Spindle Records Keeps Spinning As Vinyl Sales Speed Up
| Published Nov 3, 2009
Above: Nick Fitch, owner of Spindle Records, stands near the end of one wall of records. The bins wrap around the back and other side of the store and spill into the basement as well. Fitch said many of the
Photo illustration by Michael Todd.
This is Spindle Records, and this is Fitch’s life.
Immediately personable and to-the-point, the small-business owner, promoter and part-time DJ is stubbled and smiling as I walk in. His turn to look over his shoulder and impart a friendly hello oddly enough brings to mind one of the world’s most recognizable photos: the profile picture of MySpace Tom, whose likeness to Fitch can’t be understated. This is appropriate considering Fitch uses free time in the store to promote, traveling from site to site, slapping pixels of posters here and booking DJs and artists there.
“It’s the age of the Internet,” Fitch says. “I mean, half of the time, I’m here at the record store, I don’t make enough. That’s part of the reason why I’m still in business, too. I don’t make enough on this record store to stay in business. I don’t even pay myself minimum wage here, and I should make minimum wage.
“I’m able to use the Internet and not focus all my time on the record store. I share my time with the record store and with my promotions, not only promoting other DJs and bands but also promoting myself as a DJ. I sit here online all day long and promote the heck out of stuff. And that helps me make enough money to keep this place open.”
Economic hardships are familiar to Fitch, who has seen the steady decline of the music industry snowball the past few years. The compact disc format has been noticeably suffering since the Internet marketplace heralded a new era. Record stores across America now grapple with the rise of digital music sold in online stores like Apple’s iTunes. And the numbers don’t lie: The iTunes Store leads in unit-sales volume of music sold at retail with 25 percent of music units sold, according to an Aug. 18 release from the NPD Group.
More specifically, here in Lincoln, Spindle Records recently witnessed a cautionary tale being written as Homer’s Music and Gifts closed its last location at 61st and O streets because of low revenue and high rent, an economic double whammy. Fitch said he’s tried to steer clear of taking on too much CD inventory by sticking mostly to selling audio on wax.
“We’ve had some people stopping in, a lot of them asking for new CDs that we don’t carry,” Fitch said. “I think that was a big part of (Homer’s) business was the sealed CD. I mean, our CD sales have started to go down, and I can imagine that because that was a big part of their business, that’s part of why they were hurting so much.”
From 2007 to 2008, Nielsen SoundScan reported CD sales falling 19.7 percent. In contrast, the market for vinyl has surged recently. Last year, the number of new LPs sold in the United States jumped to 1.9 million, up 89 percent from 2007.
As Spindle Records has stayed consistent with its stock heavy in records, the resurgence of vinyl has been good news for Fitch.
“This has been a record store for, I want to say, 10 years or so,” Fitch said. “Before I had it, another guy had it and another guy before that, as well. And it’s always leaned towards vinyl, even when vinyl wasn’t big like it is now: Now that it’s coming back, I feel pretty good about being in a business that’s going up.”
Reasons for why vinyl is experiencing a renaissance in the 21st century are numerous, but a few stand as most often mentioned. Bill Burton, a long-time customer and past employee of Homer’s, touched on one in particular, saying records serve as a more solid format, something physical that can be cherished.
“People like to have the big artwork; some people prefer the sound; some people like to come home and have a room full of records on their shelf,” Burton said.
“And now that vinyls are coming with MP3 downloads, it’s like they can have a vinyl copy and a digital copy. I mean, I own an MP3 player, and it’s the same song on there as I played on a turntable, but to me, I’d rather hear music on vinyl: It sounds more authentic, it provides a more full sound, and it is a better quality.”
Burton said Spindle Records has likely stayed afloat while other record stores have sunk because of its focus on a select swath of the population. That, plus Fitch’s willingness to treat the store as a labor of love.
“Homer’s was a business that tried to cater to everybody, whereas Spindle is a store that caters to a marginal amount of people: For the most part, it’s vinyl collectors,” Burton said. “And Nick does have a few people working for him, but he doesn’t have many employees, whereas Homer’s had several locations. At one point, when there were six stores, there were about 70 to 80 employees. Spindle has far less people to worry about than a place like Homer’s.”
