HOUSTON — Walk into Cactus Music in Montrose and a collection of colorful album covers greet you while a Miles Davis album serenades you from above. The store on Portsmouth has an eclectic array of records from just about any genre.
But why records? Aren’t they a thing of the past?
Not so, said Quinn Bishop, owner of Cactus Music. In fact, those dusty albums you find in boxes of old things have been steadily making a comeback over the years, and it appears 2018 is the biggest year yet.
And the driving force behind those sales? Partly nostalgia. But mostly millennials.
According to Nielsen Music, the mid-2018 year-to-date sales report shows 7.6 million vinyl LP sales, compared to 6.4 million in 2017, a spike of nearly 20 percent.
“There’s really no better deal than buying classic, used vinyl at an affordable price,” said Bishop “They do sound much better than if you’re streaming it with five applications open on your phone. That’s not how you need to listen to music. It’s not going to sound good.”
And as Bishop will tell you, many of today’s listeners aren’t looking to add to their Van Halen stash, they’re looking for today's music.
“I think I would say that there is a perception. There’s the thought that it is a retro-fascination or more of a throwback-type of thing, and I’m here to tell you that it’s not,” countered Bishop. “Most of the millennials that are really driving the sales of the format, they grew up in a household where their parents bought cassettes or CDs. They see turntable culture and vinyl records as defining their generation.”
So, it’s more than a hipster fad.
“Yeah, now it’s mainstream. It was millennials (who started this) and it was a niche market,” said Bishop, “but now it’s kind of mainstream and, you know, it’s turntables being sold and the 15-year-old or 16-year-old who lives on your street wants a turntable for Christmas.”
And Bishop said you can see it being part of the current culture with vinyl records and turntables showing up in advertisements and films.
“You know, that and record stores and records have never been cooler than they are right now,” said Bishop. “So, I think that there’s that trend that really makes artists want to... So, they’re pushing their managers like ‘Hey, man, I want my music to come out on an LP,’ and then they’re scrambling and trying to figure out how to do it.”
Just nearby, a case shows records from the likes of Panic! At the Disco. Solange and Vodi. There are also sections for the classics, pop, heavy metal and even those Star Wars soundtracks some of us try in vain to collect.
“We have so many cross-generation shoppers,” said Bishop. “We have grandchildren shopping with their grandparents, kids are either asking parents to bring them here or maybe they remember that from their youth, or maybe they’re out shopping with their parents or their grandparents.”
And if Record Store Day has taught Bishop anything, it may be that there’s a demand for what his store has to offer.
“The people that have always done it are the people that have continued to do it. So each year, we’re just kind of delighted that it kept ramping up and it kept up the momentum.”
And that momentum is what is driving people to walk into Cactus Music. While Bishop talked, people browsed various sections, their sighs of relief as they pulled out what they’d only been searching for moments before. One man breathed a heavy “Yes!” as he walked into one of the rooms, his eyes lighting up in delight.
Nothing will ever beat the feeling of hearing the needle hit the record as those first, crisp notes begin to play, pulling you into another time.