you shit on the people
who know less than you.

- No.
- Which is everybody.

- Yeah.
- Yes.

I think a lot of people think

that when you go
to a record store,

the owner is gonna be grumpy

and he's gonna sort of judge you

and I've certainly
felt that way.

I've had more than one
male cable technician walk in

and look at my records

and say, "Wow, whose
records are these?"

If I had a penis, you would
assume they were my records.

Do I feel good
when someone's like,

"Oh cool, the DJ is a woman.

That's cool, that's different."

Like, dude, I'm tryin'
to just do my job here,

I don't need commentary.

I might be really colorful.

I might have weird records,

but I've been doing
this for 10 years

and I know how to run a mixer,

I know how to run a turntable,

I know how to beat match.

Like I know these things

and I'm just ready for people
to just assume that I do.

♪ The stuff that held back

♪ Do want somebody

During the low
point of vinyl sales,

the one community I think
that still held onto it

was really DJs.

When everyone else decided to
shift over to other formats,

those particular DJs were always

still gonna stay loyal to vinyl.

The DJs, you know,
they demanded it.

If the labels
weren't gonna do it,

there were bootlegs coming out

and I think they were kinda
forced into keeping it going

through like the '90s.

It's a medium that lends
itself to creativity.

Like there's endless,

like crazy things you
can do with vinyl.

With the DJs, we have
hip-hop, we have punk,

but in between there
there was a layer of kids

that were influenced by hip-hop,

but wanted to do something new,

placing samples
together to make beats.

In the 2000s,

digital DJing in a particular
vinyl emulation systems

or digital vinyl
systems like Serato,

when these began to come online

a lot more DJs were
happy to embrace that.

Control signals come
in all different colors,

whether they be
vinyl, and sizes.

They also come in CD form

or you can put the
file on a USB stick.

So much to my surprise,

these people who had
been DJs since the 1980s,

begin to just liquidate
their entire collections.

We've seen a
decrease definitely,

definitely in hip-hop 12 inches

and dance 12 inches
over the years.

And I think that DJs now
don't spin vinyl as much.

I had a tour in
Japan a while back

and the promoter was like, "Hey,
are you gonna bring vinyl?"

And I said, "Well, if I
do are they paying more,

'cause I have more baggage
fees," and stuff like that.

He goes, "No."

I was like, "Okay.

Well then why would I bring
it, you know?"

Boom, that's iPod.

I happen to have one right
here in my pocket in fact.

There it is right there.

It all came crashing
down in the Napster era.

And I just was like, "No, why?

It's here, why change it?"

It's the era of the MP3

that delivers the coup
de grace, if you will.

To have your
whole music library with you

at all times is a quantum
leap in listening to music.

I think that music
fans took out their anger

or their

distress

with record labels on our shops.

We were the natural go-to for
people to express their dismay

with pricing, with availability

and as a result,
we were easy prey.

There is a lot of history here

and it's gonna take a little
while to liquidate it all

so you've probably got a
couple of months left to come

and get a piece of this
history for what it's worth.

I think there was one year

where I didn't even release
anything on vinyl as a label

and I was thinking like.

And we didn't sell enough of it

to make it worth manufacturing,

you know, 500 of them
in order to sell 50.

A lot of record pressing plants

went out of business.

Music was always
really important to me,

but my career was in business.

In the mid-2000s, I
kind of reached a point

where I decided that I
wanted to find something

that was kind of a smaller,
more niche-like business

where I could be more
hands-on involved.

And this is where it all began.

That was my old desk.

I wasn't looking for a
vinyl record manufacturer.

It never occurred to me that
I might find one of those,

but this business had
existed since 1949.

I knew enough about music
and I had enough beliefs

that vinyl's not gonna go away.

I thought it could be something

where it would be a
good, stable investment,

I could spend time on it

that would be
emotionally meaningful

and I thought I could add
value to the business.

Some of this is left.

There's our old break room.

So I bought the company in 2007

and thought it was
gonna be stable

and require a little
attention, but not a lot.

This is the Motown Suite.

This is where the Motown
artists would celebrate

their new record releases.

And they needed a place to come

because they couldn't get space

in the segregated
South back in the '60s.

And everything is
completely intact

and

I'm sure if these
walls could talk,

there'd be some great stories.

A large part of what the
company did when I bought it

was they made 12 inch
single records for DJs,

promotional records.

That's how the major labels
would support a new artist.

Scattered throughout here
we had three press rooms.

We had seven presses
in this little room,

six presses going down there

and another eight
presses going back there.

And we shoved an awful lot in
this small little building.

Shortly after I
bought the company,

the labels decided to
discontinue that practice

of producing 12
inch single records.

That had a devastating impact

on this small, stable business
that I thought I had bought.

Suddenly it became a
very challenged business.

There's nothing that said
it's going to come back

and it got worse
before it got better.

2007 is sort of
considered the bottom.

That year the market sold
less than a million units.

I think my wife
and I were married,

we were getting ready to move
for the third or fourth time,

as you are when you're
young and just married,

and it was like, I don't
have the space, I'm done.

I got rid of all my records.

Back then, we were
on all in media stories

for actually going
out of business

and our business is failing

and I was like, that's a
horrible story to tell.

We're like telling people
we're not cool anymore

and that's all we
have is being cool.

So we held a conference for
all the indie record stores

called Noise in the Basement
and we were talkin' about

how we can perhaps
change the perceptions,

just change the story.

I said, "Hey, maybe
we could do something

called Record Store Day."

Yes, we're gonna throw
a party for ourselves.

That seems a little weird,

but let's try it and
see what happens.

And if you throw a party,

it's will people show
up to your party?

Vinyl was our only hope

and we just hoped somebody
else would give a shit.

♪ You've been, you've been

♪ Runnin' through my mind

♪ And I've been thinkin' that

We can get artists to
contribute some tracks,

some 7 inches,

some things that are
only exclusive to us.

The idea is they're limited.

What format lends
itself to that? Vinyl.

