&VINYL &MORE

By Tony Centonze

In Clarksville, at the corner of Franklin St. and 2nd St., you'll find &Vinyl, poised perfectly at the convergence of two trends, America's rekindled passion for vinyl records, and the resurgence of a long-struggling downtown. For music lovers, this little record shop creates a perfect blend of old and new.

Rolling Stone magazine wrote of vinyl's comeback in 2019, with the headline “Vinyl is Poised to Outsell CDs For the First Time Since 1986”. But, that was not news to prescient entrepreneurs Matthew and Tony Shrum who opened &Vinyl on November 5, 2018.

“We've been here for 16 months now,” Tony Shrum said. “We only had a few display cases when we started. Looking back, it was a little embarrassing. Those old pictures make us say, man, that's a lot of growth.”

Rapid growth came from reinvesting everything back into the store. “We wanted this to grow quickly,” Shrum said. “Now I look around and think, we have a lot of merchandise. We've gone from a couple of sparsely filled display racks to a store that is overflowing with LP's, 45s, cassettes, and music-related art.

“We have a great selection of new and used inventory. We started with just 500 to 1,000 records, now we have several thousand, and more stored at my house.”

Looking at Tony, you immediately think, musician, but that's not the case. He has, however, been surrounded by music for years.

“I've done sound at a blues and jazz venue,” Shrum said. “I currently work for a music magazine, New Noise, based out of Berkeley. We cover punk, metal and hardcore. I've always been surrounded by music. I've done publicity for bands. I've been on the road with them doing merchandise. It made sense for me to open a record store, and it has really been fun so far.”

Matthew and Tony's mother was stationed at Fort Campbell for two years. The family moved to Germany, then California, but migrated back to Clarksville upon retirement.

“We like it here,” Shrum said. “Downtown was starting to pick up. We saw a for lease sign on the window of this building, and had our deposit down within a couple of hours. I had been talking about this for a while, how cool it would be to have a record store.

“We wanted to create that record store vibe. You come in and there's cool music playing, and everywhere you look you see records, music posters and t-shirts. This is what you would see if you Googled 'record store'.”

Tony says, he and Matt discovered music later in life. “I was in my teens before I started finding my own musical interests,” Shrum said. “Before that, I listened to what my parents played, mostly 90's country. From there, I got into all these other things. I started working for magazines about seven or eight years ago. That,s when I really got into records. Before that, it was CD's. At some point it switched. The CD section got smaller, and the record section got bigger.”

&Vinyl didn't carry CD's when it first opened. Shrum explained, “when the big retailers got away from CD's, we started selling them. Now, we just have to figure out where to put them. They're currently scattered around the store. Matt's great at seeing things that I overlook. He helps keep things organized as we grow.

“Our clientele is a good mix, everybody comes in. Our biggest demographic is probably early 20's to mid-30's. Our customers are people you might see at a beer garden, or Vinyl Tap in Nashville, where you can drink beer, listen to music, and shop for records. That's pretty sweet.”

The Shrum's just picked up a beer license application. They already host live shows in the store, a beer menu is coming soon. The brothers have lots of ideas for &Vinyl's future growth, and they've learned a great deal in their first 16 months.

“Since we opened, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours has been our best-selling record,” Shrum said. “We sell lots of Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Metallica. In new artists, Panic At The Disco, My Chemical Romance, emo stuff is big. Right now, Tame Impala, Halsey, and Billie Eilish are popular.”

Vinyl's resurgence has created Billboard album charts which can only be described as anachronistic. A snapshot from 2019 shows: #1 Queen, #2 Billie Eilish, #3 Joy Division, #4 Fleetwood Mac, and #5 Lewis Capaldi.

“Some new releases sell hundreds of thousands of copies on vinyl,” Shrum said. “I don't think it's back to sales in the millions yet. So much of it is about streaming now. I think Eminem has the best selling physical record of the year, so far.

“We definitely sell more used records than new. Interestingly, customers usually look at only new, or only used, they don't normally cross. And, there isn't much of a used market on albums released in the last couple of years. Buyers are still holding on to them.”

Shrum says, a new copy of Led Zeppelin II sells for about $26, a used one is maybe $16. it's a matter of preference for the collector. He says some out-of-production early pressings can go for hundreds of dollars.

Shrum uses online database, Discogs, for grading and pricing used records. “We look at quality and condition,” Shrum said. “I look at the average price and we work from there. Some artists sell really well here, like Elvis, and Johnny Cash. Repetition is a good teacher on proper grading and pricing. Now, when I walk in to an antique store, I know which albums are priced right.

“And what moves. Some things move well on Discogs, but don't sell well in Clarksville. We try to market accordingly. Most of our inventory comes from walk-in's, but we check out estate sales and Ebay auctions. Now is a great time to sell your records, if you're thinking about it. Prices are strong. A used ACDC record that went for $5 three or four years ago might bring $15 now, depending, of course.”

Shrum is very transparent with those looking to sell a single record or a collection.

“When we buy from a customer, we put together a spread sheet, and show them item by item what we are offering,” Shrum said. “They can decide if they want to keep some or all of their collection. We pay a set percentage of the average retail price. We're super up-front.”

In addition to walk-in's, Matthew and Tony get calls from collectors. “We'll drive out to see an interesting collection,” Shrum said. “Vinyl production was low in the late 80's and through the 90's, so those items are harder to find. Some classic bands are hard to come by, too. We don't see much Grateful Dead, or Pink Floyd. People hold on to those records. There are some rare things too, like old psychrock, and recordings done on small random labels. The 13th Floor Elevators for example, we have some affordable bootlegs, but the original-label pressings are probably worth hundreds. They're hard to find.”

Shrum says there is never a shortage of Manilow, Streisand, and Neil Diamond. Older customers also bring in Jim Reeves, Conway Twitty, and Dean Martin, in abundance.

“Older artists like that don't really sell well,” Shrum said. “In growth mode, we bought pretty much everything, but we're more picky now. We have a feel for what sells, but we recently had four copies of a Manilow record we thought we would never sell, then one day realized they had all been sold.

“I still get pumped about having The Beatles or Zeppelin in stock, but those are usually gone within a day. I'm still blown away by how quickly Elvis records sell, Johnny Cash too. Some stores don't, but we take country. We have an audience for that music here. Often, people are surprised at how much Punk we have, I stock it because I like it, but we have all genres.”

Shrum says most collectors are targeted in their approach. They know what they are looking for. “But, others browse,” Shrum said. “I'm no longer surprised by how diverse people's tastes are. Most listen to a variety of music and genres.”

Shrum talked about increased demand in response to the death of an artist, like rapper Mac Miller, or Rush's Neil Peart. He says prices on most new releases are in the mid $20 range, but records by some artists, like Post Malone, are higher. He does think most of today's albums are high quality recordings. He remains open-minded on the 'which is better?' debate.

“I think music can sound better on vinyl, but it's a complicated question,” Shrum said. “It's almost like, which do you prefer? It also depends on what you're running it through. If you have a system that reproduces through the whole frequency spectrum, and you can hear everything, vinyl is great.

“I stream music all the time, but records are more of an experience. If you have people over, and you're pulling records off the shelf, there is an excitement there, and it becomes an experience. You're going in to your collection, and playing songs your friends might not have heard, then you set that needle down. It's more fun.”