Tomorrow will mark the fourth annual “Record Store Day,” and Athens’ only surviving record store, Haffa’s Records, 15 W. Union St., will be participating.
“Record Store Day brings tons of people out,” said Eric Gunn, co-owner of Haffa’s. “In the morning it will be really busy; there will probably be 20 to 30 people waiting outside when we open at 11 a.m.”
The project of Record Store Day was first executed in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner. Each year since, artists and labels have introduced limited-edition CDs and vinyl in hopes of calling attention to the value offered by these businesses and convert the niche back to the mainstream.
“It gets national exposure. CNN will say something about it — it’s great to remind people why collecting music and collecting vinyl is cool,” Gunn said. “Having the product, the package and the artwork is part of what makes the whole experience.”
With the music industry continuing its convergence to digital, stores selling music as a physical product have become increasingly rare, and small shops catering to listeners who value the sound quality of vinyl and the aesthetics of a record store experience are in particular turmoil.
Haffa’s co-owner Andrew Lampela said being located in Athens can be an asset to the record store.
“You almost need to be around a college campus,” Gunn said. “All the kids are actively interested in music, and college campuses attract people interested in the arts.”
Eddie Ashworth, record producer and audio production teacher in Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies, offered a similar sentiment regarding nostalgia for old music mediums.
“I come from a record store background. I grew up going to record stores every day and worked in record stores all throughout college,” Ashworth said. “For me, that kind of thing is in my blood and what really motivated me to want to make records.”
Less well-known is the fact that those who consume all of their music in MP3 form are actually not getting the full quality available in what they’re listening to.
“Technically, information is actually being removed from the audio at the bit depths MP3s and CDs produce, but quality is subjective,” Ashworth said. “The sound of vinyl, to me, is the sound of continuity. It sounds like the music is being played in the same room.”
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