From TJ Goodwin
Nobody really knew what Get It On Vinyl was going to be when we started it. Andy and I, both longtime Bozeman residents, knew we wanted to create something that would share our love of record stores and physical music. We had bought the domain, getitonvinyl.com/, a few months earlier, but had yet to make anything of it. While we were still without an idea, we did have a goal and formed the mission statement that would become the foundation for every decision we would make going forward; “To provide recorded music to the public while educating the younger generation about the importance of music, physical media, and the unique experience that only a local brick-and-mortar record store can offer.” From those words we created Get It On Vinyl, a website dedicated to celebrating physical music and independent record stores. The site gained widespread attention from stores, record labels, and fans of the vinyl format. In addition to reviews, the site offers commentary about current problems and trends in the music industry, featured music and interviews with musicians, record store owners and others vital to the survival of physical music. In 2013, Get It On Vinyl made its first road trip to celebrate Record Store Day and visited dozens of independent record stores across the Midwest. Along the way we interviewed owners of many of the largest record stores in the country. This is a tradition that continued in 2014 throughout the Portland/Seattle area, and in 2015 we traveled across Florida, each day visiting more stores and learning what made them successful. Our goal was to shine a spotlight on these stores and show why they are so vital to their communities. This year, Get It On Vinyl has decided to stay close to home and celebrate Record Store Day at our favorite hometown record store, Cactus Records. Bueno, Ryan, and all of the Cactus Records staff have been longtime supporters of the Get It On Vinyl mission and we are very excited to help them make this Record Store Day (April 16th) the most successful yet. In 2016, we started the next chapter of Get It On Vinyl and created Get It Vinyl Distribution. Partnering with nearly 100 independent record labels, many of which have never had distribution, we set out to change the way music distribution works and create the only distribution service that serves independent record stores exclusively. In addition, our network is open to independent artists and bands who want to sell their music in record stores across the country. Although we launched just a couple months ago, response has been excellent and our network is growing every day. Independent record stores are essential to every community. They are the musical epicenter. We won’t stand idly by and let the digital music standard threaten to close any more record stores. Support physical music. Support small business. Support independent record stores. Check us out at getitonvinyl.com/. •
