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VINYL COUNTDOWN: A.K.A. Music refuses to be a victim of the digital age
Intrepid CP entertainment reporter Peter Chawaga sets out on a weekly mission to find the best, quirkiest and - most importantly - still operational record stores our town has to offer. The dream of the '90s is alive in Philly!
VINYL COUNTDOWN: A.K.A. Music refuses to be a victim of the digital age
Intrepid CP entertainment reporter Peter Chawaga sets out on a weekly mission to find the best, quirkiest and — most importantly — still operational record stores our town has to offer. The dream of the '90s is alive in Philly!
For those of you who assume digital music has brought the inevitable downfall of vinyl, pay a visit to Philly record-store giant A.K.A. Music (27 N. Second St.) and reconsider. The shop's been selling awesome LPs at its current location for six years and just down the block for another 12 before that. With a collection of more than 500 albums on wax, as well as enough CDs to give Barnes & Noble a run for their money, A.K.A. is the place to go for album collectibles. (Also, they have tapes if you're feeling nostalgic.)
So, how can a store that requires you to actually walk in and buy music compete with the age of one-click listening? Record companies have been creating incentives for music fans to buy vinyl albums, including exclusive bonus tracks and free digital downloads that accompany them. And diehard fans realize that beyond the sheer collectible value of vinyl, some records just aren’t available on iTunes — think Bob Dylan's concert recording from ’63, which, incidentally, you can buy at A.K.A.
The shop has an awesome vibe and the staff is very knowledgeable and friendly, without the record-store-snob attitude one often comes across in these kinds of places. They’ve got a great collection of classic used vinyl, including more jazz and R&B records than I’ve ever seen in one place, and an even more impressive collection of new releases. I encourage you to walk in there and pick up your favorite album on wax, even if you don’t have a record player for it. It might be unfair to pick a box set as the coolest vinyl in the store, but I can’t help it when it includes every song Jimi Hendrix ever recorded for the low, low price of $113.
It doesn’t sound to me like iTunes is going to run A.K.A. out of business anytime soon — “on Record Store Day," one employee tells me, "we had a line through the store and around the block.” Rock on.
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