Many independent music stores have closed, in Canberra and around Australia. But Landspeed Records has weathered changes in location, ownership, music formats and tastes to celebrate its 25th anniversary as an independent music store in Canberra.
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![Blake Budak, co-owner of Landspeed Records in Garema Place is celebrating the store's 25th anniversary. Picture: Karleen Minney Blake Budak, co-owner of Landspeed Records in Garema Place is celebrating the store's 25th anniversary. Picture: Karleen Minney](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc780vj7ejcqg1m1u8fdbt.jpg/r0_0_5568_3700_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Blake Budak, co-owner with his brother Byron, said despite having no business or record-store experience, he and a friend, Frank Mitchell, opened Landspeed above Gus' Cafe in the city in 1993. His main - only - qualification was he was a big music fan, with a particular fondness for 1960s classics and indie rock. His tastes broadened over the years, largely through discussions with customers.
Budak said Landspeed had now been around for longer than many of its employees had been alive and "it blows their minds" when they hear of how things once were.
"We had no computer, we featured an old-fashioned ka-ching! cash register, and we had a catalogue of new releases, the Platterlogue - every month they would send updates. And all ordering was by fax or phone."
In the early years, "We were doing OK but not great," Budak said, noting the location made the shop hard to find.
"We decided to go big or go home."
When Landspeed shifted to its current location in Garema Place after a few years it was far more visible and until the mid-2000s shared the space with a clothing shop. Mitchell left the business shortly after the move and Budak's brother came on board.
Budak has seen many changes over the years.
"When we started off in the '90s grunge was a massive thing," he said.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, electronic music and dance music were big - Moby, Fatboy Slim and others - and recently rock bands like Kings of Leon have been popular.
And the classics have maintained a strong place - Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac, among others.
![Landspeed Records co-owner Blake Budak is celebrating his stores 25th anniversary. Picture: Sagi Biderman Landspeed Records co-owner Blake Budak is celebrating his stores 25th anniversary. Picture: Sagi Biderman](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc780vl0taa8i1da4kfiop.jpg/r0_0_4626_3084_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The popularity of CDs has waned in recent years - "now, it's probably 70 per cent vinyl, 30 per cent CD" - as the older format enjoyed a resurgence. Budak said younger people had a strong preference for vinyl, often discovering music through streaming services before buying it in the more tangible format with greater aesthetic appeal. The store's current bestselling album is Nick Cave's Ghosteen.
Although there have been many upheavals and challenges that saw other city music stores close - more than 10 including the music sections of department stores - Landspeed survived by adapting to changing conditions.
And, Budak said, its customers wanted to keep alive an independent music store in Canberra.
He is the president of the Australian Music Retailers Association that runs Record Store Day.
Budak said that while reading Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity - about a record-store owner - he had to put it down more than once. It sometimes hit too close to home, as in the description of boxes of records in the back room that nobody had bothered to catalogue.
"I had to shut it because it was so accurate."