Vince Slusarz figured his life was set. He was the Chief Operating Officer of a local plastics company, cruising toward retirement. But, everything got turned upside down in 2006, when the company was sold. Management changes and the economic downturn led to the elimination of his position. He was without a job at 51-years-old.
VINCE SLUSARZ: I thought about what I wanted to do. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, geez, I'm not getting any younger. I'd really like to start my own company.
The idea for the company actually came from Slusarz's teenaged daughter who mentioned to him one day that her friends were buying… turntables, of all things…and vinyl LPs. Not old vinyl from Goodwill bins, mind you --- these were NEW records. After a little research, he found that there was a growing demand for vinyl. While CD sales had tanked in recent years, due largely to people downloading songs from the internet, LP sales, between 2007 and 2008, were up 124%. Vince Slusarz sensed an opportunity.
SOUND: vinyl pressing equipment
He put together some funding and bought used, vinyl pressing machinery --- there wasn't any new equipment on the market. Nobody makes it anymore. He calls his operation, "Gotta Groove Records", and he's been cranking out product, since last fall --- though, there have been some bumps along the way.
VINCE SLUSARZ: Generally, once or twice a week --- or even once or twice a day --- you have a hiccup with a machine that needs some kind of attention.
But mostly, the machinery works fine. "Gotta Groove" is one of only a dozen record pressing plants in the country. Their clients are mostly indie rock groups and other non-mainstream acts. A typical order is for 500 to a thousand albums, which are pressed, packaged and shipped to shops like Music Saves, on Cleveland's eastside.
KEVIN NEUDECKER: It certainly wasn't the norm or a necessity for a record store to carry vinyl when we opened.
Kevin Neudecker and partner Melanie Hershberger have been in business for six years. Half their store's inventory is now vinyl.
MELANIE HERSHBERGER: Last month, we even eliminated one of our CD racks and brought two new vinyl racks in. And that's just the direction our store is going. We definitely still have customers that are buying CDs, but more of them are buying vinyl and we're selling more vinyl, in general.
Even mass market retailers like Best Buy carry a limited supply of vinyl…mostly the more popular titles…like re-issues of Guns -n-Roses… or Michael Jackson.
MUSIC: Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel"
It all feels like some kind of flashback to 15 or 20 years ago, when the music business was very different. For Jazz and Rock critic Carlo Wolff there's a strong attraction to a vinyl record.
CARLO WOLFF: It's 12 inches, it's physical, you hold it --- it's tangible.
And it's "analog" --- which means the physical groove inscribed on a vinyl disc is a direct, physical representation of a sound wave, versus the digitally sampled version of that sound, found on a CD…or in the compressed bits and bytes downloaded into your iPod. But, while Carlo Wolff appreciates the appeal of vinyl, he suspects it will always be a niche item. Even for him, a lifelong audiophile, it's too cumbersome to deal with.
of a sound wave, versus the digitally sampled version of that sound, found on a CD…or in the compressed bits and bytes downloaded into your iPod. But, while Carlo Wolff appreciates the appeal of vinyl, he thinks it’s become too cumbersome to deal with.
CARLO WOLFF: I listen to most of my music in the car. And it's not like my stereo at home, but it's also a lot easier to use. It's not as complicated. So, you trade some fidelity and some depth for simplicity, it seems to me.
Vince Slusarz figures the current spike in vinyl sales will level off in the next five years. But, he also thinks there's a big enough market of record buyers to sustain his company --- older listeners who like to hold an album and read the liner notes without using a magnifying glass…and younger music listeners who have discovered the quality of the sound hidden in the grooves of a vinyl disc.
