Brighton's love of vinyl puts record shops back in the groove

The news that the vintage format has brought in more money than digital downloads comes just days after it was announced HMV in Brighton is closing.

Record afficionados believe vinyl has outlived being a fad, instead becoming part of everyday life for music fans.

Natasha Youngs is joint owner of Resident Records in Kensington Gardens, Brighton, which after opening in 2004 expanded its shop floor last year to cater for vinyl-lovers.

She said: "Vinyl has gone beyond being just romantic and nostalgic. It's part of everyday life again now.

"We had the opportunity to expand the shop a few years ago when vinyl first became popular again and were worried it might be a fad but it became clear it wasn't. It definitely feels like we did the right thing."

Christmas has also helped. Mrs Youngs said: "Vinyl is a hugely popular gift item. A lot of people have been getting their first turntables for Christmas and then their first records as a result.

"The good thing about vinyl is that you actually have something to give, something tangible."

Alan Childs helped set up Across The Tracks in Gloucester Road, Brighton, in 1989 as a way of selling vinyl for collectors.

He said the past three or four years had been the best years for the shop in terms of vinyl sales. He said: "We have cut right back on CDs now. Once you have a record player you're going to keep buying vinyl."

Figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) showed more money was spent on vinyl records than digital downloads for the first time ever earlier this month.

In the week ending December 4, £2.4 million was spent on vinyl albums in the UK. Revenue from digital album downloads was £2.1 million. In same week last year, vinyl albums fetched £1.2 million while £4.4 million was spent on digital offerings.

The news comes as HMV in Brighton announced it is closing due to high rents but hopes to find another outlet in the city.

Mrs Youngs stressed that Resident is in no way happy about HMV's closure, adding: "There are loads of chart CDs we don't cover and I still think there's a place for HMV. We definitely need HMV on the high street."

Vinyl sales have also been enhanced by Record Store Day, a venture aimed at promoting independent shops, and Mrs Youngs said consumers are also becoming wary of the impact the internet is having on artists trying to make a living.

She said: "It's pretty well publicised how little artists get paid and people are starting to become a little more aware of that."

Kim Bayley, chief executive of ERA, said the vinyl boom was further evidence of the ability of music fans to surprise the market.

She said: "It's not so long ago that the digital download was meant to be the future.

"Few would have predicted that an album format first invented in 1948 and based on stamping a groove into a piece of plastic would now be outselling it in 2016."

WHY THE VINYL REVIVAL IS ABOUT MORE THAN MUSIC

AUDIOPHILES have long argued over the musical merits of vinyl versus compact disc, analogue against digital.

Vinyl was seen as warmer and punchier, and the preferred choice of DJs across the land.

When online music sharing websites such as Napster became popular in 2000 the future of CDs, let alone vinyl, looked grim.

But the format weathered the storm of the digital revolution and has now, for the first time, made more money than downloads.

Stephen Ellis, who lives in Hove, was one such DJ who developed a love of records and went on to write a short book aiming to give readers the inside track on where to find the best vinyl in East Sussex.

Called The Secret List, it reviews more than 20 record shops across Brighton, Hove, Eastbourne and Lewes, but focuses on the city by the sea.

Mr Ellis said vinyl’s resurgence is down to the physical connection with a record.

The 42-year-old said: “Unlike downloads, there is a physical product that has artistic and aesthetic value.

“For people who are passive consumers of music, downloads are fine. However, there is an increasing number of people who consume music passionately and who are interested in the details behind it.

“I love to read the sleeve notes and then take the time to investigate the work of those credited further; I enjoy the artwork on the covers.

“With second-hand records there’s also the chance of stumbling upon records with their own history such as handwritten love notes or critical descriptions of the music. In this sense, record collecting is about more than ‘just’ the music.”

The recent announcement that HMV in Brighton is closing, as reported in The Argus on Saturday, could be seen as reinforcing Mr Ellis’s view of the passive consumer as someone who dips into music online without immersing themselves in it.

While the spike in vinyl sales that outperformed downloads looks to be down to a particularly popular and expensive Kate Bush record from late November, Brighton is due some credit.

Mr Ellis said: “You can’t walk through town without seeing people carrying vinyl and I think that’s great.

“For years record buyers were marginalised by shops like HMV and the music industry and now things have gone full circle.

“No one I know buys CDs any more – they either download their music or buy vinyl and Brighton, as always, has been at the forefront of the shift back to records.”

One shop at the forefront of vinyl is Resident Records in Kensington Gardens, Brighton, which has been run by husband-and-wife team Derry Watkins and Natasha Youngs since 2004.

In May 2015 they knocked through their single shop into the building next door and now have half a shop devoted to vinyl.

Mrs Youngs said they weighed up whether interest in vinyl was just a fad but there was more to it: “People are seeing vinyl as an investment format, and an emotional investment. You are making a statement about your commitment to that record.”

Making a statement seems to be a big thing in music retail at the moment, locally at least.

Bella Union opened in Ship Street Gardens, Brighton, in June this year and reported sales better than expected. Its niche is that it only sells music from the Bella Union record label – nodding to the Rough Trade outlets of London in the 1970s.

Its owner, Simon Raymonde, who was previously in Scottish rock outfit Cocteau Twins, believes it is the only single-label shop in the country.

And another shop, called Vinyl Revolution, was set up with the intention of only selling vinyl as a music format.

Co-founder Simon Parker, who lived in Brighton for 20 years until recently, said: “You cannot keep a brilliant format down. Yes, there were dark days in the 1990s and early 2000s but vinyl-lovers everywhere have literally saved this format by refusing to let it die.

“Not only does vinyl look and sound better but it feels great too. And now it seems the world is catching on again.”

Mrs Youngs added that there were memories attached to vinyl down the generations.

She said: “There has definitely been a case of a lot of parents digging their records out of the loft and creating a new desire for them.

“It’s way easier to bond over records. And people talk about records a lot more now – it’s not just about looking cool to your friends.”

FROM A PAINTING TO A SHOP CHAIN

SOME will see the departure of HMV from Brighton as a sign of an ever-changing music business as consumer tastes change and shops come and go.

HMV can trace its roots back to the 1890s and a painting by Francis Barraud called His Master’s Voice showing a dog named Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone.

The Gramophone Company later bought the painting and it was modified to show one of its records. Magazine adverts in the early 20th century would urge people to “look for the dog” on sleeves and labels.

The company was not formally called HMV or His Master’s Voice but was identified by that term because of the prominence of the phrase on the record labels.

Records issued by the Gramophone Company after the dog started appearing on its commonwealth products in 1909 were generally called HMV records.

In 1921 the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London, and the brand changed hands between major record labels through the 20th century.

HMV as a shop chain continued to expand internationally through the 1990s and in 1998 HMV Media was created as a separate company.

In January 2013, with retail sales falling due to the internet, HMV began closing some stores and was then restructured. It continues to trade but the closure of its Brighton store (even if it is temporary) has not gone unnoticed.