The Austin Record Convention Celebrates 38 Years of Vinyl History at the Palmer Events Center

The convention, created in the early 1980s as an event for Austinites to buy and sell records, has become a vinyl mecca for record lovers worldwide.

Written and photographed by Allison McCarty

Since 1981, The Austin Record Convention has been a central Texas favorite that sees hundreds of vendors and attendees routinely congregate every fall and spring to share their love of all things vinyl. This year, the 38-year-old convention hosted it’s biannual event from Nov. 8 to Nov. 10, packing the Palmer Events Center on Auditorium Shores with enough vintage records to satisfy any vinyl fanatic’s needs. 

The Austin Record Convention is the largest sale of recorded music in America, boasting an impressive number of attendees from across the country and around the world. With so many vendors selling records to the wide variety of convention attendees, almost any record can be found amongst the seemingly endless milk crates full of vinyl — from doo-wop to mexican folk, or The Beach Boys to Florence and the Machine.

The history of the convention is long and winding. Beginning in the heydays of vinyl, the Austin Record Convention started as a “record swap between friends” but quickly grew into a large scale record sale after its first convention in 1981, originally located in the Zilker Clubhouse. After that first successful convention, the event moved to the Palmer Events Center, where it stayed for 15 years. That was until the emergence of CDs and tapes, largely making vinyl obsolete and forcing the convention to move to smaller venues in order to keep operating.

Phil Butler, co-owner of Capullo. As an Austinite, Butler sells at The Austin Record Convention because of its local history and reputation as one of the largest record conventions in the world.

“For years and years and years, [vinyl] was it,” says convention vendor Phil Butler. “Everything was on vinyl.”

Butler, co-owner of Capullo, a local Austin business that sells vintage housewares, mid-century modern furniture, and vinyl records, recounts the difficulty for record lovers throughout the dark days of vinyl as new technology became increasingly relevant.

“Then CDs came out and totally replaced vinyl … and then everything went online.”

It wasn’t until the mid 2000s that vinyl began to make a comeback, largely thanks to the “hipster” movement, Butler reports. Today, “everybody’s putting new stuff out on vinyl.” 

It isn’t unusual to see vinyl records from current artists who might’ve otherwise stuck with digital releases and strayed away from vinyl copies. Artists like Beck, Lizzo, FKA Twigs, and Lana Del Rey have all sold vinyl formats of their recently released/soon to be released albums. Additionally, Sony Music Entertainment, which “ended production of vinyl in 1989 after CDs cornered the market,” began producing vinyl records for its artists in 2017 after observing the reemergence of the vinyl market in the 21st century. 

This reemergence of vinyl has allowed the Austin Record Convention to revive the convention’s massive success of decades past. Today, the convention has returned to the massive Palmer Events Center and acts as a beacon of light  for avid vinyl collectors and aficionados around the world, as well as for more casual fans that are looking for records of their favorite artists.

Glenn BurnSilver, long time vendor at the convention and owner of Arizona-based vinyl retailer Planetary Sounds, emphasizes the grand size of the Austin Record Convention and how important it is for vinyl sellers.

“This convention is three days, it brings in buyers from all over the world, it’s huge. There’s a million records in here,” BurnSilver states. “So you can’t really compare it to any other sale.”

“I’ve been coming here about 25 years. It’s a great show, a great tradition. I see people here that you never see anywhere else … It’s so diverse.”

Glenn BurnSilver, owner of Planetary Sounds in Scottsdale, Arizona. BurnSilver has been selling records for 30 years and is a long time vendor at The Austin Record Convention.

Throughout the history of vinyl, BurnSilver has seen “ebbs and flows” in commercial interest and mass production. According to BurnSilver, vinyl is seeing an upswing in popularity again. This is possibly because of the depreciation in value and quality over time of CDs, usually due to the materials that are used in their manufacturing. BurnSilver echoes the same sentiment that vinyl has made a comeback due to today’s artists as well.

“Vinyl is becoming hip,” BurnSilver says, “because the young bands are not pressing CDs, they’re only pressing records … So it’s driving a younger generation to rediscover vinyl, and I think that’s great.”

Because younger generations are becoming enthralled with vinyl through their favorite artists, the Austin Record Convention seems to have a promising future. With its status as a haven for music fans of all ages and as a local Austin tradition, the nation’s largest record sale has powered through the obstacles of newer technology with resiliency and fervor, and will continue to do so.

The Austin Record Convention is an event through which vinyl lovers can share their dedication with others who are just as passionate. The sheer amount of excitement housed within the Palmer Events Center can be felt by all who arrive, with vendors happily trading personal anecdotes with attendees about their handpicked album chosen from the packed boxes on each convention table. At the end of the day, each person who has come to the convention, whether they’re a buyer or seller, shares the same common goal: to cherish the unique universality of music through the unparalleled medium of vinyl.

“[Music] is always an education,” BurnSilver states. “There’s something for everybody.”

The Austin Record Convention will return to the Palmer Events Center next spring, May 16-17, 2020.