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Learn more about these concepts and many more on NWCCU's free financial literacy modules located on their website at nwccu.com or call them at 1-800-2BELONG. This podcast is being brought to you by WXAV 88.3 FM and WXAV.com. WXAV, bringing the best podcasts to you. Hi, I'm Peter Creighton, and welcome to this WXAV podcast.
Over the past 15 years, vinyl records have made a massive comeback in the public consciousness. Once a forgotten and discarded piece of plastic, vinyl records have grown in popularity to the point that they have their own holidays. Vinyl-thon and record store day. To learn more about what the current state of vinyl is, I spoke with Andy Weber, co-owner of the record printing company Smash Plastic Records in Chicago.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Andy discusses the current state of vinyl, concerns facing the record collecting community, and what it's like working with the Chicago local scene. Here now, my conversation with Andy Weber. Andy, thanks so much for talking with me today. Can you quick give us a timeline of when Smash Plastic was founded?
Yeah, well, I mean, I suppose founded, not really sure. We were probably founded on pay for two years before we ever get this thing open, but we opened five years ago, roughly. We just had our fifth anniversary back on February 2nd of this past year, so we really started pressing in earnest at the end of 2018. And so, yeah, we've been open for about, you know, that's approaching five and a half years now, actually.
From your perspective, how's the vinyl industry doing? Are sales stable? Are you seeing growth? What's the state of the industry right now?
It's hard to tell. We definitely saw a little bit of a downturn in sales all the way across the board, all of our vinyls, kind of the end of last year. Things seem to be picking back up quite well, but it's a different industry than it was a couple years ago. You know, we've expanded to three machines.
A lot of other plants have expanded to more machines. There's been a lot more plants come online. So as far as we're concerned, there is a lot more pressing being done worldwide. So that's why it's kind of hard to completely tell where the market is, but it's definitely softened.
I think the, you know, the inflation has hurt. The economy has hurt records a little bit. I imagine it'll bounce back pretty quickly, but if you talk to anybody who sells, I consider records a luxury item. You know, it's an item that's more expensive than, and it's not something you need necessarily, although don't tell vinyl collectors that.
But, you know, it's not gas, it's not food, so it's something that gets cut out occasionally. So it's softer. Things are softer. I would never say it's bad, or it'll be interesting to see where we stand by the middle of this year.
I think it's a wait and see. Now, with it softening a little bit, is that, you mentioned inflation. Do you think inflation is like the main culprit? Could this still be an after-effect of COVID at all or some of the supply chain issues?
No, supply chain issues really have taken care of themselves. You know, it's been a ridiculous three or four years. No, I would say the height of that was 21 into early 22. That was really bad.
And we haven't seen some of the supply chain stuff, and the manufacturers and machines haven't been dealing with it as bad. So it's not a fallout of that. I think it's just a fallout of the fact that this is an expanding industry. And so, you know, everything went really fast for a very long period of time.
You know, my tagline back in 2021 and 22 was there were not enough pressing plans to get all the orders done. That's why we were starting to see backups of 8, 9, 10, 12 months. More machines came online, and more plants came online, and, you know, things started to slow a little bit better. And now we're back to, you know, a standard 12-week turnaround, which is what, you know, we kind of had back in 2019.
And, you know, it still feels good. You know, if you talk to, like, our clients, which we talk to a lot, and I like asking these questions about their sales, because that's really how I gauge it, what's going on. And even though they're like, yes, sales has slowed slightly, and obviously everything, 2020 and 2021 made everything artificially high. Like, everybody was spending their disposable income on records instead of going to shows or sporting events or traveling or whatever, and now we're back to doing that.
So that's part of where you're seeing some of that. But if I talk to my clients, they're still telling me they're way above the 2019 numbers. So that would kind of give you an idea of where, you know, the growth is there. It's just not going to continue to maybe go bonkers, which is good, because the industry can't handle it anyway.
