In large shops across the world, you can find vinyl records from The Beatles to the Rolling Stones to Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift.
Since 2008, Record Store Day, a special event dedicated to combating the threat of music streaming platforms, has been celebrated in the United States and in Canada since 2018. In Canada, this year, 201 vinyl shops participated in Record Store Day, from Newfoundland to Yukon, including 34 stores in Quebec. Record Store Day brings together a network of stores, labels, and distributors who coordinate to release new vinyl on this special day, with fans scrambling to obtain them.
Any artist, big or small, can now produce their albums as vinyls under their own label by doing business with companies, often very small, that handle everything. As an example, a company based in Chicago claims to have produced more than 40,000 vinyl records since its founding in 2017.
A woman browses through vinyl records in a specialized record store. Credit: Cottonbro Studio on Pexels.
François Colbert is MMIAM Codirector, Remi-Marcoux Chair in Arts Management, author of the book Marketing Culture and the Arts published in 15 langages along its five editions.
For a more complete discussion please see:
Colbert et al. 2018. Marketing Culture and the Arts, 5th edition. Montréal: Carmelle and Rémi-Marcoux Chair in Arts Management, HEC Montréal.
Browse our abridged research articles here.