Check this out,

this is Chuck D for
Record Store Day.

It was like all the biggies.

Metallica was our first
Record Store Day ambassadors.

From there it just
continued to grow.

Of course I'm no stranger
to the title ambassador.

I now have the
power to command you

to attend Record Store Day.

I'm kind of blown away
about what it is now.

We started it six years ago

and we only had 30
artists participate.

Now we have 350 artists
participating, it's worldwide.

Record Store Day gave me and
the employees who work here

an opportunity to
continue to work

in an environment we love.

You know we're kinda cool again.

You know, no accounting
for the human heart,

it's a very strange machine.

As you can see in the
room we're sitting in,

I haven't

stopped

then rebuying the
records I got rid of,

or just buying more records.

So I was on the wagon
is what I'm saying

and now,

I'm drunk with vinyl.

It was just this gradual change

and you all of a sudden realize

that there's more and
more stores opening up,

there's more and
more online retailers

that are carrying vinyl.

All sorts of
independent entities

continued to make records
when the majors weren't.

And if you have
clout as an artist,

you're going to want to
have this experience,

not this experience.

I think that's when we started

to see a younger demographic.

I think I was like 15 or
16 when my dad bought me

like one of those Crosleys,

not the powder blue one,
it was a different color.

And he bought like The Postal
Service "Give Up" record,

which is kinda funny to me

that that's my first record

'cause it's like
kinda ridiculous.

More attention has
been paid in recent years

to reaching an audience
where the default setting

is not white dudes
of a certain age.

I definitely think this
second generation of record fans

has maybe destigmatized
the idea that everyone

that likes vinyl is this
weird dude with a ponytail,

kinda hangin' out
listening to only vinyl.

When I first started

and I would go to
other people's houses,

like their record
player was something

that only they could touch

and now you're starting to
see that kind of break down.

And now that it's
kind of everywhere

and really easy to order and
really easy to come across,

I think more and more
people are starting

to listen to vinyl.

And you walk into a record store

and you see families and
little kids and men and women.

It's literally not a bunch
of old white guys like me.

People of all colors, all races,

there's absolutely
no way to tell

when a person walks in the
store what they're gonna buy.

As a kid, my parents
didn't have a record player.

I didn't have a turntable

until I was out
of college, really

and that's when I started
devotedly collecting records.

So I started going out and
seeing DJs playing vinyl

and I thought, "I
want to do that."

I have really good
records, I have good taste,

why am I not seeing
girls up there?

Why do I not see
myself up there?

I knew that there
were girls out there

that wanted to learn how to DJ,

they just didn't
know how to start.

So I wanted to
create this platform

for girls to get together
to talk about records,

to skill share and that's how
Chulita Vinyl Club started.

I'd never seen women
DJ up there before,

so I was like if they could
do, then I can do it, too.

We started with
a couple of girls,

two, three girls,
including myself

and at the moment we
have about 55 girls

in seven different cities.

It's more than just teaching
each other how to DJ

or talking about records.

Girls that have
never met each other

met at Chulita Vinyl Club

and they're, you know,
the best of friends now.

Everybody's got their
own style and own flavor

and I think that's part
of the club, you know?

We have each other's backs.

It's an awesome sisterhood.

Being able to hold the music

that you're about to
put on is really cool.

I didn't have a ton
of physical music

as a kid

and then I had none

as iTunes became a
bigger part of my life.

What happened in the
late '90s, early 2000s,

is that music
became very passive.

It became very easy to listen
to it through your iPod,

through your device,
through your computer,

through your laptop.

There was this sense

that music was becoming
evermore ephemeral

and evermore portable and
evermore sort of on the wind.

But at the same time,

there were people who I
think in reaction to that

were also interested
in having music

that they could
hold in their hands.

I like the ritual of putting
a record on and sitting down.

I definitely like
having the physical album

in front of me, putting
it on the turntable

and really having that
experience of doing nothing else

but listening to that record.

And then having to
kind of pay attention

and go back 20 minutes
later and flip the side.

There are people who are
drawn to the inconvenience.

There are people who are
drawn to inconvenience period

because you feel like
you're working for your art

and

streaming strips that away

in the name of
convenience and access.

Now you just bark out a
command to some box in the corner

and it plays music for you.

Alexa, play rock music.

Rock music.

I love walking down
my hallway at home

and there's just a
big wall of records

and I can look at them

and remember the memories
associated with them,

like where I got this or this
record came from my parents.

If you catch the bug early on,

it sticks with you and it's a
way to go back to a happier,

you know, more innocent time.

It's like when you're young

and you're discovering
things for the first time,

it's so great.

It's kind of ironic because
vinyl is a nostalgic thing,

but I also think
it's novel to me

as someone who thinks of
music as a digital item.

When we are buying something
we are defining ourselves,

especially younger people.

We're lookin' for ways to
tell ourselves who we are.

"I'm a guy who listens

to Faith No More's
'The Real Thing, '"

and if you're that guy,

every time you open
your record cabinet

and you see "The Real Thing,"

it's like that's the
reflection of the person

that you most
idealize in yourself

and you get to take that out

and have this you know
sacred event with it.

At the end of the
day you're listening

to Faith No More's
"The Real Thing,"

you're just going
about it the long way.

My attraction to vinyl
has been a combination

of good association
from my childhood

and also I really like
the art form of it,

that you can display
a vinyl record.

This one

is special to me

because it's the very first
album cover recreation

that I did, also it has A
Tribe Called Quest break in it.

People ask me all the time

how I got started doing
album cover recreations

and there's no real
magical story to it.

It's just that I saw this
at my parent's house,

my parents had at the time
a huge orange tabby cat

and it just hit me like,
"Oh, that'd be so funny

if I could put the cat in
as the lion," and anyway.

It just started with that one

and I got such a huge reaction,

people thought it was so funny.

I was like, "Well if you like
that, I'm gonna keep going.

I'll show you this
and this and this."

I feel like I'm
spreading knowledge

or spreading information
about the record.

I really pride myself on
trying to write in the caption

something about
the circumstances

under which that album was made.

