In the spin and swing of a vinyl revival
One week after the 2019 Record Store Day, an event bringing together local record store owners, including Wang and Zheng, will be held at Blue Note Beijing, the first branch in China of the renowned Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. The event will bring a vinyl market of a diversity of music genres from jazz, soul, hip-hop to rock, as well as lectures on vinyls targeting those aged under 15. Celebrating Record Store Day last year Blue Note Beijing's vinyl event attracted more than 400 people.
Camo Lin, a Taiwan designer who co-launched a Shenzhen-headquartered vinyl audio brand, HYM Originals, in 2015, says vinyl sales and turntable sales on Taobao were worth about 1 billion yuan ($148 million) last year.
"It shows that vinyl culture is back," says Lin, who graduated from Tainan University of Technology, with a master's degree from visual communication design department.
His company also works with Universal Music Group China to market vinyls for pop stars such as Jacky Cheung, Karen Mok and Faye Wong, aiming to popularize vinyls among young Chinese buyers.
Turntables are designed to appeal to a contemporary lifestyle that is simple and sustainable, Lin says.
His company opened a vinyl store, called 33-rpm, in Shenzhen on March 21, and he has ambitious plans to have outlets in about 200 Chinese cities within the next two years.
"When you look at convenience, portability, and all those things, vinyl doesn't make sense," he says. "But it is rooted in a passion or love for music. Some people buy vinyls but they don't necessarily listen to them. They're collecting these things like works of art."
