Vinyl
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Taylor Swift is just months away from unveiling her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) album, and the star is getting fans excited with a new vinyl release. A yellow “Sunrise Boulevard” vinyl is available to pre-order for just 48 hours on Swift’s website here. In addition to the vinyl, the purchase includes collectible album jacket and sleeves, […]
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Collecting vinyl is only half of the fun. Once you build up your knowledge, you can have fun testing out more advanced record players and setting up a crisp listening experience using the best speakers, of course. With record players having a major comeback, models have evolved and modernized, allowing you to enjoy listening to popular artists today or classics from the past.
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Whether you’re an experienced record collector who knows how to safely clean vinyl, are a beginner starting your record-playing journey or are just looking for gifts for music lovers, there are a few things every record collector should have in their arsenal.
From unique pieces of home decor to vinyl storing essentials, we rounded up some accessories every vinyl collector should own.
Keep reading to stock up on the picks below.
Amazon
YuanDian Light Up “Now Playing” Vinyl Record Stand
$29.99
Looking to show off your records? You can spotlight whatever you’re listening to with Yuan Dian’s Light-Up Vinyl Record Stand. This stand can not only be mounted to your wall, but has a light-up ability to shine a light on the latest tunes you’re spinning for the day.
Amazon
MAWEW Record Player Stand
$29.99 $32.99 9% OFF
Even if you’re new to owning vinyl, your guests don’t have to know that, and this record player stand can assist in giving off the vibe that you know what you’re doing. The top portion allows you to keep your record player in a safe spot that also puts it on display. Underneath are slots for storing your vinyl, while the side comes with a hook to hang your over-ear headphones or tote bags — it’s up to you!
Amazon
Neoteck Digital Turntable Stylus Force Scale
$13.99 $15.59 10% OFF
Part of keeping your vinyls in pristine shape is making sure your record player needle’s force isn’t too heavy. That’s where a turntable stylus force scale comes in, like this one from Amazon — which is also at its lowest price yet in the last 30 days. How it works is you lay the device on a still record, then turn the turntable on and wait until the device zeros out. Place the needle on the center dot and read the grams on the display.
Amazon
EVEO Premium Vinyl Record Cleaner Kit
$21.97 $26.97 19% OFF
Keep your turntable and records in tip-top shape using EVEO’s 4-in-1 cleaning kit. Within it you’ll find everything you may need, including a velvet brush and cleaning fluid specifically for albums, a hands-free turntable needle gel cleaner and a duster brush.
James
The Abbey Fixed Blade
$69
Getting a package filled with new vinyls can be exciting, but since they’re made from delicate materials you need to be gentle when opening packages. This fixed blade was originally designed with opening vinyl in mind as it uses a thin blade that won’t knick or slice the actual record. It also versatile and can be used to open letters, boxes and more.
Walmart
Big Fudge 12” Outer Sleeves for Vinyl Records
$14.99
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These outer sleeves may seem like a basic accessory to own, but they’ll go a long way in protecting the quality of your records. Included is 25 sleeves made from a high-density polypropylene that will stand up to water damage while keeping out dust and dirt that could scratch or ruin records.
Amazon
Pyle Phono Turntable Preamplifier
$18.99 $22.99 17% OFF
For less than $20, Pyle’s Phono Turntable Preamplifier will help boost your turntable’s signal if it’s not already built into it. What this does enhance the sound quality and overall better your listening experience. Even if your turntable has one built-in, if you want better quality, then an external one like this will only sharpen the sound.
Amazon
Victrola Vintage Vinyl Record Storage and Carrying Case
$50.51 $69.99 28% OFF
Want to take your vinyl with you on the go? Add this carrying case to your cart and worry less about scratching or damaging records. It can hold up to 30 records and is made from a heavy duty vinyl material that’ll protect your precious collection from bumps and tumbles thanks to its edge guards and lock system.