So who was the producer, who
played bass, who played guitar,

the photographer, too.

Like before this,

I had no real way to demonstrate
my enthusiasm for music

because I'm not a musician,

I tried to be a DJ for
a couple of years there,

but I'm not good at it.

I'm just a goofball.

It's just a perfect way
to showcase my collection.

See, pretty convincing, right?

We never really stopped
doing vinyl record jackets.

Did it come close to going away?

It did and then we
saw it comin' back,

I would say about 12 years ago
and it's just slowly grown.

One of the things I
think that has done that

is people started making them
a little bit more special.

Direct to board jackets,
old style jackets,

12 inch, 10 inch,
7 inch, box sets

and lots of specialty
items as well.

What we're kind of known for
is we do old style jackets.

And what the old
style jackets are

is they're printed on paper,

which is a little bit
nicer to print on,

and then they're mounted
to a gatefold blank.

They automatically get glue
put on the backside of them

and then these blanks are
hand mounted onto the sheets

and the front actually
gets turned over

to the backside.

Once that's done, you
now have the front,

what we call the cover and the
liner side of the gatefold,

and then now this is what
we call the inside spread.

So this is our smaller press.

This is a 29-inch Heidelberg,
six color with a coater.

It prints around
8,000 sheets an hour.

Things are looking really
good in our industry.

Not only is there
more work to be done,

there's more really high-quality
packaging to be done.

This is a flat sheet now,

but when we die
cut, fold and glue,

this'll be a gatefold jacket.

I think people started
making 'em special

to get people to buy vinyl
instead of downloading.

Before it was like a
single record jacket,

four color process,
single record jacket,

but now there's just so
many special coatings

and foil stamping and embossing

and scented or
textured coatings.

Just whatever you can think
up, we'll make it on a jacket.

Customers will come
to us with an idea

and 90% of the time
we'll make it happen

no matter what it is.

Anytime you look at the
mass introduction of a format,

and it's always been this way,

as it gets more
and more accepted,

then you start to say,

"Okay, well how can
we squeeze more profit

out of these things
we're selling?"

So in the last throes of, you
know, the '90s and the 2000s,

the packaging gets pulled back,
the record gets pulled back.

It's a wonder any
of them survived

any length of time
out in the wild

because they were so thin
and the jackets were so light

But eventually people have
the great idea, like QRP,

you know we'll let's do
this, but let's really do it.

Let's make sure

that the temperature of
the biscuit is just right.

Let's make sure the labels
are always dead center.

Let's make sure that we
have remastered the hell

out of this album

and that's where I think
the maturity happened.

The average audiophile who
would come into our stereo shop

was not asking for a music
server or a CD player anymore,

they were asking
for a turntable.

The records are 180
gram, they're beautiful.

The whole outlay of
the jacket is gorgeous.

It is a full sensory experience

that is incredibly rewarding.

We always start
with the vinyl package

and then the CD design
will be based off of that.

Probably my favorite
physical album cover is,

it's one by The Format, it
was called "Dog Problems"

and as you open the album,

like different sections
of dogs kind of pop out.

Probably one of
the bigger things

that we're known for is
nice deluxe packaging.

And you sit there and
you read the liner notes,

you look at all the great photos

and you kind of follow
along the story of the music

with the story in the book.

The more special you
can make the vinyl,

the more likely it is that
people are gonna buy it.

You want to do limited, special
packaging or colored vinyl.

Don't tell anybody,

but colored vinyl doesn't
sound as good.

We try to anticipate,
is there a novelty aspect

that makes sense
to bring into this?

There's these little tricks

and these little sneaks
that you learn about

and so you can have the
groove on the record

start on the inside
and play outward.

Liquid-filled records
and split color records,

a lot of things
that we have done,

we've done together
with the artist.

Perhaps the strangest
of all those requests

and one that we were willing
to manufacture the components,

but actually not
complete the assembly

was a blood-filled record

for Wayne Coyne of
The Flaming Lips.

In elementary school we used
to do these balloon launches

where everyone in the
school got a helium balloon

and attached to it was a
postcard with your name on it

and you let 'em go.

I remember some turning up

in New Hampshire,
New England area.

Like wow, that's hundreds
of miles, that's so insane.

So how can we do
that with records?

So it's with great excitement

that we release Jack White's
"Freedom at 21" on a flexi-disc

only available via
helium balloon launch.

And we got hundreds upon
hundreds of helium balloons

and we just let 'em go.

I hope you can find one.

And they started showing
up in people's yards,

people started
putting 'em on Ebay,

people are paying
$4,000 for a flexi-disc.

That, to us, was
really, really cool.

The toughest thing about
opening a brand-new record store

is that there are already
records at Walmart

and there are already
records at Target

and there's loads of
records at Amazon,

so you really have to
offer something unique.

We try to have a very
cool, sort of bohemian vibe

It sometimes feels like a temple

where somebody can
come in and receive,

almost like a sacrament,

receive in the music that
might be life-changing music

or might have extremely intimate
relationships with them.

I will help you with that-

Do you know anything about this?

It's got all kinds of
signatures all over it,

but was it anything?

- It's open?
- Yeah, I mean-

Oh, this is a, oh,
this is a Dwight record.

We bought it, well we got
a collection from this guy-

Okay, I just love
the inside with the pictures

and all that-

He wrote, he wrote
a lot of things on it.

We've been open for
about six months.

We opened last October,
so October 2018.

We're really picky
about condition

and we try to source
more unusual stuff,

usually European pressings.

Something that you would hear
and you'd say, "What's this?

I need to have a copy of this."

We call ourselves
a ma and pa store.

People come in, we tend
to know people's names,

if we don't we'll
ask you your name.

I've had mothers
bring their daughters

and I feel like I'm sort of a
safe shop for them to come to.

I try to be extremely
nice and welcoming

to everybody who
comes into the shop.

Hello.

Don't mind us.
- Okay.

Hey there.

