“Sorry, we’ve had a bit of a flood,” he says. “Do you mind if I call you back in half an hour?” He sounds more amused at the situation then worried. Then again, it would be hard for a worrywart to survive in an industry constantly under threat from advancing technology. However, the internet isn’t the beast Mays thinks record stores should fear most.
“Here’s a little story for you. In America, it wasn’t downloads that killed off the industry there, it was places in America the equivalent of JB,” Mays tells me. “They had loss leaders all the time; they never made any money at it and that was just part of the business. And they put all the record stores in America out of business.
“It’s only special stores like record stores, second hand stores and jazz stores that are still around in records. You see the odd JB and Sanity still there but only just. I mean a lot of big stores disappeared too.
“The industry has completely changed but it’s still a good industry. They’re doing alright but they’re not making the big money they used to. But it’s good for us! We’re outlasting everybody so that’s alright.”
In the past few years, vinyl has come back in a big way with ARIA reporting that Australian sales have jumped by 77% in the past 12 months and are hovering around $2 million in total sales. Mays attributes this surge to a combination of audiophiles and past collectors getting back in the game.
“It never went away because the DJs kept it going so there was always a bit of a market there,” Mays says. “There are probably two or three different reasons. One is the oldies who had their record collections and good players got rid of the kids so they’ve got time to get back to it now.
“There are a lot of younger people who are looking for something. Downloads are OK, in fact they’re great, but anyone that’s more into it that wants to listen to an album rather than just a track – they’re going to the record seller – and also for the artwork and all that kind of stuff. Interestingly, there’s a lot of girls into it too which it’s never been; it’s always been a boy’s thing. But there are a lot of young girls buying records which is interesting.”
Record Store Day is thebiggest day of the year forQuality Records…Plus and because of the massive double-decade milestone they’ll be celebrating in style. Long standing guitar extraordinaire Geoff Achison will be performing a not-so-common solo acoustic show along with Vinyl Collection blogger Bruce Jenkins quizzing the crowd with one-off RSD releases as giveaways.
“Fabulous guitarist, he writes a bit of his own stuff and does traditional stuff as well; mainly original stuff. He’s been around for ages. I used to have a CD years and years ago. We tried to get him last year but he was in America so he couldn’t play.”
The shop crew have also dusted off some rarities they’ve been saving for the occasion which Mays couldn’t reveal much about aside from “obscure Australian stuff, a few Beatles records and Queen’s Ultimate Collection.”
BY RHYS MCRAE
QUALITY RECORDS…PLUS’ new store is situated at 269 Glenferrie Rd, Malvern.