Best Buy
Sony – Core Series 5″ 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers
$199.99
Some record players require separate speakers in order to hear your vinyls played in the best possible quality. Sony’s bookshelf speakers are compact making them apartment dweller-friendly while the three-way sound system condenses it into one source rather than investing in multiple sound systems. The speakers also come with 53Hz to 50kHz frequency response for a wider range of sound.
Walmart
Udreamer Record Player Turntable
$59.99 $99.99 40% off% OFF
And, of course, if you collect vinyl, make sure you have a record player turntable to play spin it on. Udreamer’s model is currently 40% off and comes in a convenient briefcase for portability. It supports three playback speeds and can play three different record sizes: 7 inches, 10 inches and 12 inches. You won’t need speakers either as it has built-in ones and Bluetooth capabilities, which allows you to connect your phone and stream music.
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best record players and turntables, portable CD players and the best celebrity headphones.
Owning and operating a record store was never the career plan for Ashli Todd. Sure, her father Nick ran Spillers Records in Cardiff, Wales, for decades, and she grew up helping out at the shop to earn spending money (it was either that, she explains, or “clean up s–t in the chicken shed”). But Todd insists that taking over was “never discussed as a succession situation,” nor did the part-time employee ever sit around the store thinking of ways to run it differently.
So in the late ‘00s, when Nick Todd – facing skyrocketing rent, a divorce and the ongoing nosedive of physical music sales – decided to retire and sell the store, she didn’t for a second consider taking it over. But after several deals with interested parties fell through and her father made moves to shutter the shop permanently, something in her head clicked: This couldn’t happen to a living piece of music history.
Founded in 1894 by Henry Spiller in Cardiff’s Queen’s Arcade, Spillers’ claim to fame is that it’s the oldest record store in the world (other stores may lay similar claims, but Spillers stands out in that it can prove it’s been continuously selling records since the 19th century). If you think vinyl is retro, consider this — when this store opened, vinyl wouldn’t become the norm for a half century; sound recordings at the time came via wax cylinders or heavy discs made of hard rubber or shellac, and were mostly a cost-ineffective novelty.
“With Spillers Records being the world’s oldest record shop, I felt it would be an awful sign — to the industry, the world, whoever cares — about the state of the physical music and independent music retailing, specifically,” Todd says of what motivated her to take action when the store faced its final act.
Suddenly, despite having an art degree and mostly part-time experience at the front of the store, she was learning employee contract laws, negotiating deals and eyeballing new locations. Within six months, “It went from ‘it’s going to shut’ to ‘I’ve got a business plan, and I’m going to give it a go,’” she recalls, shaking her head as if struggling to parse a half-remembered dream. “When I reflect on it, it seems absolutely bonkers.”
Back in 2010, a physical music store was, simply put, a bad investment. Vinyl’s comeback seemed like a pipe dream maintained by an aging, niche demographic, and the vast majority of artists didn’t even bother putting out new releases on wax. But Todd — a music junkie whose teenage favorites were Sparklehorse, Placebo, Mogwai and “anything and everything that [BBC Radio DJ] John Peel played” — saw a few signs of encouragement that made her think the vinyl market would improve despite it being “s–t” when she took over. One was Record Store Day, a U.S.-born event that had crossed the pond to encourage U.K. vinyl fanatics to support ailing indie stores throughout the tough times.
The other was Jack White. “That guy, that label [Third Man], people were nuts for it,” she states. “At a time where everything was like, ‘You don’t need to pay for music or even look at album artwork,’ (he motivated) people (to think), ‘I must have this record, it’s a limited this or that.’” While Third Man started in 2001, it was around 2008 – the year after the White Stripes’ final album – that the label’s trend-bucking efforts to turn vinyl back into a hot commodity began in earnest.
“It made things feel magical again,” she says. The mystical appeal of vinyl was something Todd understood on a personal level. “I’m the kid who bought 7-inches I couldn’t play,” she says, sharing that as a teen without a record player, she would nevertheless track down hard-to-find singles after hearing them on Peel’s show, simply to own a physical token of a cool band.
