First of all, thank you for visiting this website. Inventing and producing this simple record frame has been a dream of mine for some time, so I truly appreciate your interest in this story. And here it goes..
Records On Walls came to be because I’m a fan of music, first and foremost. I’ve been collecting vinyl records since 1998 because I didn’t have a proper cd player in university, and somehow found a small box of records and a stereo/turntable combo in my parents basement. At first, I only had a handful of Beach Boys and Buddy Holly albums, so people started to lend me some amazing records from their family collection. I was hooked, so I started scavenging used dollar bins at the local record shops, and I really started to enjoy discovering ‘lost’ music in the back corners of record stores and flea markets.
Over the years, I continued to collect more records (both new and used), and would always find a space on my wall to hang a few using tacks, nails, or whatever else would work (often damaging the records that were hung using these crude methods). For me, there was always something special about the vinyl record format. Although great sound is important, I’m no audiophile and can barely tell the difference between the ‘warmth’ of the analogue versus digital formats (this is probably due to years spent as a musician myself, killing my ears with distortion and feedback). It was the physical product itself which excited me the most. I want to support music and musicians as much as possible, but I felt I was getting ripped off a bit with the cd format. Maybe it was my own careless ways, but cds would often last a few months before my favorite song on the album invariably became the first to start skipping. With my vinyl records, there was reverence for the art form through the medium. The vinyl record wasn’t something that was thrown on the passenger car seat on top of empty fast food wrappers, no. They were meticulously cared for in milk crate boxes next to my record player, receiver, and speakers. I took them out deliberately and carefully, layed them down on the spinning wheel, and turned it up to ten.
It’s been great to see the vinyl resurgance of the past few years as the market adapts to the consumers demand for a physical music product with some lasting value. Cds are cheap and ugly. Mp3s are immaterial and disposable. Vinyl records are forever baby! People thought that the physical format for music was dead – that it was only the actual sound/music that mattered. Wrong! Fans will always want a way to connect with their favorite artists and their music in a physical manner. It is a way to show respect for the art, and how the music has an important role in our lives. Blogs, video, mp3s, etc. will not fill that gap. Artists are already giving away so much of themselves and their art for free. As a music fan, I try to do two things to show my appreciation for the music that has brought me so much over the years. I try to go to as many shows as time will permit, and I try to buy as many records and t-shirts as I can afford.
So that is the basis for this product. I love these albums, and I wanted a better way to hang my records on the wall while having simple access to the music and without causing damage to the album. I like to think of it as a functional frame. Something that I wanted as a music fan. Since I couldn’t find anything that suited my needs, I invented a frame so all music lovers can hang their favorite albums safely while maintaining full access to the music.
Thanks again for you interest in Records On Walls – YOU ROCK!!!!
Steve Holub
