How vinyl revival makes it harder on small local labels

Photo courtesy of Clint Billington, Victory Records

A decade of skyrocketing vinyl record sales has had unintended consequences for a key constituent: It is much harder for small local labels to get records made.

The data show more and more records selling, but those numbers represent only a small part of total music sales, around 5 percent in 2015. And that proportion is not enough to justify an expansion for the companies that press records using an expensive, old-fashioned industrial process. So the small number of record presses in the U.S. (there are fewer than 20) operate around the clock sometimes to keep up with demand. And local labels are feeling the pressure.

Los Angeles-based Rainbo Records runs its presses 24 hours a day, typically six days a week, according to Steve Sheldon, president of the company. Their newest press is 40 years old. If a part breaks and they don't have a replacement stored on their shelves, it has to be made, which is costly. Rainbo said it presses about 7 million records a year, compared with five years ago, when it was half of that.

RIP Erik Kish of Hi Fi And The Roadburners

Sad sad day to hear about Erik Kish of Fear City Choppers and Hi Fi and the Roadburners losing his life in a motorcycle accident in Chicago. I first heard of them through Victory Records in the early 90's with their contemporary bands such as Warzone, Earth Crisis, Strife and many more. One of the bands we used to played with were an oi street punk ethos and our drummer in our hardcore band was of the same mindset. They quickly learned of Hi Fi and the Roadburners and we were all quickly hooked on the songs as they were so damn good and ultimately fun to listen to compared to our normal sounds which was heavily influence by Killing Time, Pantera, Integrity, Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All.

One night Hi Fi was actually playing a few hours away so we all decided to roll and check them out as they were playing with a few openers and funny enough one of them was Anti Flag. Needless to say, they blew us away and we ended up chatting with them for hours after the show and I was forever hooked on them. Next time I got to see them was in North Beach in San Francisco and once again they were on the bill with hardcore bands. Erik, when I chatted with him that time was just as cool as he was when I met him at a tiny club in Maryland.

Hearing sad news such as this about him getting in a bad wreck is a loss for us in the music community as well as the bike community. We wish his family the best and do yourself a favor, dig into the life of Erik Kish, he was a talented individual and some of his music is forever burned in my mind. Sit back, pop a cold one and this goes out to all the folks putting heart, soul and integrity into what they enjoy.

RIP Erik or better yet, raise some more hell and team up with Dio, Dimebag and others for a show on the other side.