As Record Store Day and Third Man began stoking fervor for vinyl based on limited-edition pressings and products with a distinct visual aesthetic, she intuited that that Spillers’ future might not be as grim as her father – who oversaw the store during the big-money heyday of the ‘70s and ‘80s — feared.
The recovery wasn’t immediate for Spillers, but it did come. With the rent at the shop’s long-time (but not original) location set to quadruple, Todd moved it to a nearby locale in Queen’s Arcade, where it reopened under her ownership in 2010. The store – tucked away in a cute, slightly Byzantine city center that’s walking distance from a train station (a high-speed line can make the trip from London to Cardiff in two hours) – features a thoughtfully curated selection of everything from MF Doom to Lana Del Rey and plenty of colorful merch that proudly trumpets the 1894 birth year. Beyond Spillers’ historicity, Todd also takes pride in Spillers as a Welsh institution, greeting me in Welsh when I enter the store and drawing my attention to a portion of the stacks devoted specifically to vinyl from Welsh artists (on her advice, I picked up two records from North Wales surf rock instrumentalists Y Niwl).
These days, the issues facing Spillers are less existential and more operational: increased vinyl prices, slow order turnaround times and delivery delays caused by Brexit-related workforce shortages. In her eyes, Brexit has been worse for business than the pandemic. “Twelve years of Tory rule has not benefitted this country in the slightest,” she muses. “Even when you’re dealing with best case scenario, it only takes one thing being off…. In terms of providing a service to customers, it doesn’t feel great. It’s unstable, and everything is stretched to the point of breaking,” she says, before adding with a laugh, “But other than that it’s brilliant.”
As Todd continues full-steam-ahead into her second decade of running Spillers, she’s acquired a greater understanding of her father, too. “(Growing up), work was the big time-consuming thing for him, and now that I’m in the same position, I completely understand it,” she says with a touch of exhaustion, having already worked several hours on her off-day. Still, plenty of surprises keep her energized about running the store, including its changing demographics.
“I will be honest. Pre-pandemic, the general feeling was like, ‘Our customer base is getting older,’” she recalls. “Now, I’m absolutely blown away by the age range — and seeing more women as well.” Todd cites the increased popularity of vinyl from Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and hip-hop artists as pushing younger generations to get excited about the format. “That’s one of my favorite things.”
The other? “Seeing which bands of my era have made an impression and stick with people. I’m not telling people what to listen to, but it is lovely seeing which artists have remained relevant.” Her eyes sparkle when she shares that Placebo remains a regular seller at Spillers: “For 13-year-old me, it’s thrilling every time someone buys them.”
In January, three months before Reservoir Media put rap group De La Soul’s first six albums on streaming services for the first time, the company began taking pre-orders for reissues of classic albums like 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul is Dead, as well as De La Soul merchandise. The rap legends’ recordings came to Reservoir Media through its 2021 acquisition of Tommy Boy Music. Negotiations with Tommy Boy owner Tom Silverman over taking the albums to streaming services had stalled in 2019 over a royalty dispute — but not only did Reservoir quickly hash out a deal with De La Soul to reintroduce the world to its Tommy Boy catalog, it also planned a marketing campaign with the group to create exclusive merchandise and launch a slate of LPs, CDs and cassettes.
Selling directly to De La Soul’s biggest fans has meant 30% of its physical product sold worldwide has gone through the group’s website, wearedelasoul.com, says Rell Lafargue, Reservoir Media COO/president. In the process, Reservoir was able to tap into a consumer group of rising importance in today’s music business: superfans. “Twenty percent of wearedelasoul.com customers are repeat customers in just the first six months of the store opening,” says Lafargue, “and we see superfans fill their carts with multiple copies and color variants of vinyl, shirts, hoodies and more at check out.”
De La Soul fans are part of a trend shaping the U.S. music business in 2023: Superfans’ purchases of CDs, LPs and cassettes to help support their favorite artists helped drive increases in all physical formats in the first six months of the year, according to Luminate’s 2023 midyear report released Wednesday (July 12).