In May of 2008,

I was left with a company
that had a lot of issues

and we set out to
reposition the company

to be in a place for the
day when, lo and behold,

commercial vinyl
started to grow again.

All those independent labels

and independent
artists continued

to make records
in the dark ages,

but you would not
have a comeback

without the majors
being involved.

I didn't know that
this was gonna happen,

it didn't play out at all
like I thought it would,

but fortunately it came
together and worked out okay.

Building one is
where it starts here,

we receive raw materials.

You need the records
that millions of people want,

not tens of thousands
of people want.

So we've now
entered building two,

which is where we actually
manufacture the records.

You'll have tens of
thousands, possibly hundreds

of thousands of records
pressed for that single title

and that makes a big difference
at the manufacturing level.

It's just, it's a bigger deal.

You've seen a generation
that has discovered,

"Hey, this thing
exists out there.

I love this artist,"
whether it's Taylor Swift

or whether it's The
Allman Brothers.

Yes, I can stream it onto my
phone, but this thing is real.

"There's nothing
new under the sun

and everything that's old
will become new again."

I realized that's
especially true about vinyl

when I started seeing like
portable record players available

in places like Urban Outfitters

and they were in
different colors,

I was like, "Oh, my God,
it's become a trend."

♪ I think I like you

♪ I think you like me, too

Urban Outfitters is
not a record store,

we are a lifestyle store.

When we began in
the vinyl business,

we were buying it more
as a collectible piece,

or as a decorative piece.

And I'll never forget
when a record came

and there was only one

and it was the weirdest
thing being in the store

is getting one record
because you were like,

"Well A, where is
this supposed to go?

And B, who's gonna
ever need vinyl?"

I got this from Urban Outfitters

and I will have a full review

on the actual record
player itself on my blog.

As the industry has grown,

we're seeing it also as a
way to listen to your music

on top of also
being a collectible.

One of our top-selling
artists is Billie Eilish.

Just like her, I
think what we service

is that 17-year-old girl
that's like experiencing

and getting to know how
amazing it is to own vinyl.

Let's see what the
pressing looks like.

Oh, my God it is like white.

One of the coolest moments
of me ever buying music

was when we released
Britney Spears on vinyl.

When that came out there was
just so much press about it

and so many fans
that were so excited

that they were finally able
to really own that album

in a bigger way than
just the CD format.

So this what the
babe looks like.

She's a big girl.

Our consumer base is
typically 18-26 years old,

so they don't have a
lot of disposable income

and so we find it
important to offer them

that entry-level turntable

and Crosley's always
been a great product

for that price point.

Crosley's provided
more turntables

than anyone else has
in the last 10 years.

When we first started,

we were mainly servicing
people who grew up with vinyl

and they just wanted
to experience it again.

We started selling Target in
2006, 2007, Urban Outfitters.

Then we decided to expand
outside of just retro

and make it more fashion based.

It introduced a
whole new generation

to vinyl

and a large percentage of
these new listeners are female.

I was really debating

getting the blue or the pink,

but the blue, in the end,
matched my room better.

All of the finishes
are this light blue color

and my record player happens
to also be a light blue.

I wouldn't be surprised if
the record player was kind of

in the back of my head going,

"I would look so good in
the apartment."

People are using our products

as like an extension
of their personality.

So when you

search #crosley on Instagram,

you're gonna see a lot
of Crosley shrines.

There's the Crosley turntable,
suitcase-style flipped open,

cool piece of like
mid-century modern furniture.

There's twinkly lights and
like there's always succulents,

you can't forget succulents.

So many succulents.

I don't know that
like Gen Z necessarily

thinks of it as
like an old medium.

My daughter doesn't
even know what a CD is,

but she has a turntable.

She has a small vinyl
collection of like 15 albums,

mostly Disney.

You know I had to teach her,
"Here's the cueing lever,

and like drop it manually.

Like always use this
to drop it slowly.

Always hold the
record like this."

From a young age, she
picked up on it super quick.

That's pretty much
everything, kids.

Have fun collecting records.

She just thinks
it's always been here

or it's like this
new cool thing,

which it is a new cool thing.

Vinyl can really
help you with parenting

in that being able
to talk about music,

hear music and tell a
story about an album

or a period of time, it gives
you really nice inroads.

And I think when you're
physically connecting,

when you're touching something,

it forges more
connection for you

because you pause and
you're talking to each other

and you're listening to each
other in a different way.

Sunday vinyl is a
family tradition

so I get up in the morning

and I play whatever
the week has been

and then at dinnertime
I play a few records

that are gonna take
us into our next week.

If it's a blues record,
folk music or a jazz record,

I'm giving something to them.

We have this day together and
we have this time together

and it's our version of church.

My dad and I, we
collect records together

and it's kinda like a
father-son activity that we do.

I think on this
side is like opera,

maybe, I think, over
here is like jazz

and maybe some early stuff,
like '50s, like early '60s.

Then in the middle it's all
this rock because we love rock.

It's a good thing
to discover, like,

things that I didn't really
live, but other people lived.

Vinyl's still around,

but like typewriters
aren't around anymore.

Like dialing phones,
where you dial stuff,

those kinda died out.

Like regular dancing,
like ballroom dancing,

like that really died out.

This is usually where
we put our new stuff,

like when we go to a
record store or swap,

we put the things
here, David Bowie.

Sometimes I'm in
the middle of school

and like everybody
singin' this new pop song

and I'm like,
"Gosh, I feel old."

Most of the time I'm like this
is the right kind of music.

♪ So where were the spiders

♪ While the flies tried
to break our balls ♪

At the record swap,

a lot of the people there
were like to my dad,

"Wow, you did a really
good job raising this kid.

Like he likes what we like,
not this new modern pop."

In the past, I would have
probably been too self-conscious

to even say what I'm into

because, oh, you're
just gonna get ripped on

for what you're looking for.

"Oh, you're just lookin'
for garage records?

Okay whatever, little
kid," you know.

"Tell me when you start
liking psychedelic,"

or something like that.

