There are 50 left in Catalonia, most of them in Barcelona, but no one wants them to disappear and the return of new recordings to vinyl has given them a second life. They are the record stores, which have just received an award for simply being there.
According to Promusicae data, sales on physical media in Spain remain at similar levels in the last five years, although on the rise. From 2022 to 2023, sales grew by almost 10% thanks to the vinyl format. In fact, more money is already earned from sales in vinyl format than on CD. However, physical sales account for only 13% of the total. He streaming She is the queen of mambo.
The 54 record stores that survive in Catalonia have won the Fonogram award given by the Fonogram conference of the Association of Musical Producers and Editors of Catalonia, which was held a few days ago at the Born Cultural Center in Barcelona. It is a space for meeting and debate between industry professionals in this autonomous community in which current achievements are valued and challenges for the future are raised.
Resistance against digital
In the words of Barcelona City Council’s culture councilor Xavier Marcé, record stores “are spaces of resistance to the hegemony of the digital business.” The prize in this edition consisted of a limited edition drawing printed on paper created by the designer, DJ, collector and record publisher Txarly Brown. It was picked up by founding members of three of the oldest stores in Barcelona: Carlos García, from Surco Discos; Carles Pascual, from Discos Revolver and Dan, from Disco 100.
The three received a full-size reproduction of the drawing, but a reduced-size copy will also be sent to the rest of the stores throughout Catalonia, of which only eight correspond to the provinces of Lleida (1), Girona (2) and Tarragona ( 5). For the Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, in addition to being “resistant”, a term in which she agrees with her counterpart in the Barcelona City Council, they are “authentic prescribers of music for their clients, in addition to forming spaces of culture and community.”
But behind the recognitions and the great words, reality shows a path that is not a bed of roses at all. If the Spanish music business reached 250 million euros in 2023, in the case of Catalonia only 5% of it corresponded to music sales on physical media, a far cry from the 80s and 90s of the last century, times in which the sale of CDs and vinyl was practically all of the music sales.
It is well known that with the arrival of new technologies, there also came a vacuum of digital business proposals for which stores paid dearly, since in the absence of legal platforms, the public massively opted for what was called “pirates.” ”. As Carlos García, founder of Groove“between P2P and the top manta they almost finished us off.”
Surco resisted, like many other proposals – not all, since the notorious fall of Discos Castelló, which had been the most emblematic business in Barcelona – was based on austerity and opening up to the collector and second-hand market. As the dean of the existing stores, she was born in 1974 in the portal of a building, which in the past used to house small businesses.
Surco resisted, like many other proposals, based on austerity and opening up to the collector and second-hand market.
“At first, although we sold a lot, we had to import international records from abroad since non-Spanish record companies did not have distribution here,” he explains. But in the 80s everything changed, the market opened to Spain and with the growing supply, demand from the public, especially young people, skyrocketed. “There came a time when records were the obligatory gift for Christmas or birthdays,” recalls the merchant.
It was an audience that was looking for everything. García comments: “There were people who came looking for specific albums or styles, but many bought the album that was recommended to them by 40 Principales and similar stations.” For reasons of space, in 1981 they moved to a location “ten numbers away”, in the same area in the heart of the Gràcia neighborhood. There they continue to resist and prescribe music to music lovers, curious and nostalgic for the crackling of the needle on the acetate. “This is done for the love of music because, of course, you’re not going to get rich,” says the founder of Surco.
Selling Catalan rumba in Japan
Sales continued like a shot – although progressively changing from vinyl to CD – until the turn of the century, when the digital tsunami split the business in two. “We continued forward, adapting, with fewer sales but with an increasingly specialized audience, who was looking for very specific styles or artists, especially on CD, but also on vinyl,” adds García, who declares that he is not against the digital business: “Young people come who have heard things they like on Spotify and ask you for them on vinyl.”
In this regard, the designer of the Fongrama award Txarly Brown, a renowned DJ with frequent performances at festivals in the city, including Sónar, and author of the musical and recording project Achilifunkbelieves that there is an increase in vinyl consumption, but “as an object of fetish collecting and merchandising, although also with a view to the future value that these pressed editions launched by multinationals may have.” Promusicae knows that in 2023 more than two million new vinyls were sold, when ten years before only 140,000 had been sold, to which we must add the incalculable and opaque second-hand business.
