Asheville serves as a foundation for the comeback of vinyl as local stores continue to promote the narrative of a beloved classic into the hands of a new generation, according to Harvest Records Co-Owner Mark Capon.
“I don’t know that we ever would have necessarily predicted the vinyl resurgence as it is now, but I think we’ve always known from the beginning that there’s people like us that want to support musicians, buy music, collect music, have that experience with music that’s beyond just the digital relationship,” Capon said.
Harvest Records, West Asheville’s go-to record shop, sets the tone for the trend as the store celebrated its 20th anniversary in August.
“We set out to create a space that sold music but also was sort of a safe fun environment for people to just congregate and hang out, and talk about their lives and talk about music and what it means to them,” Capon said.
Capon said the community is the foundation for Harvest Records, and without ties to the local music scene, Harvest’s success would not be possible.
“When we opened over here in West Asheville, tourists never came over to this part of West Asheville 20 years ago so it was really important to us from the get-go to be a neighborhood record store in that way,” Capon said.
UNCA Professor of Music Brian Felix said the recent comeback of older music formats is counterintuitive. Yet vinyl continues to grow in sales and appeal.
“The contributing factors have something to do with peoples’ need to have a more tangible experience with the music that they like,” Felix said.“They want to own it, they want to have a physical thing that you can look at the art they want to have that physical experience where you actually like put the needle on the vinyl and then you are committing to it.”
The cost of vinyl also allows artists to make far more money off their music than streaming services and allows fans to purchase something more than just band tee shirts, Felix said.
Even during times of uncertainty and a pandemic, Asheville’s record stores thrive.
“The only blip was in the pandemic, but they figured it out, I still remember during the early days of the pandemic Harvest Records would make a video put it on Facebook of just them flipping through records on the video and people would send a message and say, ‘OK I want that one,’ and then they’d go pick it up with a mask on,” Felix said.
“If fans want the physical versions of media, more power to them. I love having physical versions of media. I think it’s really cool to hold the music in your hands,” says Noah Brackett, a senior at UNCA studying music technology.
Brackett is an avid collector of vinyl records and a close follower of the vinyl trend.
“Asheville being such a good music city lends itself to being very accessible as a vinyl collector,” Brackett said.
Brackett said the main change in the vinyl trend is the availability of the physical medium, as Walmart and Target are now selling records and exclusive pressings, a relatively new occurrence.
“When I saw Walmart starting selling records when I was in high school, I saw Weezer Blue Album and I was like ‘What is going on?’” Brackett said.
Brackett said while big retail stores are now selling vinyl records, the major pressing plants in America are often unable to keep up with the demand and get clogged up by bigger artists pressing multiple variants of the same record, such as Taylor Swift and Adele.
“There are a lot more independent pressers now and independent labels that are able to press vinyl records which I think is very good because not only does it make that medium of music more accessible, artists make more money from those physical sales than streaming or even CDs. You can charge 30 dollars for a record while you can charge maybe 15 for a CD,” said Brackett.
Brackett said many local Asheville artists press their own records at these pressers, which feeds into the community aspect of the vinyl scene in Asheville.
Brackett said while it’s unpredictable if vinyl records stay in fashion, it is unlikely there will be another old form of music that could take their place.
West Asheville’s Harvest Records will celebrate Record Store Day on Saturday, April 12, by selling exclusive pressings of albums and singles in a fun community setting.
