White at the New Orleans Jazz
and Heritage Festival in 2018.
Let’s Get Physical: 2019 Making
Vinyl Conference Preview
CO-ORGANIZERS LARRY JAFFEE AND BRYAN EKUS PREVIEW THE THIRD
ANNUAL B2B EVENT, SET FOR OCT. 14-15 IN HOLLYWOOD
BY GARY GRAFF
O
N OCT. 14-15, LEADERS OF
the industry’s physical media
and recorded- music business
will convene at the W Hol-
lywood in Los Angeles for the third
annual Making Vinyl Conference.
Co-organized by Larry Jaffee, a music
journalist and former publicist, and
Bryan Ekus, president of the media
manufacturers’ organization Colonial
Purchasing Cooperative, the annual
B2B conference is expected to draw
nearly 400 attendees for its first year
on the West Coast, following two con-
secutive runs in Detroit.
In 2019, a two-day consortium — a
combination think tank, incubator and
classroom — will include panels on the
prevailing trends, tech and strategies
impacting the retail business’ vinyl
sector, with standout sessions on sus-
tainability in production, audio resto-
ration techniques and a “sociological”
take on the cassette revival. Further
special presentations will spotlight
Bandcamp’s new vinyl pressing
service, package designer Lawrence
Azerrad’s Grammy-winning vinyl box
set for Carl Sagan’s Voyager Golden
Record: 40th Anniversary Edition and
mastering engineer Bernie Grundman,
recipient of the conference’s Lifetime
Achievement Award. The event’s
annual Packaging Awards section also
will salute honorees in an expanded
15 categories.
As a group, vinyl fanatics often speak
about the format with “reverence,” ac-
cording to Jack White. “With CDs, dig-
ital and streaming, you are in control
and can stop [the track] whenever you
want, but vinyl is dropping the needle,
sitting down and paying attention,”
said the Third Man Records
founder during his keynote at
the inaugural Making Vinyl
Conference in 2017, held in
Detroit. “This isn’t nostalgia.
This isn’t being retro. This is
reverence to the beauty of mu-
sic in a world where everyone
is texting every five seconds.”
Three years later, vinyl’s
resurgence has only gained
momentum: The 12th annual
Record Store Day in April
yielded sales of 827,000 vinyl
albums in the United States, according
to Nielsen Music — the third-largest
sales week for vinyl albums since 1991,
when Nielsen Music began tracking
data. Meanwhile, the RIAA’s 2019
midyear report, released in
September, revealed profits of
$224.1 million (on 8.6 million
units) for vinyl releases in the
first half of 2019. Given cur-
rent trends, it’s likely that vi-
nyl will soon surpass overall
CD sales, which netted $247.9
million (from 18.6 million
units) in the same period.
Ahead of the conference’s
West Coast debut, Jaffee and
Ekus preview this year’s pro-
gram and its global ambitions.
Jaffee
Ekus
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SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 8 5