Luminate says 15% of the general population is made up of superfans — a group of passionate music consumers with a propensity for discovering new music, connecting with artists on a personal level and being part of a community, or “fandom,” that artists provide. They’re valuable, too: Superfans spend 80% more money on music each month than the average U.S. music listener.
While the average consumer may subscribe to a streaming service, stream for free or listen to the radio, superfans purchase physical formats like it’s 1999. Buyers of CDs, vinyl LPs and cassettes are 128% more likely to be super fans, according to Luminate. They also skew young. U.S. millennials and Gen Z music listeners spend 22% and 13% more on music than the average music listener.
The power of superfans helps explain why U.S. physical album sales improved drastically in the first half of the year. Vinyl LP sales were up 21.7% through June 30 — well above the 1% gain in the prior-year period — and CD album sales grew 3.8%, a huge improvement from the 10.7% decline a year earlier.
Direct-to-consumer sales increased 20% to 4.4 million units, with vinyl sales specifically improving 25% to 3.6 million units and CD sales growing 15% to 1.7 million. Over 60% of direct-to-consumer sales are current releases — defined as titles 18 months or younger. That number rises to 75% for direct-to-consumer sales for both CDs and cassettes.
Golda Bitterli, vp of sales at Revelator, maker of a technology platform for labels and distributors, attributes the trend to the fans’ access to artists online, particularly on social media. “Fans are becoming more active participants in the artist’s career, including involvement in the creative process like we see on TikTok, as well as direct access to artists through platforms like Telegram,” she says. “This gives the fan a greater sense of connection and stock in the artist’s career and leads to more consumption through streaming, downloads, ticket sales and more.”
K-pop superfans are in an entirely different category. According to Luminate, K-pop fans spend 75% more on music than the average U.S. music listener, with much of that spending going to physical products. K-pop fans are 46% more likely to have purchased a CD in the last 12 months, while almost a quarter have purchased a cassette in the past 12 months.
K-pop superfans are on a different level of fandom than the typical fan, organizing and supporting their favorite artists at levels rarely seen elsewhere in music. They buy multiple copies of albums, snap up merchandise and purchase the clothing artists are seen wearing on social media, says Kristine Kim, GM of Korea for business-to-business platform Surf Music. In Korea, fans will even rent out cafes to gather with other fans and purchase billboards to wish their favorite artists a happy birthday. “The investment, the time investment, the energy that they put in — emotionally, physically — and the money that they put in, it’s pretty incredible,” says Kim.
In the United States, superfans’ influence can be seen in the uptick in album sales in the first half of the year. K-pop albums, usually made available in multiple versions and formats so superfans can buy more than one copy, accounted for six of the top 10 physical albums and 16 of the top 50 physical albums, according to Luminate. The only artist to outsell K-pop artists Tomorrow X Together, Stray Kids, TWICE and Seventeen was Taylor Swift, who replicated the K-pop approach by offering over 20 different versions of her album Midnights.
For the upper strata of superfans, buying albums goes beyond merely collecting items or listening to music. “What drives these fandoms and CD sales is they just want to support the artists,” says Kim.
A small number of Swifties got a major surprise when they received their vinyl editions of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), as the vinyls didn’t play Taylor Swift at all and treated listeners to British electronica music instead. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The accidental mis-press of […]
D. Tobago Benito started his first brick-and-mortar record store in Atlanta in 1996. At the time, “there were about 400 to 500 Black-owned record stores around the country,” he recalls. “There were a lot of conferences. When I came in, senior store owners took me under their wing and showed me how the business operated.”
Benito’s still in physical retail 27 years later, running DBS Sounds. But the pool of Black-owned record stores has been decimated, falling to around 70, according to his count. (Some think it’s closer to 60.) Depending who you ask, there are between 1,800 and 2,100 independent record stores in the U.S., which means that Black-owned outlets now represent just a sliver of this market.