Yeah, yeah. Now, Smash Plastic is unique in the fact that you focus primarily on, like, local artists and unsigned artists and things like that, right? Yeah, I mean, that's always been our focus is local. You know, it doesn't matter if you're Wilco Chance the Rapper or if you're somebody who just walked out of the studio and you're going to do your one record you're ever going to do.
We want to work with everybody here in Chicago. But what's most important to us is working with like-minded individuals. And when I say that, we work 100% independent, working with independent labels. We're never going to do a major label.
There's just no, we have no interest in it. It's not who we are. It's not what we're about. We're just a ragtag group here without a lot of deep pockets and just trying to get stuff done every day.
We're no different than a lot of the labels we've worked with, that we work with currently. And it's a day-to-day basis. And we'd rather work with the people we like than the music we like. And that's kind of always been our mantra of just not only local, and that's always going to be our focus to make sure we're servicing our local market.
But to work with independent, like-minded folks and work on projects we care about. That's awesome. And as someone that has bought vinyl that's been pressed by you guys, it's like the highest quality. It's absolutely fantastic.
Yeah, I appreciate that. Oh, no, hey, no, thank you for the quality. Are there any exciting like innovations that are coming out on the horizon that you're really excited about? Like technological innovations?
Yeah, you know, I've heard a lot of stuff going on about like green records and how they're trying to be more like environmentally friendly and things like that. Or even just like, you know, any new like machines for how you print the records. Is there any new technological stuff on the horizon? Not necessarily that, yeah, I mean, there are things out there.
Let's be honest, you know, the green records thing, people like to throw that term around. I know that all the time we're trying to find new and better ways of making PDC that can make it more environmentally friendly. But I think a lot of times that can become smoke and mirrors in marketing, to be honest. But yeah, I mean, the one thing that's the beauty about this business and why it's sustained is we've added technology into an old world way of doing things.
And if you start to change it too much, it's going to change your record. You know, there's a lot of people trying to do injection molding and some other stuff. And, you know, still the old way of doing it is the way you're going to get the best sounding record. That's cutting it to lacquer.
And that is pressing it on a machine that is going to be making it with PDC granulate. And that's kind of where it goes, you know, one of the lines I always use when it comes to environmental, because I take that a lot. You know, people are saying, well, you know, you're creating something that's going on in the world that isn't biodegradable. And I always say, yeah, but, you know, nobody throws records away.
They rarely end up in landfills. They may end up in people's back bedrooms and attics, but that's awesome because they'll get sold 30 years from now. And God knows what we're pressing today that somebody's going to be excited about 20, 30 years from now. You know, that's kind of how they get recycled.
So I think it's important because sometimes people don't, I know it sounds like a sleight of hand, but people don't really think of it that way. No, that's a great point and everything. Like, I've even seen, like, artists turning old vinyl records into their artwork and things like that. So you're, you know, you're right.
You never really see them getting, like, thrown out in that. Right. Now, one of the really interesting things is working at a college here, working with my students, I've seen the return of cassette tapes and CDs to the physical media, like, landscape and everything. Have you kind of noticed that at all?
And has that impacted your business at all? Not at all. Not the impact, not at all. Because that's where, I mean, when we started, because that's where it's already hot.
It's a cheaper medium and that's, CDs are, I mean, you can buy them, you can produce them for nickels. That's why people still do them. Yeah, I think there's been a resurgence of used CDs. That makes a ton of sense to me.
I still talk to people when they say, when they have CDs on their bare table, and they always go, yeah, we made them. And nobody's buying them. But, you know, like I said, I know there's been a resurgence of used end of that. It's just a cheaper way to get a physical medium.
I mean, that's the thing. Records are expensive. And it tends to be something you graduate from cassette and CD to go do. Do you see any other, like, really big issues that are affecting the collecting community other than just, like, pricing and inflation and everything?
Yeah, I would say pricing's an issue. And that worries me. Because I'm not the one setting the prices. I know what I can produce something for.
