The Women in Vinyl Podcast

We are just back from our industry conference ‘Making Vinyl’ hosted this year in Minneapolis. The conference is a time for us industry folks to discuss, innovate, commiserate and celebrate these slabs of wax we all love. That said, we wanted to give you, our listeners, a chance to hear it from the source and opened our mic to attendees. You asked the questions, and we've got some answers! Thank yo...

In this episode we cover all you need to know about how records are pressed! We are joined by Women in Vinyl fam Heath Gmucs, back to talk about all things manufacturing. Heath is the creator of Wax Mage Records and has been a press operator at Gotta Groove Records in Ohio for over a decade. We’ve covered the first steps already in our cutting and plating episodes (go check those out if you haven’...

With turn-times for vinyl lessening and industry conferences like Music Biz and Making Vinyl coming up we thought we’d recap the first parts of how your record gets made from our first few episodes over two years ago now! Revisit the magic of recorded sound transcribed to a lacquer and the sorcery of electroplating in a single episode and you’ll feel even more prepared to jump into the conversatio...

In this Part 2 episode on the Updated State of the Industry we’ve asked you, the #vinylcommunity and esteemed record collectors to give us your thoughts, and current perspective on the landscape of our favorite medium. How do we feel about buying records these days? Is vinyl truly forever? Do we still care about all that splatter? Have a listen for all the answers to these questions and more. If y...

For this episode we’re keeping it all in the family, the #vinylcommunity that is! We asked you - pressing plants, record labels and collectors to give us feedback on how all the things are going within your collective vinyl spaces. Do you feel like turn times are getting better? What is the perfect run size for pressing plants? Is PVC still hard to get? And where are all the 7”s? Listen to find ou...

In the first episode of 2023, Jenn and Robyn are joined by a really fun and exciting guest, writer, director, producer, and vinyl nerd John Chuldenko. John is the grandson of US President Jimmy Carter and became the vinyl Indiana Jones when he found a secret White House record collection. In this episode we explore how he found it, what's in it, what we think should be in it, how they were curated...

In this episode we're joined by Deb Sonzo the New Business Acquisitions and Accounts Manager at Music Graphics Chicago a division of Leo Graphics Chicago. With a background in art, and a musician herself, Deb is on the front lines of getting art proofed, printed and to your favorite record pressing plant to assemble the project. From short runs to thousands of copies, they’re perfecting the digita...

Today we’re joined by Cheryl Pawelski co-founder of Omnivore Recordings and two time Grammy® Award-winning producer. Cheryl has had almost every job you can imagine in the music business, starting at the legendary Capitol Records, and moving her way through Rhino Entertainment, Concord Music Group, Warner Music Group, iTunes, Sony Legacy, BMG and the Universal Music Group. A true trailblazer and c...

In this episode, we are joined by the incredible Allison Wolfe, better known as one of the founders of the Riot Grrrl movement. Allison is one of the realest OGs in the #womeninvinyl canon of heroes. She has carved an indelible path through punk rock history, and continues to shout loud in numerous mediums. Allison has fronted numerous influential bands like Bratmobile, published ‘zines, released...

We’re joined by a sort of legend in the community, Mike Dixon who lives and breathes vinyl recordings. He runs multiple successful vinyl companies based on his longtime love of education, records, outsider art, and repurposing junk into handmade art pieces. If you tuned into our episode with Bailey Moses of Hocus Bogus (Episode 26) you heard us talk about the man, the myth, the lathe-enabler Mike...

In this episode Jenn and Robyn talk with Justin Perkins, owner of Mystery Room Mastering out of Milwaukee Wisconsin to discuss his white paper, a manifesto of sorts, on navigating the vinyl manufacturing process. In the last 20+ years he’s mastered over a thousand albums that have been released on vinyl, including the recent 25th anniversary edition of En Vogue’s ‘Funky Divas’ and The Replacements...

Alternate titles - What we did on our summer vacation or, I know what you didn’t want to be doing this summer. Welcome back everyone! A quick hello from Jenn and Robyn as we gear up for Season 2. Listen to find out what we have in store, what happened over this break personally, professionally, and in the vinyl world. We had a little break, planned a bunch of things, made some moves - both literal...