The decline is at odds with the popularity of Black music. R&B and hip-hop’s share of overall consumption was 26.8% in 2022, according to Luminate. While R&B and hip-hop doesn’t fare as well in the physical market, it still accounted for 14.3% of physical sales last year. Yet “we make up about 3% of the record stores out there,” Benito says. “It’s unacceptable. There are major markets around the country with no Black-owned stores: Birmingham, Nashville, Charlotte.”
“The numbers are astounding,” adds Sharod Bines, owner of Retrofit Records in Tallahassee, Florida. “A generation ago, it was not as uncommon to be a Black record store owner.”
While vinyl sales have been growing for 17 consecutive years, this rising tide hasn’t yet led to a major lift in the number of Black store owners. Benito is spearheading an effort he hopes will change that: In 2021, he joined with more than 20 other Black-owned stores to create the F.A.M.S. Coalition (Forever a Music Store). Some of the hurdles facing Black record stores are systemic — the racial wealth gap, gentrification, bias in the loan-application process. But for outlets that have overcome these obstacles, F.A.M.S. is intent on gaining more support from the music industry. This could be financial assistance as well as windowed exclusives, vinyl variants and release parties pegged to notable albums that might boost the presence of coalition members.
“We need people like Tobago to push to say, ‘we’re here, we’re growing, and we need equality,’” says Drew Mitchell, owner of 606 Records in Chicago. “We need to make sure there is equal opportunity for minority-owned stores — in the music business and in any business.”
In the early ’90s, “Black independent stores were really thriving, and they were an important part of the ecosystem when it came to breaking records,” adds Steve Corbin, Warner Music Group’s senior vice president of sales, counsel and culture. “We are in discussions with [F.A.M.S.] and working with them, whether it’s mentoring store owners or figuring out other ways to get involved with the community.”
One of the coalition’s biggest wins to date came when Beyoncé released the vinyl version of Renaissance in October 2022; F.AM.S. stores were given the chance to sell the LP a week before their peers. At the time, the coalition contained 26 stores — it’s now at 22 — which sold more than 1,000 copies of Renaissance combined. “That was huge for us,” says Marketta Rodriguez, a F.A.M.S. member from Houston who runs Serious Sounds. The first week of June, F.A.M.S. stores were able to boost their profile by hosting listening parties for Janelle Monae’s The Age of Pleasure three days before the album hit streaming services.
Some Black-owned stores serve up all styles of music — “I cover as many bases as possible,” Bines says — while others focus on historically Black genres. The latter camp faces a challenge as it tries to stabilize and ultimately grow. “There is a lack of new releases and catalog that are not available physically in rap and R&B,” explains Steve Harkins, vp of sales and marketing at Ingram Entertainment, the distributor that has been working closely with F.A.M.S. “It’s getting better with new releases, but these stores need more product in the marketplace. And this is also product that would benefit other independent stores as well.”
D. Tobago Benito
Raphael Simien
Rap was quick to embrace the digital economy — first through free download sites like Datpiff, which hosted copious amounts of mixtapes, and then through streaming, where hip-hop soared. But perhaps as a result of this success, the genre hasn’t paid much attention to the old-fashioned physical market. Harkins notes that “labels have said they’ve had challenges convincing artists and management to release their titles physically in some cases.”
While Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar have both sold heaps of vinyl, many major rappers still don’t release actual LPs. Often they would “rather put their money into music videos and digital marketing,” says Nima Nasseri, who manages the producer Hit-Boy. And vinyl still requires long lead times — it could be three to four months — which is a drawback in a genre that has thrived thanks in part to its relentless release pace. “By the time that a project is out, the majority of these artists are already working on the next project; they’re just over it,” says Aaron “Ace” Christian, who manages the rapper Cordae.
But around half of vinyl buyers don’t even own a turntable, according to Luminate, suggesting that fans want to support artists they favor through physical purchases even in cases when they can’t actually play the record they buy. And “especially when it comes to recouping, vinyl can put a huge dent in whatever you’re owing to these labels,” says Justin Lehmann, founder of Mischief Management. “It’s a missed opportunity for other artists if they’re not taking advantage of that,” he adds.
Lehmann has worked with his client Aminé to put out a vinyl version of every one of the rapper’s albums. Same goes for Cordae. “We sold out everything,” Christian says of his client’s LPs. “Fans like the memorabilia aspect of it.” “The popularity [of vinyl releases] is rising,” Nasseri adds. “Doing 1,000 copies for the diehard fans is a smart move.”
On the catalog front, some Black record store owners also worry about the “big void for ’90s R&B and hip-hop,” says Phillip Rollins, owner of Offbeat in Jackson, Mississippi. Labels are “re-pressing everything else, like 1,000 Grateful Dead live box sets,” he continues. “Where’s SWV and early Usher?” “It’s starting to look really weird when you can re-press 30 Rolling Stones records but not a core R&B title from the ’70s,” Rodriguez agrees.
Joe Lyle, owner of No Pulp Records in New Orleans, says F.A.M.S. has been working to make the labels aware of the demand for some of this classic material. Benito is starting to see some progress, pointing to represses of LPs from Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and Kingpin Skinny Pimp. In addition, Harkins helped secure a commitment from the manufacturer GZ North America to set aside capacity for both new hip-hop and R&B titles and represses.
There’s more to come: At the Music Biz conference in Nashville in May, members of F.A.M.S. met with Corbin to talk about the need for additional catalog releases. “What we agreed to is having them be somewhat of a curator — ‘we really think this Anita Baker record would be worth bringing out and repressing on vinyl,’” Corbin says. “Rather than us dictating and saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna re-release these classic R&B records,’ we’re making it a collaborative effort,” and taking cues from the store-owners who are in touch with record buyers on the ground.
Benito’s dream is to grow the Black-owned sector of independent record stores to more than 5% of the total over the next five years. But for some owners, even just forming the coalition represents a victory. “We’re a minority within the minority of record store owners — it can feel like you’re kind of on an island out here,” Bines says. “It’s been nice to see there’s others out there trying to sustain the same thing that I am.”
Taylor Swift‘s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) rollout has been nothing short of enchanting so far. The superstar’s official Taylor Nation Twitter page revealed on Thursday (May 18) that the vinyl for the upcoming re-recording of Swift’s 2010 album is available for pre-order at Target. The vinyl perfectly fits the Speak Now color scheme with a […]
Ed Sheeran scores his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 20) as – (pronounced Subtract) debuts in the top slot. Further, it does so with his largest sales week since 2017 – thus bigger than any week posted by Sheeran’s last two albums (2021’s Equals and 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project).
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Subtract starts with 81,000 copies sold in the United States in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate. It’s the 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album, and the fifth-largest for a non-K-pop title.
Subtract’s sales were aided by its availability in both a standard 14-track and 18-track edition (digital download, CD and vinyl). The set was also available in nine vinyl variants (including exclusives for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart) and multiple CD iterations in collectible packages (including a signed CD, a version with a lenticular cover, a “textured sand” cover and a “Zine” CD package).
Also in the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart, LE SSERAFIM’s Unforgiven debuts at No. 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at, appropriately, No. 3, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts enters at No. 8.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new May 20, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 16. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Subtract’s 81,000 sold, physical sales comprise 59,000 (45,000 on CD, 14,000 on vinyl – Sheeran’s largest sales week on vinyl – and a couple hundred on cassette) and digital download sales comprise 22,000. Subtract also enters at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart, his third leader on that list, as well as No. 1 on Tastemaker Albums and Top Current Album Sales. Vinyl Albums tallies the top-selling vinyl albums of the week. Tastemaker Albums lists the week’s top-selling albums at independent record stores. Top Current Album Sales lists the week’s best-selling current (not catalog, or older albums) albums by traditional album sales.
