-photos by EJ Drake

“You play someone a great record and they don’t react to it, you know it’s time to get them out of your house.” - Miriam Linna, former Cramps drummer

When vinyl chloride was discovered in the late 19th century, the resulting versatile plastic was tossed out as a useless rigid material, as scientists and marketers were losing ground in trying to find commercial uses for their new product. Thus the humble birth of vinyl squeaked out into history, providing the world with a superior means of recording and sharing
music and leaving a proud legacy in its wake.

Although the argument of vinyl’s worth is to some as valid as it was a century ago, the beginning of the 21st century has seen the rise of record sales in this time of recession. It was also during a time of consumer caution that the first long-playing vinyl record was made available for commercial use. In 1930, RCA Victor struggled with the sales of their new product. By 1940, material restrictions saw vinyl as the primary vehicle for recording and distributing the sounds of the times and record stores began to blossom in urban areas and then pollinate the surrounding locales. Is the record again on the rise?

For many, record stores were not only a place to listen to new music, but it was a social event, a town hall of sorts, for people to meet and converse about music and other topics that were popular commodities at the time. But, with the advent of new technologies, the record store saw the declining sales that the CD store is faced with today.

“Increasing rents and declining sales are not the best business model,” says Gary Madison, who closed up his record shop Long Island Sound last month after 37 years in business.

Now the music industry is flinching at the demise of the 27-year-old compact disc. The undertow of downloadable media is powerful. According to Nielsen Sound-Scan, sales have dropped almost 50 percent since 2000. The conversion to digital media is seeing music stores closing at a startling pace.The Virgin Megastore has reduced the number of its stores to three; Tower records completely shut its doors in 2006 after 46 years, and f.y.e. is the only prominent chain store holding court.

Interestingly, while retailers like Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart are slashing space for CD’s and movies, many bands have returned to vinyl formats.  Retailers are stocking vinyl issues of big labels alongside the usual indie and used fare.

“Most cities still have at least one strong, well-curated indie shop,” writes David Fricke of  “Rolling Stone.”

This is one establishment that has been the least affected by the rising of retailers such as Amazon and iTunes. Stores like Amoeba Music in L.A., and Twist & Shout in Denver, and locally The Love Garden in Lawrence, have a strong and loyal following.  And now vinyl lovers in Topeka can get some action too.

The Live Music Institute record store, at 17th and Fairlawn and it’s curator Dave Schaffer are open to serve the needs of a population of those passionate about music, and specifically, vinyl.

“Analog format sounds so much better than a CD. I will argue with anybody about that. So many people get all of this digital and downloaded music these days. It is so compressed that it loses all of the nuances about the music. Records have a better sound quality and a genuine warmth about them. Even with all of the crackling, it is a like having a warm fire in the middle of the room,” he says.

And this fire does pop in the middle of the large clean space at LMI as he plays selections from his collection
on his first generation Ion vinyl to mp3 converter housed toward the end of the stack. Although Schaffer assumably is not envisioning a pack of music snobs elbowing each other for airtime, people are welcome to listen to records on it from his
collection of about 1000 LP’s in the front of the store, with the majority sheltered in the back.

“My philosophy is quality over quantity.”

It is true that unlike fingering through the multitudes of tacky record (that are tacky not only in the tawdry sort of way, but also in the mysteriously adhesive kind of way) that are the earmarks of the few other places in town, browsing through the records at LMI is an experience of clean efficiency. The low prices of these records are also a characteristic of the new establishment. The purchase of four records (Devo: $3; LMNOP: $8. Maximum Rock&Roll compilation complete with accompanying booklet a steal at $5; and Mission to Burma $7) yielded a good deal of loot for under $25. (Flipper with included Flipper Tours the USA board game was almost purchased, but will be saved for the next time around). There is a dollar record bin as well that runs overhead the regular stacks.

“There are a lot of collectors in town,” adds Shaffer, “although sometimes they don’t like to share where they are getting all of the good treasures from.”

Tear yourself away from your internets and take Dave up on his offer to argue about the merits of vinyl. Be sure to pick up a good deal while you are there. The record store in the Live Music Institute is open from M-S 11-9 Su 11-6.