When it comes to the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the music industry, most of the focus so far has understandably been on live concerts, where independent artists are losing a crucial source of income, festivals are being upended, and even corporate leviathans like Live Nation are suspending all touring.
But record stores are hurting too. There are about 1,400 independently owned record stores in the United States, a number that has held fairly steady in recent years, according to the organizers behind Record Store Day, the annual event that draws customers in droves to buy special-edition discs.
In 2019, U.S. vinyl album sales rose for the 14th year in a row, to $504 million, and independent record stores no doubt contributed to that
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