“I myself buy Catalan rumba bargains here for a few euros, which I then send in boxes to Japan for a much higher price,” explains Brown. In any case, he sees a ray of hope in the attitude of these new consumers, although it is contrary to the attitude of multinationals who, according to him, have signed up to press works that have never before seen the light of day on vinyl.
In line with Brown, Carlos García clarifies that “the sale of vinyl from independent record companies has enjoyed good health despite the profound changes of the last 25 years.” But he explains that the new interest of multinationals in the acetate record market “has collapsed the pressing factories, harming indie labels, which have less financial muscle.”
In fact, returning to Promusicae data, 82% of the best-selling new vinyls (top 100) have been put into circulation by the three large multinationals: Universal, Warner and Sony.
Revolver, 35 years in the heart of the Raval
However, Carles Pascual, founder of Revolver Records: “The new editions released by the ‘multis’ are bringing a lot of young and new audiences, who also know what they are looking for.” “In fact,” he explains, “there are lines here that go around the block during Record Store Day, which we celebrate on the third Saturday in April.” It is about an initiative to offer records at a reduced price for one day of which Pascual is the promoter in Spain.
“We started in the early 90s at Tallers, 13 [en la parte noble del Raval] and in 1998 we opened this store, the green Revolver,” he says to differentiate it from the first store, Discos Revolver, which he calls “the red Revolver” and which operates as a segregated business from Revolver Records. “Since then we have gone through all the crises, but we have resisted,” says Pascual.
He recognizes that Revolver Records was born in a particularly complicated, almost suicidal time, but although sales dropped a lot, they did not disappear, especially on CD, “although we have never stopped selling vinyl.” They subsisted with a smaller but more loyal audience: “Before, a group of kids would come here who would all buy the same album and the day an important album came out, there was a lot of expectation here, because it was the only way to listen to it.”
Impacto, the king of second-hand in Ciutat Vella
“Now it’s different,” he continues, “but it’s an audience that gives you more satisfaction, because they talk to you, they talk to you, you can tell they like music as much as we do.” Revolver also has an online business leg, a page from which they sell titles to everyone. “It works quite well, in fact it grows,” he points out. He also acknowledges that the second-hand and collector record business has helped them overcome the bumps.
However, it is Antonio Baró, founder of Impact Discs –at 61 Tallers street, in the heart of the Ciutat Vella district–, who best characterizes the commitment to second-hand. If you know how to look, among its shelves you can find true gems, almost never at low prices, but sometimes, especially in sections such as classical music or jazz, for a few euros.
“We started on Hospital Street in 1981 and then we moved to Tallers, 13, where Revolver is now. [el rojo]”explains Baró. Finally, I came here in the 90s and I’m still here with the second hand.” It was not always like this, at first Impacto combined first and second hand, but it “soon tired of the record companies” and “the conditions” that they imposed on them, very different from those of large stores like El Corte Inglés or Fnac.
So Baró soon opted for second-hand and collector records. “It’s been going well for me like this,” explains this septuagenarian with a forceful speech and then assures: “If I had continued with a new album a long time ago, it should have closed.”
Ultra-local, the bet of Poble Nou
One of the most recent businesses is located in Poble Nou, near the legendary Razzmatazz room, formerly Zeleste. “We opened there 12 years ago because it was an area with several rehearsal rooms, although today there are none left,” says Raül Chamorro, founder with his partner, Carme Baqués, of Ultra-local.
Ultra-Local mainly supports the independent label sector, for which it assures that there is a market: “A mix of people from the neighborhood and others who, for example, come to see a concert at Razzmatazz and stop by, come to the store. here”. He acknowledges that at the moment he does not pay much attention to the online business. “We only have one page on Discogs,” he says, referring to the international platform for cataloging and selling records between individuals.
He explains that he previously worked at an electronic scale company, but that he left to do what he found fulfilling. “At first I dedicated the afternoons to it, but as of 2019, all day,” he clarifies. Chamorro agrees with the rest of the protagonists of this report that his is a vocational profession, but not at all lucrative: “It is the price you pay for doing what you like.”
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