That would be my impression
of the old record show,

but now it's way more
inviting and convivial

and very, very
warming I would say.

There are still people who
are exclusive about it,

but they had to
realize at some point

it was either you be inclusive

or you don't have
anyone to sell to.

It's been really fun
to grow up with the show.

When I was five years old,
I was running around here

under the tables
reading comic books.

My dad started it in 1981

and I've sort of
been helping out more

and more the older I got.

I'm 45, so I've been doing
this for 30 years basically.

So I've seen every permutation
of every job you can have

in the Austin Record Convention.

Once I graduated high school,

I started working at
convention headquarters

and you know we
basically run it now.

Attention, we're
about 15 minutes

from general admission starting.

As you can see, there's a
lot of people still in a line

and we've been open
for five or six hours,

so it's pretty incredible.

This is one of the biggest
shows we've had in a long time.

We have more dealers than
we've had in a lot of years.

I think it's gonna be a
great show for everybody.

I want the dealers to
be able to make money

and have a successful show

and I want the customers to
come and be able to spend money

and be happy with sort
of what they're spending

and what they got for it.

Like do you want to buy 10-$5
records or one-$50 record?

Yes.

And it's sealed.

And it's sealed.

Thank you very much.

And it is a DJ promo copy.

Thanks so much.
- Thank you.

That's how you
sell a $400 record.

We were told that this biggest
record fair in the world.

Big stuff, good prices,
nice people, nice city.

Nice city, yeah, beautiful city.

You know
hardcore record collectors

are still a core
demographic, you know,

and no matter what corner
of the world they come from

or what their background is,

they have a lot in
common with each other.

I spent enough time in Vietnam

that I've earned the right to do

just about what the
heck I want to do.

I paid like three grand
for one just the other day,

for one record.

I have been coming to the
Austin Record Convention

since 1985.

I'm a veteran, 30 years, plus.

Love it here, love it.

I see a lot of
old faces every year

at the Austin Record Convention,

but we see a lot of
new younger kids,

we see a lot of
people in their 20s,

we see a lot of parents
bringing their little kids,

which is awesome.

Andrea's first record was
the new Kacey Musgraves album.

I'm hoping that she'll have
some stuff to like look back on

and like you know cherish,

like collector's items
and things like that.

It's a generational thing now.

There's more women involved

and they're bringing their
children and their moms,

which is great.

I wholeheartedly endorse that.

I have a big time soft
spot for younger people

who are into it,
especially kids, you know,

and if somebody's a newbie.

We absolutely love that.

We are new record people,

we've been doin'
this for six months

and it has been
absolutely phenomenal.

I didn't believe until I
heard the difference, so.

Well I think it's about
how much fun vinyl is,

how much fun it is to shop for,

how much fun it it
to like meet people

who are into the
things you're into.

I started collectin' records

when I was about
eight years old.

Needless to say, 20,000
records later, it's a disease.

There is an endless
world of records

and that's what's like
so appealing to me.

It's cool to be like
accepted by that community

and to be like, you know, a
younger girl who sells records.

My daughter's here and
Nathan's daughter's here

and she could have
gone to a sleepover

and she was like, "No, I don't
miss the record convention."

And I'm like, "Okay, well
great, you're here with us."

You know I don't
always take the time

to kind of ponder
how beautiful it is,

but it feels like a
reunion in many ways.

We have people

who are actually all from
different areas of life,

different ages,
different backgrounds,

but when it comes to this thing,

we're kind of mostly on
the same page already.

- This is a good one?
- Yeah.

- Let's see.
- That's where I would go.

I'll play it for you.

Oh, yeah, if you don't mind.

This is the beauty of it for me,

to talk to people and to
do what we're doin' now.

Just talk about records,
talk about music.

Just take a few minutes.

It's like wine, you
get the bouquet,

you sip, you listen, the
next thing you know...

Ho! What was that?

Surprise.

For me vinyl's like something
that has been in my life

since I was really
small and like,

it's weird,

I don't really think
about this too much,

but it's just been something
that I've had around me

and it's connected
people forever.

You put that back in the
sleeve, that's your album.

Awesome, thank you so much.

Have a good one.
- You, too, man.

I am worried that
the music industry,

the people at the big labels,

are gonna make a
huge mistake again

the same way they did with CDs.

They've got kids
excited about it

and you go to buy a
reissue record that,

10 years ago, was $11
or $12, it's now $30

to buy a new copy of a
Beatles record or whatever.

Now when I'm a college
student I have more expenses

than just coffee
on the weekends.

If it gets up to
the $30 price point,

I definitely think
more about it.

I do try to budget
with each paycheck.

I always go over budget,
but I have good intentions.

What you have to look at is

by selling this piece of music,

is the artist being
compensated correctly,

are we actually making the
margin that we need as a company

to keep all of our lights on
and keep the people employed,

and is there enough margin
leftover for a record store

or a retailer of any sort

to be able to derive
the margin they need?

As long as you're accounting
for those three things

then what you price
it at is appropriate.

There's so many costs
that go into these things

'cause it is sort of a
bespoke artisan-type thing

that I think people might
get angry about something

or "Why is it so expensive?"

And you know it's because
it costs a lot of money

to make these things this way.

People take for granted that
you must have paid nothin'

and you're charging
too much for things

and that's just sort
of a general view

that a lot of customers have.

When you put in foil stamping
and individual numbering

and it's 180 gram vinyl

and you actually did
full analog mastering,

like all of these
things add cost

into every single
record that you make

and the margins have
to stay the same,

that means all the
pricing has to go up.

In 1977, a $10 record
would be $35 today.

We are not charging
more for records now.

But are the majors, though,
horrible, evil people?

Yeah, sure, yeah, oh yeah
we're terrible, we're mean.

♪ You make me feel like

As more and more people
started making vinyl again,

including the major labels,

you know, reissuing
Beatles records,

our timelines had
to get way longer.

When it comes to you know
a punk band in Berkeley

that's trying to
get their 7 inch out

and they're you know a year
out of being able to do that

because you have like a
million "Lego Movie" LPs

that are like, whatever.

