Vinyl albums sold more than CDs in the U.S. for the first time since 1987
Hip hop culture loves records, so Halifax rapper Tachichi has always put out his music on records. However, over the past few years, he’s seen more people switching to the old-school format.
He said, “I love it because I love vinyl.” “Back in the 1980s, when people first got into hip hop, they bought records.”
When he first started out in the late 1990s, fans bought vinyl albums at his shows. This slowed down in the early 2000s when CDs became more popular.
“It was just easier because they were cheaper and easier to make,” he said. “CDs were used for that stretch.”
Back then, he only made vinyl records for people who asked for them, but now it’s the other way around.
Fans mostly buy records when he plays live because records are cool again.
“Now it’s streaming and vinyl, and a lot of people buy hip hop vinyl, especially underground boom bap,” he said. “There is a lot of need.”
Streaming is still the most popular way to listen to music, with more than 80% of all revenue coming from it. However, the vinyl format has been growing for 17 years, according to the latest sales numbers from the Recording Industry Association of America.
The numbers show that about 41 million LPs and 33 million CDs were sold last year.
Many artists are paying attention to how many music fans are going back to the warm sound.
Jah’Mila, a reggae singer from Halifax, made a small number of vinyl copies of her first album.Roots Girl.
She said, “The music sounds more full.” “The sound makes me feel like I’m going back in time.”
She has always been into music and records.
Earl (Chinna) Smith, her father, is a well-known guitarist who has played on a lot of albums, including Jah’Mila’s.
He also opened a record store and started a record label.
Like Tachichi, who was on her album, she has music that can be streamed, but having it on vinyl is much more important to her.
She said, “That’s how I want people to remember me.” “Not an old CD that someone found in the trash, but when people listen to it, they put it back in the package very carefully.”
At Renegade Records in downtown Dartmouth, N.S., more and more vinyl fans of all kinds of music are coming to look through the thousands of records.
“I think older people are getting back into the hobby, and younger people are getting into it for the first time,” said the store’s owner, Tom Spence.
His record store sells both new and old vinyl, CDs, and other kinds of media.
People who are willing to pay $30 or more for an album don’t let the high costs of buying a turntable and speakers stop them from listening to vinyl.
When you drop the needle on the record and watch it spin, it’s much more charming than clicking through songs on a digital device.
“The art is bigger, and there are more rituals. It’s more of an experience, and they pay more attention to what you say “Spence told us.
A big part of this experience is also the thrill of the hunt.
Stephen Hines has been collecting records since 1976, but it still thrills him when he finds one he’s been looking for while flipping through the crates.
“I’d rather go to a store and look around until I find what I want, what I don’t want, and what I didn’t even know I wanted,” he said.
Halifax gets a record label because people love vinyl
Since Black Buffalo Record started holding record fairs in Halifax in 2011, hundreds of vinyl fans like Hines have been going there. According to the company, they are the biggest in Atlantic Canada.
Kevin Beal, the president of Black Buffalo, says that when he started an underground hip hop record label in 2016, one of the only ones in the country, he did so because he thought vinyl would come back.
Beal said, “At the record fairs, we saw a lot of people asking for hip hop records and other types of music.”
The company is known for both its vinyl albums and its singles, which are used by well-known DJs like Skratch Bastid and Jazzy Jeff.
DJ edits are changed versions of original songs with new beats that professional DJs use in their live sets and can mix with other tracks.
“One important part of hip hop is the DJ. In the beginning, it was dance parties, “Beal said. “I like the idea of putting out a record that a DJ will play and maybe use to make another hip hop song or track.”
Beal, who is Métis, also shows respect for the Mi’kmaq by putting on record labels that their land is where they came from.
He says that making records is still not cheap, but that the interest in his niche market lets the label make several hundred copies of each release.
“It’s what we love to do,” he said.
It’s a trend that people are likely to keep up as they add to their collections.
Tachichi is sure that the upcoming album will do well.Found Money, a song that was made with East Coast rapper LXVNDR, will also be released on vinyl. It’s coming in June.
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