With consumers purchasing more vinyl albums for the fifth consecutive year in the history of Nielsen SoundScan reports, one Boston University student hopes to build a business from this growing trend by selling vinyl records.
Jeremy Lowe, a School of Management junior, pitched in 60 seconds his business idea to a panel of entrepreneurship experts last Friday at SMG. Out of the 21 competitors, the expert judges chose Lowe as one of the nine semifinalists to move on to BU Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization’s New Venture semifinals.
“It’s only a fraction of the industry, but for the people who are really into the music, the vinyl’s the way to listen to it,” Lowe said. “To me, sound is really, really important. [Vinyl] just sounds crisp and something you want to listen to at your house with a cup of coffee in your hands and just fall asleep to.”
Ideally, people would sign up for a monthly subscription and order from a list of about 30 vinyl records at reduced prices obtained through partnerships with record labels, Lowe said.
If a listener’s preferred band was not on the list, this would be the chance to “discover something new,” according to their preferences – a concept similar to Pandora, Lowe said.
“When you’re on Pandora and you play Rihanna radio, you’re not going to hear all Rihanna,” Lowe said. “You might hear someone who’s up-and-coming. You might really like that person and then decide to listen more.”
Lowe’s business idea came from him noticing rising trends in both mail-order subscription services and vinyl sales.
“Obviously, it’s still a very small market, but I think it’s a very interesting one,” judge Ian Mashiter, ITEC executive-in-residence and lecturer, said. “I like music myself. I was interested in the idea, because I like ideas that play into market trends.”
Over the Thanksgiving and winter breaks, Lowe consulted with his parents, who have a big vinyl collection, about the idea.
“We never lived through a vinyl period where it was really popular,” Lowe said. “[My mom] was the one to notify me that the shipping is going to be an issue.”
Indeed, during the Q-and-A after Lowe’s pitch, Mashiter asked how Lowe would handle the fragile nature of vinyl records, given that even Netflix’s DVDs can break.
“Vinyl records are very delicate,” Lowe said. “I mean, if you drop a vinyl, it could break, and that’s obviously a concern.”
Another concern is driving the costs of vinyl records down. With this also comes the obstacle of obtaining vinyl records directly from record labels.
Despite the obstacles, Lowe said he wants to mass-produce vinyl records, especially with their rise as collectors’ items, following Pandora’s model.
From now until the semifinals on March 1, Lowe said he will focus on surveying people’s interests.
Whether he succeeds in the next round or not, Lowe said he believes that focusing on schoolwork will remain a priority.
“I’m obviously taking it seriously, but I’m also understanding it’s a pursuit and interest of mine, and it’s really about the experience,” Lowe said. “Just doing the 60-second pitch was a great experience.”
Although SMG’s rigorous Core program may be a challenge to balance, experiences like pitching to experts in the field are what make it worth the demanding schedule.
“What we’re trying to prepare the entrepreneur for is not to just win competition or help them get funding, but they have to do to this kind of pitching all the time – whether it’s professors employers, partners or customers,” Mashiter said. “This is something entrepreneurs have to do all the time.”
Lowe and the other semifinalists will be joining seven more competitors from October’s Pitch and Pizza competition.
“My whole philosophy is that when you go into these competitions, you don’t expect anything and if you come out ahead that’s great,” Lowe said, “but you put your best effort in and if the judges acknowledge you did a good job, you’ll go somewhere.”