While the revival of vinyl records may have started as a niche market, the growth is continuing—and fast. In the first half of 2015, revenues from record sales were significantly higher than those of ad-supported music streaming. While some may attribute that disparity to the flawed financial framework of streaming, that doesn’t diminish the fact that the $221.8 million in revenue from January to June represents a 52 percent year-over-year increase.
The point is that vinyl doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, so a new event going down this weekend in Hollywood is looking to capitalize on the attention by hosting a celebration of the medium: the WAX Record Fair. Taking place at Capitol Records on October 24 and 25, the fair describes itself as “the first music industry event of its kind to focus on vinyl, music lifestyle goods, and record collecting culture.”
In addition to a bunch of records being available to peruse and purchase from a variety of record stores, WAX will also have mastering and vinyl engineer Ian Sefchick “lead thirty minute demonstrations of vinyl lacquers being cut straight from analog tape on one of the legendary Capitol Neumann lathes, which have cut albums for a long list of artists including Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alabama Shakes and N.W.A.”
There will also be three panel discussions—about audio, album art, and one featuring musicians—DJ sets, and an auction with items with a total value of over $100,000, from The White Stripes, The Beatles, Nirvana, The Beach Boys, Metallica and a bunch of others. The signed piece of a guitar that Pete Townshend smashed in 1968 has our attention. Because, uh, obviously.
Hollywood-area readers: Shout out in the comments if you just figured out what you’ll be doing this weekend. Everybody else: Let us know if this sounds like a cool idea, or just tell us what the first album you bought on vinyl was.
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HT: AV Club
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons
