A ‘lost art’ resurging 

The experience of buying a vinyl record and listening to the “crackle and pop” of it is not something of the past but of the present and possibly future, with local record shops going strong, younger audiences’ growing appreciation and statistics that show continuous growth in the U.S.  

The U.S. 2022 Luminate Year-End Music Report states the ongoing vinyl trend is not a one-and-done type of phenomena with sales growing for a 17th consecutive year and for the second straight year, the leading format for album purchases, outselling CDs. 

In 2022, 43.46 million vinyl albums were sold, up 4.2% from 41.72 million in 2021. Vinyl album sales accounted for 43% of all albums sold in the U.S. in 2022 across all formats–digital and physical. Of the 79.89 million physical albums sold, which include CDs, vinyl LPs and cassette tapes, vinyls comprised 54.4%.

Isaac Omar Herrera, co-owner of Soundstream Records, a McAllen-based pop-up shop established in 2016 with the goal of bringing vinyl records to the Rio Grande Valley, said he has noticed the younger generation is growing more fond of the medium, which is why he thinks vinyl is here to stay. 

“People want to hold their music in their hands,” Herrera said. “[Streaming] a song is different than pulling out a record, turning on your turntable, putting the record on and looking for your favorite song and waiting for it to come on or listening to the album in [its entirety.] It’s just an experience and in the world of streaming, to experience an album is kind of like this lost art form that has slowly found its way back into the hearts of millions of people.” 

Attending various pop-up markets or coffee shops throughout the Valley, Herrera said the shared love and passion for music with his wife and co-owners started the business with the idea that it can be a portable record store that can be taken to different spots across the Valley. 

“I think that growth in appreciation for vinyl records is something beautiful and I have a lot of respect for people who are getting into it by buying their favorite,” he said. “It’s something that people will just have the ability to love instantly.”  

Herrera said Soundstream Records will have a permanent location in Pharr in the coming months as the business signed a lease the previous week but will still attend pop-up markets and businesses in the future. 

The record store will announce its location soon on its Instagram, @soundstreamrecords.

Karina N. Alegre, an English creative writing junior, said she bought her first albums in 2016 and was influenced by a certain aesthetic she found on Tumblr. 

“I mostly got [Radiohead’s ‘Amnesiac’] for, like, the artwork but didn’t have anywhere to play it,” Alegre said.  “So, then I was, like, ‘Why do I want this if I can’t listen to it?’ So, then I bought a record player.” 

Purchasing a pink Crosley record player soon after, her record collection has grown over the years, which includes albums by The Gorillaz, The Smiths and Two Door Cinema Club. 

She said the experience of putting on a record and listening is different than just streaming a song and encourages other UTRGV students to try the medium out. Alegre said her next purchase will be Lana Del Rey’s forthcoming album, “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.”

Nearly half of all vinyl albums sold in 2022 (48%) were purchased at independent record stores. The second largest seller was Luminate’s category of the Internet, mail order or venue, which accounted for 32.8% of the market. 

Tony Ramirez, owner of Frank’s Collection Record Shop in downtown Harlingen, has been in the record-selling business for the last 15 years, but his passion for vinyl records dates to when he was a child.

Named after his deceased brother Frank, the record store has music from the ’50s to the ’80s, from doo-wop to heavy metal. The store, located in the back of the Antiques and Artisans Emporium at 123 E. Jackson St., is a record collector’s paradise with hundreds of records, including those by The Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Journey and even San Benito’s own Freddy Fender. 

At 74 years old, Ramirez still has a strong passion for records. He also collects CDs, cassettes, posters and coins. 

Ramirez, a graduate of legacy institution Pan-American University, taught English at colleges across South Texas. 

With retirement looming, he said his wife asked him what he would do when he retired, and he replied, “I’m gonna try to open a record shop and see if it works.” 

“All the other record shops closed the time I opened,” Ramirez said.  “So, all of their business came my way. So, it’s been an instant success. I’ve been going on 15 years. Same spot and everything.” 

Upon the age of the CD, Ramirez said he was buying crates of vinyl albums for around $10 to $20 and storing them for the record store one day. 

“When I retired, I got a table at Market Days to see if it would work,” he said. “I was busy from the moment I opened to the moment I closed.” 

Asked why people keep buying vinyl records, Ramirez replied, “People like the crackle, the pop, the idea of putting the record on, listening to it, flipping it. All this mechanical stuff that goes along with playing the record.

“Because once a CD goes bad, it’s bad. You can’t fix it. But you can still clean a record, get the dirt off and it’ll still play. You just take care of them. They last forever.” 

One trend Ramirez has noticed in recent years is the number of young people buying Frank Sinatra’s music. 

“That was their grandparents’ music, not their parents’ music … but they’re buying Sinatra,” he said. “So, I keep him in stock all the time and I show him on a regular basis.” 

Another trend he has recently noticed is the resurgence of Tejano album purchases, such as La Mafia and Brownsville’s own Mazz.  

Ramirez said the age group he sells to the most is between 25 and 35, with rock being the most popular genre and Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath being the most requested. 

Herrera said some of the most requested records are albums that are back-to-front perfect albums, such as “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac or Prince and The Revolution’s “Purple Rain.”

In Luminate’s report, rock music accounted for 51.38%, or 22.52 million, of all vinyl albums sold in 2022. 

The top 10 selling vinyl albums of 2022 in the U.S. included two Taylor Swift albums, “Folklore” and “Midnights,” which was No. 1 with 945,000 albums sold, and two Tyler the Creator
records, “Call Me If You Get Lost,” with 211,000 units sold, and “Igor,”
with 172,000. 

Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” sold 254,000 albums for the fourth spot. Even albums from the ’60s through the ’80s made the top 10, with Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” selling 243,000; Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” 168,000; and The Beatles’ “Abbey Road,”160,000. 

Asked what he thinks about Taylor Swift having the highest-selling album of 2022, Ramirez replied, “She boosted the interest in vinyl records. A lot of people that listen to her music probably don’t have a record player, but they bought the record. Now they want to listen to the record, so they had to buy a record player and it increased the interest in vinyl.” 

Herrera said he appreciates artists, such as Taylor Swift, who makes it fun for her fans by selling her albums in different color copies and editions despite a concern in the record community of big artists mainstreaming the vinyl industry. 

“I think records are here to stay,” he said.  “I don’t think that they’re going to go anywhere anytime soon. And just because big artists are getting involved, I don’t think that’s harming the community at all. If anything, it’s bringing in younger individuals to this fun hobby.” 

Samantha Davila, a marketing junior, is another student getting into collecting records. As an avid Harry Styles fan, her first album purchase was “Fine Line” in 2019 and her latest is 2022’s “Harry’s House,” which sold 480,000 copies last year, the second-highest-selling vinyl album sold that year.

Davila said she bought the vinyls as a collector’s thing at first but plans to buy more and invest in an expensive record player for better sound quality. 

“I am planning to have these [records] hopefully, like, when I move houses and … keep them throughout time and you can give them to your children or, you know, pass them on,” she said. “And I know, like, a lot of people do get into vinyls, like, through their grandparents.” 

Davila’s next purchase is Frank Ocean’s 2016 album, “Blonde,” which is notoriously hard to obtain and has a resale price ranging from $100 to $300. 

“Lay down in your bed, have your record player next to you, put [the record] on and just kick back and enjoy the music,” Ramirez said. “You will feel it. You will feel the vinyl is talking
to you.”