AMOEBA MUSIC
In an extract from their book on America’s independent record stores, Rebecca Villaneda and Mike Spitz visit a California institution
THE RECORD STORE BOOK
About the book: The Record Store Book – Fifty Legendary And Iconic Places To Discover New And Used Vinyl by Rebecca Villaneda, with photography by Mike Spitz, is published by Rare Bird Books. Find more info atwww.rarebirdbooks.com
Easily the most well-known record store in California, Amoeba Music was started by David Prinz and Marc Weinstein in 1990. Contrary to what has been reported, the two met at Streetlight Records in San Francisco in 1988. Dave had just sold a small chain of video-rental stores around San Francisco called Captain Video, and Marc was the manager there. they both had a love and appreciation for collecting vinyl and record stores.
Marc’s relationship with music began with an AM radio by his pillow, aged about 10 years old. His personal record collection consists of about 6,000 LPs, and he got his first record store job at 18. “Vinyl is still the best possible representation a musical artist has ever had to share their work – curated the way they want and with the best sound,” Marc says. “they represent the best possible ‘hard copy’ of an artist’s work. Knowing that LPs are othen very limited printings, they hold all kinds of value – not least of which is an ephemeral artifact of a particular scene or era. LPs are still the best format ever created, and a whole generation of young collectors are discovering that today as the ‘mechanical’ era slips away.”