One of those few employees, Ben Churley, has the job of handling most of the online sales. That means when someone brings in an obscure CD or DVD that isn’t likely to sell in the store, he’s the one who lists it on Amazon or eBay.
After working with Fitch for about four years, Churley has come to know him as a business owner willing to sacrifice revenue for the satisfaction of sharing the love of music.
“I see him as an advocate for people who buy music in Lincoln,” Churley said. “So a lot of times, he’ll try to get people who are actually listening to the music a good deal. And also, a lot of the DJs from around town get their records here.”
For DJs who haven’t made the switch to digital, Spindle Records is one of a small number of places to go in the city aside from using the online avenue. Fitch estimated the spread to be almost down the middle in terms of DJs who use vinyl and those who use MP3. And while Fitch uses what’s called Serato to manipulate MP3 files, he acknowledged that many of his customers are DJs who stay true to the older technology.
“The traditionalists are the ones that shop here,” Fitch said. “They definitely shop here. I mean, do we have everything that they would ever want here? No. There’s just no way that a record store can have everything in.”
Still, DJs like Gary Burns keep coming back for the possibility of being surprised. The search for something new is part of why Burns remains a traditionalist, among other reasons.
“One of the main ones is that I just love the dig,” Burns said. “I just love sifting through a stack of records until I find the perfect ones that go together. I think it’s more challenging than it is for laptop DJs: There’s not a lot of room for error or faking it. I’m pretty true to that, to the no-shortcut mentality. And it just sounds better.”
Today, it seems there is a well-defined market that agrees with Burns, and stores like Spindle Records are a definite piece of the larger music scene that’s been festering in Lincoln as of late. In spite of Homer’s closing, the Star City has seemed to gain steam as a so-called “music town” or “music city” through such events as the Lincoln Calling festival and venues like the Bourbon Theatre at 1415 O St. that host shows for a wide array of generally underground acts.
Fitch said it’s becoming more common to see promoters and venues such as the Bourbon pushing lesser-known music for two reasons: sheer dedication to the trade and the related objective of staying more secure economically by marketing independent musicians.
“I think that a lot of the promoters are really sacrificing things themselves: They’re definitely not making money at most shows just for the sake of bringing in the acts,” Fitch said.
“If you have a bunch of people pounding into your head that commercial stuff is cool, then you’re going to think that commercial stuff is cool,” Fitch said. “If you have a bunch of people pounding in your head that the underground stuff is cool, then you’re going to think the underground stuff is cool.”
And the trend of discovering music on one’s own terms is repeated in other regions across the country, Fitch said. He receives visits from travelers who seek out stores like Spindle Records and who compare it to the ones back home.
“We have people come in here from out of town all the time, and I’ve traveled a little bit, and I’ve seen record stores in other towns. I’d like to think that maybe this place is part of the reason why (Lincoln) is more of a music town.
“I mean, this guy from Denver came in today and was like, ‘Wow. You have–’"
A customer, who had just begun perusing the stacks, interrupted Fitch.
“I’m from Denver.”
“Are you really? There was another guy just in today.”
“Yeah, I heard you saying.”
“You know, the guy was like, ‘This place has a way better selection than the record stores in Denver.’” Fitch turned to me, saying, “And maybe you can get that firsthand.” He asked the customer, “Is that true?”
“Denver doesn’t have any sort of record stores,” the customer replied.
Fitch qualified the generalization, saying, “I mean, I’ve been to a couple out there, and I’d like to think that my place is better. I mean, not to be biased.”
He laughs off the joke and starts conversing in depth with the customer, asking questions, giving suggestions and showing him around the store. He offers to play a drum and bass album by an artist he calls a mainstay in the genre so the customer can get a taste and decide whether he likes it. The album is one Fitch has never heard before, but he drops the needle in fluidly and predicts the buildup of sound before it even starts.
From an outsider’s perspective, it’s an impressive showing of a good ear, and it's a true sign that Fitch has spent a good deal of time listening. But look a little closer, and it’s much more than that: This is Fitch’s life, and this is Spindle Records.
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