And our prices have gone up. That's part of it. There's been, you know, especially on the major label side of things, we've got a lot of greed, I think, as well. You know, and that's been driving prices.
And, you know, I can't believe somebody's going to get $35, $40 for a record. Okay, great. As we all know, even if you understand the very basics of economics, sometimes you can sell something for less and sell more. I think that's a big issue.
I think that's a huge issue for collectors. Where is that sweet spot? And I'm not sure I can answer that. I'm also not a record retailer, and I don't own a label.
But the cost of doing business, if you're producing a record or if you're going into a studio or whatever you want to call it, that's gone up. No different than your gasoline and your milk prices have gone up. But, yeah, it does worry me. It does concern me as to where it stops, where it ends, and is it being done for the right reads?
Yeah. I live on the south side, and I'm friends with a local record store called Beverly Fonamart Records, and they had the latest Taylor Swift album in there, and he had to sell it for $50 a copy. Yeah, I know. You know, I guess on one side, I kind of hope that they get $50 a copy and Taylor's selling a ton of records.
Because, as I always say, we don't do major label, but I don't throw stones at major label because, you know, the 14 to 22-year-old who's buying the Taylor Swift record, I understand it goes way across that, but I'm just saying, the younger person buying that record, or the Adele record that got so much heat a couple years ago, those folks are also the ones that you hope someday are buying the independent stuff when they're 26 years old. You know, that's kind of how we all started, right? I started with pop music and then graduated into something different, and you're creating that habit. So, I love the fact that we're creating that habit, and because, as you know, if you're a vinyl collector, fidelity is on our side, and life keeps getting faster, and the phone is what people want to get away from.
It doesn't matter if you're young or old. I've got teenagers who use their phone way less than their parents do, sometimes. But, you know, that's the beauty of vinyl, is sitting down and listening to that 22 minutes aside, and, you know, taking time out of your day, and that's one thing we provide that, you know, you're not getting that other places, especially on the digital end. Yeah, no, totally agree with you.
Do you have any, like, really exciting projects that Smash Plastics is working on right now that's coming out later on this year? Yeah, I have a couple, but I can't tell you what they are. There's a very interesting record store day release, and we don't do record store day release. I think this is our second or third one.
There are a couple coming out that are going to be very exciting. There is going to be some, this is going to be a great year for a Paradege industrial label here in town. They're going to be doing some fun stuff. That should be a hint to us.
That's stuff I can't really talk about, but, you know, like, we kind of have an internal rule here, so let's not talk about things until we're out. Oh, that's a great rule to have, because you don't want that disappointing if it falls through and everything. Yeah, I would say, on top of that, it's also just, you know, it's just respect to our clients, too. I don't need, you know, information leaking out of here.
Just final question for you. If there's a local band out there that's listening, and they want to get in touch with you about getting something printed, what do they need to do? Best job and off point is go to smetplastic.com, right on the page, right on the front page, you'll see a thing called Get a Quote. Click it.
It's just a few questions, and even if you're not, you know, a sophisticated, maybe this is the first time you're doing bio, or maybe it's the hundredth time, you know, answer what you can, and then the best part about it is a human gets back to you. Someone within our sales department will get back to you and start walking you through the whole process. We're very dedicated to customer service here, and so, and one-on-one live stuff, and we're also willing to, even if it's your first record, if you have a lot of questions, it can be scary, it can be weird, you don't know what a gatefold is, and how the colors are done, and all that stuff. We also welcome people to come in and sit down and talk to us, we'll show them the plans, and a lot of things can get done that way.
But yeah, that's helping all the points, smashplastic.com. We'll take it from there. And that was my conversation with Andy Weber, co-owner of Smashed Plastic Records in Chicago. For more information on Smashed Plastic, please visit their website, smashedplastic.com.
That's smashedplastic.com. I'm Peter Creighton, and thanks for listening. Thank you very much for listening to this WXAV 88.3 FM podcast. Be sure to visit our website, WXAV.com, for more information on your escape from ordinary radio.