We’re joined by our friend and record maven Amanda Schutzman to continue our discussion around collecting. From growing up around records to working in record stores like Needle and Groove, and Generation Records to being the Co-Organizer of the Vinyl Revolution Record Show, and her day job at All Media Supply she literally does it all. Amanda joined us as our very first podcast guest, so we thoug...

It’s the age old question, how do you organize your records? These days the answer may just be, “Discogs!” You know them, you love them, and maybe like us have an unhealthy addiction to admiring your own collection in person, but also on your phone. Discogs has been called the record collector’s hybrid of Wikipedia and eBay, as it is a one stop shop for all things information and marketplace. Trul...

One of the goals of this podcast is to ask and answer the tough questions about vinyl and about gender. In this episode Karlyn King, lecturer, popular music academic, and researcher who teaches all over the UK helps us to do just that in this informative and validating conversation. Karlyn is currently working on a PhD at the University of Birmingham exploring the enduring format of vinyl. She is...

With Record Store Day (RSD) mere weeks away on April 23rd, we were able to steal some quality time with our friend Carrie Colliton. Carrie is the Co-Founder of Record Store Day, the Director of Marketing for The Department of Record Stores and the Jill of all trades when it comes to organizing and handing the flow of information to stores and the public. The Department of Record Stores is a group...

It's a lathe party for this last episode of our Indie Artist’s Guide series! We are joined by lathe artist extraordinaire, Bailey Moses, aka Hocus Bogus. A lathe cutter, artist, DJ and musician in Los Angeles, Bailey also works as the music and collectibles manager for iam8bit! They offer a world of information about all things cutting and vinyl. Bailey creates incredible artistic pieces, and is p...

Need a little guidance with a vinyl release? On this episode we talk with Karen Emanuel, not only a unicorn with her flamingo pink hair, but also in the UK music business. Karen is the founder of Key Production Group, a creative agency and vinyl broker founded in 1990. Key Production has navigated the ever changing music business successfully for the last 32 years under Karen’s lead, employing 60...

To continue our series in exploring ways for independent artists to release their music on vinyl, we welcome Scott Orr. Scott is a musician, label owner, fellow Canadian to Robyn, and the man behind the site and podcast Other Record Labels! Join us as we pry all the indie knowledge out of him, where it comes to releasing physical media. How did he make the decision to press records and do lathe cu...

Mini-series time! An Indie Artists Guide to Releasing Vinyl. On the first episode of this series, Jenn and Robyn welcome back mastering engineer at The Bakery, and Women in Vinyl board member Jett Galindo! We are breaking down the steps of releasing your music on vinyl. From your various options depending on budget, timeline, overall vision and more, we are here to help you navigate the (sometimes...

In our first interview episode of the year, we’re joined by the amazing Stephen Coates, who has been researching, documenting and sharing the history of our favorite oddities in the record world, X-Ray Records. He is a music arts producer and archeologist of forgotten stories. We were lucky to be able to carve out some time with Stephen, live from the wilds of Northern Scotland, to learn more abou...

Welcome to 2022! We’re kicking off the return to the podcast with a quick hello from Jenn and Robyn sharing some stats, an official intro to who we are, a look back, and some huge wins. We're excited about the future and taking you all with us! Announcing new sponsors, new interview guests and a few small changes. We are so grateful for your continued interest and enthusiasm, and hope you’re as st...

Industry legend and the ‘vinyl guy’ Billy Fields, VP of Sales, and Account Management for Warner Music, joins us to break down vinyl sales of the last few years, and their trajectory. We talk about pressing capacity, release schedules, raw vinyl units, industry delays, how vinyl is just plain cool, and more. Follow Billy on Twitter to track these stats all year: https://twitter.com/billysezvinyl T...

Join us for some listener appreciation! We asked YOU, to ask US anything, and you delivered. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a question for us to answer. We had a great time reading all of your questions and hope that we can make this an annual episode! From questions about the podcast itself, to questions about our setups and our collections, we left no side unplayed. If this discussion sp...

Just in time for the end of the year, and all the gifting that brings, we wanted to share and shout out the things we love, the things we use (which is one of the most common things we get asked), and the stuff we want! We’ve done our best to compile two amazing bundles from our incredible sponsors to show our love and gratitude for you! Here’s How to Enter our super sweet first ever - Stuff We Lo...