Korean pop girl group LE SSERAFIM debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with Unforgiven, selling 38,500 copies in the week ending May 11. It’s the second top 10, highest charting effort, and best sales week for the act. The album was released to digital retail on May 1 and sold less than 500 copies in the week ending May 4. Its debut on Top Album Sales was prompted by its CD release on May 5.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of Unforgiven was issued in collectible CD packages (11 total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore), each containing a standard set of bonus items and randomized photocards. Effectively all of Unforgiven’s album sales in the week ending May 11 were CDs, with a negligible sum generated by digital download album sales. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
The Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3: Awesome Mix Vol. 3 soundtrack bows at No. 3 on Top Album Sales, with 29,000 copies sold. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 11,000 (enabling its debut at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart).
The multi-artist Guardians soundtrack (comprised entirely of previously released pop and rock songs) also debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart and Top Rock Albums tally. All three of the Guardians theatrical film soundtracks have reached No. 1 on both the Soundtracks chart and the Top Rock Albums chart.
Soundtracks and Top Rock Albums ranks the week’s most popular soundtracks and rock releases, respectively, by equivalent album units.
A quartet of former No. 1s is next on Top Album Sales, as SEVENTEEN’s SEVENTEEN: 10th Mini Album: FML falls 1-4 in its second week (27,000; down 80%), Agust D’s D-Day dips 2-5 (14,000; down 46%), Taylor Swift’s Midnights is a non-mover at No. 6 (12,000; up 7%) and Metallica’s 72 Seasons descends 5-7 (10,000; down 20%).
The Smashing Pumpkins’ ATUM: A Rock Opera in Three Acts debuts at No. 8 on Top Album Sales, selling 9,000 copies. Of that sum, vinyl sales comprise 4,000 – and the set bows at No. 8 on the Vinyl Albums chart. On Top Album Sales, ATUM marks the eighth top 10-charting effort for the rock act, and first since 2012’s Oceania debuted and peaked at No. 4.
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Top Album Sales chart is Swift’s chart-topping Lover (13-9 with 7,000; up 17%) and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (12-10 with nearly 7,000; up 2%).
In the week ending May 11, there were 2.021 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 10.6% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.661 million (up 12%) and digital albums comprised 360,000 (up 4.5%).
There were 737,000 CD albums sold in the week ending May 11 (up 3.5% week-over-week) and 914,000 vinyl albums sold (up 19.8%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 12.673 million (up 5.7% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 17.972 million (up 27.9%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 37.554 million (up 10.7% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 30.842 million (up 17.6%) and digital album sales total 6.713 million (down 12.7%).
A federal judge has approved a $25 million settlement struck by vinyl producer Mobile Fidelity to resolve accusations that the company’s pricey “all analog” records were secretly created using digital methods, overruling objections from some customers that the settlement was “tainted by the stink of collusion.”
Though the deal would allow tens of thousands of MoFi customers to secure full refunds, some consumers argued that the deal was unfair — claiming it had been reached through a “reverse auction” in which MoFi bargained with “ineffectual” plaintiff’s lawyers to find the cheapest settlement possible.
But in a ruling Tuesday (May 9), U.S. District Judge James L. Robart rejected those claims and preliminarily approved the settlement deal. He said the agreement would likely fairly compensate any MoFi buyers who had been misled, and that there was no concrete evidence of impropriety in how it had been reached.
“The undisputed facts demonstrate that proposed settlement is not the product of a reverse auction or otherwise the result of collusion,” the judge wrote, saying it appeared to have been reached via “arm’s length negotiations” between attorneys for MoFi and the plaintiffs.
Among other things, the challengers had argued that the settlement’s payouts were insufficient based on how much they might have won at trial. But Judge Robart said those arguments ignored key factual details about how MoFi’s records were produced — and that such claims were at times “nonsensical.”
