About a year ago my girlfriend and I embarked on a 4 months trip across South East Asia. When we got to Singapore I quickly figured out there were several record stores there and I just had to visit a few of them.
The general feeling I got about records in that country: overpriced. One of the shops was selling re-issues of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” for $100+… However I also got a chance to visit Hear Records. The people seemed friendly, the prices were very fair and the selection was interesting and pretty decent. I was very curious about the whole vinyl scene in Asia. I knew I had to interview the owner.
Since it was my very first interview the sound turned out pretty horrible. There was a loud AC unit running in the background but I didn’t pay attention to it. The good thing is, you can use the closed-captions.
Interview with Nick Tan
The vinyl revival in Asia is smaller than the one in the US. Shipping is expensive. Records are more rare. If you look at countries like Cambodia where millions of records were destroyed in the 1970’s you start getting a better picture. However, all across Asia you can find old record shops that have been there for 50+ years. You can also find new shops popping up all over the place.
In this video Nick shares the story of Hear Records, his own vinyl records store. He discusses the reasons why the shop opened. Nick talks about how he decided which records he should be selling. He talks about the future of vinyl in Asia and the world. We talk about a lot of different interesting things.
Hear Records – official website
p.s. It took me almost a year to finally release this video. I just noticed that within this year Hear Music has managed to open up a second location in Singapore’s Chinatown! Here is the Facebook Page for that location.
#01-39 Burlington Square 175 Bencoolen Street
Singapore 189651
+65 9646 0648
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Sasha