CHRONICLE 16-17 ISSUE 08
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14 The Chronicle January 24 - 30, 20<strong>17</strong> chronicle.durhamcollege.ca<br />
Entertainment<br />
Streaming can't<br />
detune Oshawa<br />
music store<br />
Tyler Hodgkinson<br />
The Chronicle<br />
Online music services such as<br />
Apple Music, Tidal, and Spotify<br />
have cemented their legitimacy as<br />
hubs for catalogues, but this can<br />
also be said for longstanding Oshawa<br />
music store Wilson & Lee.<br />
According to co-owner Bill Wilson,<br />
the downtown shop, which is<br />
currently celebrating 95 years in<br />
business, isn’t greatly affected by<br />
the rise of streaming services because<br />
they bring in a “different<br />
kind of customer.” (Wilson & Lee<br />
Some people<br />
love to have<br />
a tangible<br />
experience.<br />
Jared Williams<br />
The Chronicle<br />
is also owned and operated by his<br />
younger brother, Dave.)<br />
“[People who download] are a<br />
portion of people we didn’t really<br />
have to begin with,” the 77-year old<br />
says. “We have a lot of customers<br />
looking for vinyl records.”<br />
In a report published last year,<br />
Nielsen says the amount of streams<br />
in Canada has risen to 18.6 billion<br />
in 20<strong>16</strong> from 10.5 billion in 2015.<br />
The study takes into effect both<br />
video and audio streams. Nielsen<br />
also reports physical album sales<br />
are down <strong>16</strong> per cent, however,<br />
vinyl LPs sales have risen 39 per<br />
cent.<br />
According to Official Charts, the<br />
late David Bowie’s Blackstar was the<br />
best-selling vinyl of 20<strong>16</strong>, with Amy<br />
Winehouse’s Back to Black and the<br />
soundtrack to the Guardians of the<br />
Galaxy film in second and third,<br />
respectively.<br />
Wilson believes the resurgence of<br />
vinyl is a direct result of consumers’<br />
need for something physical.<br />
“Some people love to have a tangible<br />
experience,” Wilson says.<br />
“I remember buying records,<br />
showing them to my friends, arguing<br />
about what certain lyrics did or<br />
didn’t mean.”<br />
Nowadays, some music fans<br />
Bill Wilson, co-owner of Wilson & Lee music store in Oshawa.<br />
collect vinyl because it may sound<br />
better when played through an<br />
optimal system, while others love<br />
to grab everything their favourite<br />
artists release.<br />
Albums by The Beatles, Elvis<br />
Presley, and Taylor Swift are big<br />
sellers at the store, Wilson says.<br />
New vinyl is often priced between<br />
$20 and $45, however, it depends<br />
on the popularity and availability<br />
of the product. Additionally, used<br />
vinyl bins are often rummaged<br />
about by customers, as buying preowned<br />
records is a cheaper solution<br />
for the mass collector type.<br />
The store began bringing in used<br />
vinyl after a customer offered to<br />
sell his collection before throwing<br />
it away.<br />
“It was either me or the dump,<br />
so I gave him a fair, reasonable<br />
amount and we put them on sale.<br />
I didn’t know what was going to<br />
Photograph by Tyler Hodgkinson<br />
happen, so I priced them, threw<br />
them up, and people started to<br />
buy them,” says Wilson. “It sort of<br />
dawned on me that this is something<br />
I may want to expand a bit.”<br />
Wilson & Lee has continued to<br />
“flip” records ever since.<br />
Vinyl alone does not keep the<br />
storein business. In fact, its main<br />
source of business is instruments,<br />
but it also sells movies, CDs, and<br />
notation books.<br />
Wilson & Lee music store celebrates 95 years<br />
It’s fair to say the music scene in<br />
Oshawa has seen some highs and<br />
lows since the days when then-bar<br />
bands like Rush and Triumph were<br />
opening acts.<br />
But one constant on the scene<br />
has been music store Wilson & Lee,<br />
which has earned itself a reputation<br />
as a quality establishment since<br />
opening its doors in 1922.<br />
Original owners William Wilson<br />
and his sister in-law Mary Lee<br />
opened up the store in his house<br />
on Albert Street in Oshawa. Aside<br />
from being able to purchase music<br />
there, Wilson also taught piano lessons<br />
at the shop.<br />
After William Wilson died in<br />
1943, Lee and other immediate<br />
family members minded the store<br />
selling instruments and records.<br />
When Bill Wilson II returned<br />
from serving in the Second World<br />
War in 1946, he accepted the<br />
tradition of buying into the family<br />
business.<br />
“After the war there was a shortage<br />
in almost everything so that<br />
certainly made it easier to find<br />
work [for those looking at the<br />
time],” Bill said.<br />
It was also then that General<br />
Motors was at its peak employment<br />
for the city.<br />
A piano being moved into long-standing Oshawa music store Wilson & Lee.<br />
By 1953 the store had moved and<br />
re-opened in its current location on<br />
Simcoe Street, just north of Bond<br />
Street.<br />
Bill Wilson III started work at<br />
the store when he was 14-years-old.<br />
He says he wasn’t even completely<br />
aware of how much he enjoyed<br />
the music business until he began<br />
working at the store.<br />
“I just found that I loved this<br />
stuff. I found when I got in here I<br />
had an affinity for knowing what<br />
people liked and what they wanted.”<br />
By 1967 Bill was joined my his<br />
Photograph provided by Wilson & Lee<br />
younger brother David working at<br />
the store.<br />
“I was sitting at a table when I<br />
was 14 years old and my father said,<br />
‘Get your suit on, you’re going to<br />
work!’ I have never had a Saturday<br />
off after that,” Bill’s brother and<br />
co-owner David Wilson said.<br />
I just found<br />
that I loved<br />
this stuff.<br />
“I enjoyed being here, I enjoyed<br />
being social, I enjoyed looking after<br />
people.”<br />
It wasn’t until 1989 that the two<br />
brothers bought the family business<br />
and took over ownership.<br />
It was then vinyl sales were at<br />
their peak from the local disc jockeys<br />
(DJ) buying up single records in<br />
attempt to keep their record collections<br />
contemporary and relevant.<br />
“Thirty years ago there was a<br />
pretty good bar scene going, there<br />
was lots of places for young musicians<br />
to play – not so much anymore,”<br />
Bill Wilson said. “For us the<br />
DJ was a saviour in the 70’s and<br />
80’s because we used to have up<br />
to 60 guys come in on a regular<br />
basis.”