Melbourne Record Store map

LokoOne

Cool article and great idea.... I dont think we could pull 30 vinyl stores on a Sydney map, unless we count the Op Shops. I also like the idea of one record store owner being nice enough to let customers know where the competitor stores are located.... props....Record! And here's the map of stores to prove itPATRICK DONOVANApril 17, 2010 Record store owner Chris Gill holds up a map of vinyl stores in Melbourne. Photo: Roger CumminsWHILE music fans around the world embrace digital music, loyal traditionalists prefer to traipse around Melbourne's thriving record stores, thumbing their way through racks of vinyl in search of hidden gems.Melbourne has more than 30 such stores, the highest number, per head, in the world.To celebrate this fact, store owners have banded together for World Record Store Day to compile a map of locations, from hip hop shops in the Banana Vaults under Flinders Street Station to second-hand record stores in outer suburbs.The map, Diggin' Melbourne, is like a treasure hunt for vinyl fanatics. It will be launched at a free party today at Section 8 in the city, where store owners will spin favourite albums.Northside Records owner Chris Gill came up with the idea after customers, especially tourists, kept badgering him to draw maps to other stores.While vinyl albums make up only a small percentage of music business in Australia, sales jumped 174 per cent to more than a $1 million last year.Mr Gill attributes vinyl's popularity partly to a reaction against the bland experience of digital music.''We're just putting out a compilation of Nigerian disco called Lagos Disco Inferno that highly recommends you drop your pants before dancing to it. You can't write that on a digital download,'' he said.Hundreds of music chain stores will celebrate World Record Store Day, while smaller independent stores, such as Basement Discs, Greville Records, Last Record Store, Missing Link, Polyester Records, Pure Pop Records and Record Collectors Corner, will hold a rival celebration, International Independent Record Store Day.Musicians will play free in-store shows, stock will be discounted and celebrities will work behind counters.Following an American initiative, Australian independent stores started celebrating the day in 2008, and were miffed when major record chains ''hijacked'' the event last year.Basement Discs co-owner Suzanne Bennett says the event is all about ''the little guy having their day in the sun. It's not about chain stores muscling in.''But the Australian Music Retail Association, which organises Record Store Day Australia, says there is room for all stores to celebrate. "For a real fan the joy of shopping at a music store is alive and well,'' said chairman Gavin Ward, who points out that almost $9 in every $10 paid for music in Australia is spent on a physical product.But putting a dampener on the event is news this week that a local independent label, Rubber Records, has become possibly the first label in the world to cease retail CD distribution in Australia, preferring to sell music directly through its own website through mailing lists and artist fan bases.Rubber Records boss David Vodicka said his hand had been forced by his inability to supply directly to chain stores. ''We can't sell-in direct to the biggest national retailer, JB Hi-Fi. We have to go through a third-party distributor with an account. Distributors take a minimum cut of 25 per cent, and we have to pass that on to the consumer.''Source: The Age