In a statement to Billboard, MoFi lead counsel Joseph J. Madonia said: “We appreciate the court’s ruling, which supports all of our claims that there was no reverse auction or collusion. As always MoFi continues its commitment to provide the best-sounding records possible.”
Attorneys for the consumers who challenged the settlement did not immediately return a request for comment.
The scandal at MoFi first erupted last summer, after Phoenix-area record store owner Mike Esposito posted a pair of videos to YouTube alleging that the company’s “all-analog” and “triple analog” records were in fact partially created using so-called direct stream digital technology. In one of the videos, MoFi’s engineers appeared to confirm that some digital tech had in fact been used in production.
As reported by The Washington Post, the digital revelations created “something of an existential crisis” in the analog-obsessed vinyl community. In a statement in late July, MoFi apologized for using “vague language” and for “taking for granted the goodwill and trust” of its customers: “We recognize our conduct has resulted in both anger and confusion in the marketplace. Moving forward, we are adopting a policy of 100% transparency regarding the provenance of our audio products.”
But the apology wasn’t enough to avoid litigation. In early August, a pair MoFi customers named Stephen J. Tuttle and Dustin Collman filed a proposed class action in Washington federal court, claiming the company’s analog branding had been “deceptive and misleading” and had duped them into paying premium prices. Four more cases were later filed in other federal courts by other groups of buyers.
In January, MoFi decided to settle the case. Calling the deal “a fair compromise,” the company agreed to let consumers either secure a full refund or keep their albums and instead take a 5% cash refund or a 10% refund in credit. The agreement would cover all customers nationwide, and the total money that could be paid out was “expected to be over $25 million.”
But some of the consumers who filed those other lawsuits quickly threw up red flags about the deal. They said the settlement was insufficient, struck without their input by bad lawyers who simply wanted a payout: “Despite this clear abdication of their duties to class members, counsel … are now trying to ram an inadequate, collusive settlement through this court.”
In Wednesday’s ruling, however, Judge Robart said those allegations had little basis. He pointed out there was “no evidence” that MoFi had “shopped” the case in search of a settlement — and that the plaintiffs’ lawyers had actually capped their own fees lower than necessary.
“This is one of the lower proposed fee awards this court has encountered in a class action settlement,” the judge wrote.
Following this week’s ruling, the settlement must still be granted final approval; during the process, the aggrieved MoFi buyers will still have additional chances to object to the terms of the deal or to opt out of it entirely. A hearing on final approval is tentatively set for October.
In a statement to Billboard, Duncan C. Turner — lead counsel for the customers that settled with MoFi — praised the judge’s decision: “There was never any substance to the intervenors’ made-up collusion story. The settlement terms are sound and fair, so we will be turning our attention to executing the notice program and getting the class members their compensation.”
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One of Kendrick Lamar’s most revered works is about to get a special release. Interscope Records is selling a limited edition vinyl of To Pimp A Butterfly.
As spotted on Digital Music News, the Compton, California MC’s third studio album is being brought to life like never before. Kendrick Lamar’s record label is releasing the project as a collectible. This week, Interscope unveiled the To Pimp A Butterfly by Lauren Halsey Gallery Vinyl. This version features a 11.5 x 11.5 inch gallery quality giclée printed cover by Lauren Halsey, fixed to a tan custom dyed linen wrapped vinyl jacket.
And to up the ante, the packaging is designed by Gucci and bears the iconic logo from the Italian luxury fashion house. The To Pimp A Butterfly by Lauren Halsey Gallery Vinyl release is limited to only 100 pieces and sells for $2,500 a piece.
This co-branded effort is part of Interscope Records’ ongoing limited-edition vinyl series “Interscope Reimagined” via NTWRK. Both entities will donate all the proceeds to the Iovine and Young Foundation in South Los Angeles, which is founded by record executive Jimmy Lovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed that his most recent The Big Steppers Tour is now the highest earning concert series ever headlined by a rapper. The 73 show run sold 929,056 tickets and generated a whopping $110.9 million dollars.
You can shop Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly and more here.