No shade.

♪ Everything is awesome

But whatever.

There's always going to
be a backlog at the plants

that make the best records

that take the
longest time to make.

A lot of times I'll
get into conversations

with people about, "Well
can you make this faster?"

I was like, "Well, no,

because then you're outside
the space-time continuum."

It was like this is physics,

like it takes a certain number
of seconds to make a record.

I was in the studio and
I was like really busy

'cause I was doing tech
work before the band started

and I was like, "Okay,
I gotta call QRP

and set up the order for
my record coming out."

So I Googled on my phone, QRP

and I just hit the
button, called them

and I was like, "Hey, my
name is John Vanderslice,

I've had a few orders
with you in the past.

I just wanted to
see about lag time

and maybe setting up an order."

And so they're like, "Okay,
let me put you on hold."

So they put me on hold, they
came back and they said,

"Yeah, we see a few
orders for you."

"Well do you see my quantity

for the last record, 'Dagger
Beach, ' I think it was 2,000?"

"Hold on, let me
put you on hold."

It was like, man, they
don't seem to know anything

about vinyl production.

I'm asking them basic
questions about like scheduling

and minimums and who does
the plating and et cetera.

And then I was like, "Okay,
I'm gonna call you back,"

it just got confusing.

And then I hung up and
maybe a minute later,

someone called me and it
was a different person

and it was a guy

who sounded like
kinda car salesman-y.

Scammy.

And he's like, "Hey, so I
just wanted to clear up,

so did you want to
place an order?"

And I was like, "Who is this?"

They're like, "You
just called us."

And I was like, "Why
are you calling me?"

He's like, "Well I was
listening in to the phone call."

No shit. And that's when it
hit me, I was like oh, my God.

I looked at my phone, I
was calling a scam company

and they were
pretending to be QRP.

They knew what I was doing.

They're lying to me and saying
that they saw my orders.

It was fucking crazy,
it was amazing.

This is in vinyl production.

Think about this,

most of these motherfuckers
don't even own a turntable,

so scammers everywhere.

This is like so typical.

The record boom
definitely has messed up,

at some points, the quality.

For example off center,
meaning that the grooves,

instead of the
record needle playing

and just kind of
tracking like this,

it goes woo, woo, you know.

You know a lot of
people, I guess,

really aren't playing
or opening 'em

or they're not that picky.

I despise buying
a brand new record,

putting it on the turntable
and having it be warped,

defective or otherwise
made in a way

that is not up to standards
that I would expect.

I'm not suggesting

that somehow we're
immune from that problem,

but that's the thing
that most upsets me.

Sometimes even all the people

that do the best
work have problems.

It's hard to make a record.

It's a manual process and it
relies on a lot of technology

that's 100 years old or more.

In my previous role,

I was the head of music
partnerships at Google

and simultaneously was
managing bands with my sister

and one of the
things I was seeing

in my role as a band manager
was how many young fans

were asking for vinyl
at the merch tables.

So the more that
this was happening,

I was starting to order
vinyl for my bands

and it was taking a quoted four
to six months to get product

when you need it quickly.

So just as a thought experiment

I put together a
business pitch deck.

I'm just curious if
someone would finance this

and I walked into
the bank and I said,

"I'm looking for
loan financing,"

and I walked out with a half
a million dollar commitment

to start a factory.

How we built the factory
is meant to be different

than what you can
find at other plants.

We came in as a new plant,
said we're gonna do it better

and faster than any other plant.

Well it's almost
sacrilegious to some people,

but we think, what if we
brought some more innovation

to a space that really
had seen any in so long?

You know it's plastic, it's
not great for the environment

and what I asked my
team to do with me

to say hey, these are the
inefficiencies we're seeing,

how can we employ you know
a different way of thinking

that's not, "Oh, that's the
way it's always been done"?

What it's resulted in our
records come off so clean.

I've heard from
other pressing plants

that they'll throw up
to 30% of records away.

We're down to, on
a good day, .5%.

The production of records,

it's not the best thing
for the environment at all.

I think on the flip side, we're
simply not producing vinyl

in the same amounts
that we used to.

So whatever the
environmental impact

would have been
a generation ago,

we are now at a
fraction of that.

You know vinyl is recyclable,

you can recycle it and put
it into future pressings.

That is great.

So this is our
vinyl recycling room.

When you manufacture a
record you have excess vinyl.

We regrind that and use
that, mix it in with virgin

in subsequent
generations of records.

We have devoted quite a bit
of time to our energy systems

to allow us to
recapture and recycle

what would be
essentially exhaust,

to be more efficient
and less wasteful.

It's, yeah, as
someone who is concerned

about the environment
and tries to take strides

to be not a litter bug, to
recycle, to buy less plastic,

to do stuff like that,

here's a wall of stuff

that's gonna take
40,000 years to degrade.

We all like to think that these
are gonna be very important

to generations
after generations.

You know this
Shangri-Las record,

somebody's gonna want
this in 2075, right?

The idea that records can
last 70 years is fucking crazy.

I mean that's crazy.

My goal is to make a record
that sounds good enough

that someone will listen
to it for 20 years.

I have records that I've
had since I was, you know, 13.

Do I have most other things
that I've had since I was 13?

No.

Lots of things I
would happily not have.

I'll turn off a lot more lights,

I'll take way shorter showers,

I'll take way fewer
showers to keep my records.

You know you deal
with these questions

and the best thing to do is
put a record on really loud

and just try to drown
those thoughts out.

Detroit is known
for making things

and that's what we're doing
here at Third Man Pressing.

A vinyl record pressing plant

where people can come in the
front door, look at vinyl,

but then go in the back
and see records being made

only really helps, you
know, the music industry

and Detroit really connect.

Part of the design

and the vision from Jack
was the heavy, bulky,

ugly machinery that
just kind of sits there

has all been put behind
walls, soundproofed

and just visually eliminated
to create an uncluttered look.

This is kind of a whole
different approach

to making a product.

