Favorite Artists Favorite

Albums

streaming, he can listen to a new artist and if he likes their stuff, then he buys it new. Karnopp tries to buy it directly from the artist, but if not then he’ll find another way.

“Anytime an artist can be heard by anyone is good exposure, but record stores are the way to go if you can’t buy directly from the artist,” Karnopp said.

With so many albums, Karnopp has to have an organization system. He says he has two sections: the ones he’ll never get rid of, and the ones he hasn’t “fully committed to.”

They are all sorted alphabetically. CDs and vinyls make up most of his album collection, and Karnopp thinks he might have to get a storage unit soon.

Over the years, Karnopp has collected so many albums that he decided to clear some out this year at the record fair in Fargo, but he only cleared out about 90 albums. According to the Fargo Record Fair’s official website, this annual event has been going on for over a decade.

“I’ve been going to [the fair] for a while, but I’d never been a seller,” Karnopp said. “A friend of mine and I decided we’d try to sell since we had a lot to get rid of. It was pretty fun, actually, I really enjoyed it. I imagine I would do it again at some point.”

In the last five years, Karnopp has taken an interest in 45s. He says they are an easy, cheap way to experience music.

“I’ve discovered some bands that were formed in Brookings, and so it’s been fun to learn and pass on the knowledge to anyone who might listen,” Karnopp said.

Recently he found a 45 and picked it up because it has a regional label on it. When he looked into the band a little more, he realized it was a band from Huron.

Karnopp said he didn’t always love vinyl. He would sometimes replace it with CDs, throwing his vinyl out. But he has returned to vinyl as its popularity grows.

“Vinyl is a blessing and a curse. It has a warmer tone and overall sound, but it’s so easily damaged and you have to really take care of them,” he said.

Vinyl record sales have grown rapidly over the past decade. 2021 was the biggest sales year since 1986 with over $1 billion vinyl record sales, according to Texas Public Radio.

“I’ve now found that I’m kind of sticking more to vinyl and kind of focusing on that, although people right now are embracing vinyl in a way that they haven’t for a long time,” Karnopp said. “CDs are pretty easy and cheap to come by nowadays too, so I still pick up a lot of those too.”