So what Sam is doing is
operating two machines right now.

She's kind of working
in tandem here.

In an eight hour shift,

she can get anywhere from
1,100 to 1,300 records.

Our first year we were
around 250,000 pieces,

the second year around 700

and this year we're
gonna probably come in

at a million plus.

Behind us is the board
that has what is on press.

We are here to
press for everybody.

It's very important that
we support local bands.

Even though their
orders might be smaller,

but it's extremely important

that they're able to take,
you know, 7-inch records

or even a 12 inch
to their shows.

We do recycle as much
of the product as possible

and grind it all down

and then you can make
more records from it.

Definitely don't want any
of it goin' in a landfill.

My hope is that
kids that visit here,

you know, dive in and they
tell their friends about it

and then they go and visit
their local record stores.

A lot of times we
get people in on tours

who have not experienced
what vinyl sounds like.

It can be an eye,

or let's say ear-opening
experience for them

to be able to experience
that for the first time.

♪ Write it all the way down

You know a record will
give you goosebumps.

If it's a good
pressing, good quality,

the sound of it can really do
something to you physically.

Do I think vinyl sounds better?

Better than what?

People are like, "Oh yeah,
vinyl just sounds better."

But they don't say it
sounds better than.

In comparison to streaming,

in comparison to 8-tracks,
in comparison to tapes.

I think the whole analog sound

is more pleasing to the ear.

There's something natural

about like a needle
vibrating in a groove

and creating the sound

versus the zeroes and
ones and everything.

If all you've ever done
is listen to streaming

through your AirPods,

you're not going to have
a frame of reference

to understand, like, "Wow,
that's your favorite record?"

Ooh, let's play your
favorite record for you

on a record player.

Like obviously it sounds better

than listening to something
on your laptop's speakers

'cause your laptop's speakers
probably sound like shit,

but does it sound better than
listening to a CD in the car?

I just don't get that warmth

out of CD that I
get out of vinyl.

I mean they're
better than tapes,

but are they better than the
digital streaming?

Um.

The idea that a mass-produced
cassette sounds worse

than like a bullshit record,

it's actually so offensive to me

because cassettes are
hella cheap to make

and they can sound better
than shitty records.

I find it worth pushing back on.

The way everything sounds varies

depending on a lot of
different variables.

How you're standing in
relation to the speakers,

what's on the walls,
what's on the floor.

How well it was recorded,
how well it was mastered.

Honestly, it
depends on the music.

I would never really
think to listen

to the new Ariana
Grande on vinyl.

The idea that analog is a
superior format to digital

or that digital is
superior to analog

is basically horseshit.

If it doesn't
actually sound better,

I could really give a shit

because I like to touch 'em
and hold 'em and flip 'em

and look at 'em and go
through the liner notes and-

Sliding it out of the sleeve

and getting it
out of the plastic

and putting it in
the MoFi sleeve

and then putting it on the deck.

Lifting up the tone
arm and putting it on

and like trying to
put it right on-

That experience is far

and above scrolling through
your playlist on your phone.

Does it sound great because
that was a time in my life

that it brings me back to or
does it really sound that good?

I don't necessarily think
that vinyl sounds better.

I think it sounds better for me.

There are a lot
of different ways

that I could listen to a song.

I keep listening
to them on vinyl

because of how it feels,
not just how it sounds.

But to each their own.

This is the burning
question in my life

because now you
can free service,

you can get streaming service.

The reason vinyl sales increases

and streaming popularity
kind of coincide

is because streaming
allows discovery.

You literally can sample
everything that is out there

and then make your buying
decisions based on that sampling.

If I really enjoy a band

and I listen to their whole
albums on streaming services,

I will definitely make a
point to buy the record

because I do feel
passionately enough about them

that I want to support
them in some other way.

'Cause you can
get the music elsewhere,

but you can't get
the liner notes,

you can't get the photo booklet.

You have gotta have it.

This is a different experience

that is weirdly complete
harmony with streaming

and also the complete
opposite of streaming.

I think it's cool to be able

to access so much
different music

and listen to such a diverse
kind of array of sounds,

but I don't know, I really like
the sequencing of a record.

I kinda go back and forth.

You know if I'm on the subway

I'm obviously gonna listen
to the Spotify version,

but if I'm settled in
my house for the night,

I would probably
reach for the vinyl.

I just moved to the place
where we're here right now

and we live on top
of a mountain here

and there's two
switchbacks that make it,

so you can only have a
certain size moving truck.

I had to take out all
of the records myself

and we had to be
out of the house

that we were in on moving day

and you know it's
about 13,000 records.

So what you're talking
about is boxes and boxes

and boxes of dead weight.

Every box that I was moving,

I was coming face to
face with my, you know,

habitual collecting
demons in a way

that no psychologist could
have ever helped me out with

and I vowed to myself

that like it was time to stop.

So I have this whole thing now

where if I get a record,
I've gotta get rid of three.

You know you want your
collection to be easily accessible.

You want every
record you pull out

to something that
brings you total joy.

A good night for me
is when I wake up

and there's a stack of records
that are out of their sleeves

and strewn around and
I realize that, man,

last night I had a really
good time, you know?

And you can't do that if
you're gonna treat them

like some bizarre objects
that are in museums

and things like that.

When you have a dog,
you pet the dog.

Look, when I have this
dog I pet this dog

and I love this dog like this,

I don't just put her on a
shelf and not worry about her.

And you know I feel the
same way about my records.

Yeah.

My mom used to say, "Do
you have enough records?

Don't you have enough?

When are you gonna have enough?"

And I said, "Mom, you know
you don't get it, Mom.

There's never enough records."

And I think 20 years
later, you know,

I think she was right.

We use these like IKEA shelves
that fit records perfectly,

like every record
collector knows 'em.

Like a five-by-five of
those, 25 cubes all together,

that's like the ideal
amount of records, right?

It's enough for you to like
have enough to listen to

and go a little deep, but
you don't have too much.

And that way if you
get more records

you can always like make sure
you get rid of 'em after,

it always fits in there, right?

It's kinda hard to do.

I have so much personal
history tied up

in every single record
and so I don't know,

that's something I need
to actually practice.

I haven't got there
yet, but one day.

My wife, Bev, when she
and I found this place

we had a conversation.

We loved the place, we knew
it was the place for us,

you know it had a fireplace,

we're like, "That's
really cool,"

and I said, "You know I'm glad

there's a storage
space downstairs

that comes with the apartment

because that way I'll have
a place to put the vinyl."

And she's like, "We
would never buy a place

unless you could
have your vinyl out.

You're not gonna put
the vinyl in storage."

And so it was like that
just made, you know,

like she's good peeps.

When my future wife
first came to my place

and she saw what was probably

at least 4 to 5, 6, 7,000
records all packed in this place

she was like, "Wow."

But you know the cool thing
was when we finally got a place

she was like, "Oh, see
this wall right here,

you could put all your
records right here."

And I was like, man,
I really lucked out.

When you really love music

but you can't go buy the
music you love and own it,

learning how to perform it well

is sort of the
replacement for it.

You know my siblings and I,

it was never just like, "Oh,
come listen to this song

and let's talk about it.

Let's talk about why
we like this song

and you know what we're
hearing in the song."

It was like, "No, I'm
Beyoncé, you're Michelle,

you're Kelly, let's go."

You know what I mean?

And you know all the
words to the song

and you know all the
moves to the song.

Like I grew up with music

being mostly in the
idea of performance,

so I need to be able
to have my space

to do my performance
and enjoy my music.

But those big performances

have really been
beneficial to me, too,

because it's kind of brought
back this sense of play.

It's not just another
thing that I know,

it's a thing I'm experiencing.

That's in the teaching
each other thing.

He taught me how to like be
curious enough about music

to not just think about
how it makes me feel,

but also think about
where it came from

and what's the
history of this sound.

But I get him to play.

She taught me
how to dance again.

She was like Kevin Bacon,
I was like that whole town.

Basically.

Tell us what you think

would be a happy
next phase of life

for your records
after your gone.

I'm not gonna cry, Kevin.

I am 34 years old, so I don't
think too hard about wills

and things like
where do my books go,

where does my, you
know, duvet cover go,

but I do have this letter,

like it's in a Google Doc,

that my parents are aware of
and my boyfriend's aware of.

So in the letter it
says to my parents that

just when I pass let my boyfriend
decide where my records go

'cause I trust that
he'll make sure

that they're not
going to Goodwill,

they're not going to a
place where they won't be

touched

or enjoyed.

I hope that my records
will continue to be played.

It's a funny thing to cry
about objects

and not people or creatures,

but it is really sad to think

of my collection being
separated from each other

and that conversation

that they all have
together being broken.

And so, yeah,
I wish for my records

just go to a place where
someone is gonna go,

"Wow, that's a cool record.

That's a cool cover, I want
to see what that's about."

I hope that someone
will discover them

and have their own
stories with them.

Love you, old friend.

It's so silly, they're records.

It's so silly.

No, no, I'd say the same
thing. Are you kidding?

I'm just the one who gets
to ask the questions.

You and I have this in
common, that we love vinyl.

Were it not for music

we wouldn't be havin'
this conversation, right?

And so I really feel
that it is somethin'

that can be passed on.

Don't be intimidated

and don't let the music
snobs or collectors

make you feel like this isn't
approachable 'cause it is.

Even if it's "Best of the '80s,"

go on and get that
"Best of the '80s."

That might change your life.

I think we're
seeing this pendulum

swing back toward analog

because we're gathering
around together

in a much more human way

and one of the things

that I hope we learn
from vinyl's resurgence

is this want for
human connection.

I want to
share the things I love

with people who will love them,

that's really all
that matters to me.

When I'm
looking through my records

when I'm gonna play,

I'm like, "That one
reminds me of Paul,

that one reminds me of Daniel,
that one reminds me of Amy."

I have so many
stories of friends

because we have similar records.

I want them all
to be loved and enjoyed

and played 'til
they're so scratchy

you can't play them anymore.

I mean my records,

all my music is what I
have absolute faith in.

I only have faith in a couple
of things to that degree,

music is one of them,
love is the other.

♪ I'm getting closer to thinking
that there's a way out ♪

Oh no, I had never
thought about this.

I'm actually getting
like teary-eyed.

What do I want to
happen to my records?

Oh.

If it's my own
children, that's great,

maybe they'll listen to it

and they'll have
memories of their mom.

But if they don't like it,

if they're not
gonna listen to it,

if they're just
gonna sit in a box

then I'd rather they sell
them to a record store

and then have the records
just sort of disperse out.

Spread out sort of like ashes
to other people to listen to.

Can I say, can I
be buried with them?

I don't know.

You know he asks me a lot

what I'm gonna do with
the records if he dies.

That's a question that comes
up about once a quarter.

And my answer changes,

but essentially is always like

Mick gets some special records,

your dad gets some
special records

and I keep everything else.

Having been someone

who listen to my parents'
vinyl collection,

it would be really cool

to be able to pass the
Fessler family love for music

down to the next generation.

As long as it goes somewhere
where it'll be loved,

that's all that matters.

When I'm not here anymore,

my daughter has to
have the records

and I want her to listen to them

and know that I am always
there, I am always with her.

No, I did think of
that once and I thought,

you know what, I'm not
gonna give 'em to my son.

The reason why is
because I want him

to have his own experience
with records and music.

Well a famous
book collector said,

something along the lines of,

"When I die, my collection
should be broken up."

And people were like,
"What are you talking,

that's amazing."

He's like, "The only way my
collection was able to exist

was by other great collections
also being split up."

You gotta pay it forward,

so I hope that they
end up in the used bins

or the new arrivals bins

at a high-quality
record store near you

immediately after my demise.

♪ I'm gettin' closer to thinking
that there's a way out ♪

♪ I'm gettin' closer to
thinking there's a way out. ♪