How a computer program dismantled Stacks Vinyl

PHOTO by RUSS ROCA

With less than a month remaining before Stacks Vinyl must pack up shop and close for good, the Cerritos store has yet to post a “Going Out of Business” sign. Then again, it doesn’t really need one—it would be redundant, considering the huge banner the building owner hung up: “RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE.” It nearly eclipses Stacks’ adjacent light-up marquee.

For the last five years, Stacks has specialized in vinyl: 12” singles, new and used full-lengths, 45s—and used Technics turntables to play them on—for both hip-hop listeners and DJs. More importantly, Stacks has played an enormous part in the greater LA/OC-area DJ community, hosting in-store performances and workshops and promoting employees’ DJ sets at clubs in the community.

Inside, hardly 10 minutes go by before another clerk breaks the sad news of the shop’s demise to a customer over the phone. C-los is a co-founder of Stacks, and when you ask him why it is going under, he tells you right away: Serato. Serato (officially “Scratch Live by Serato”) is a computer program that can almost flawlessly emulate the touch, feel, and sound of a record being scratched. Since it’s computer-based, Serato can play any mp3 file or imported CD as if it were real live vinyl. Its website explains how:

“Using regular turntables or CD players, you can scratch and mix files from your Mac or Windows XP computer’s CD or hard drive, add in a live mic input for scratching, and even bypass to standard vinyl if you wish. Scratch Live is the complete digital solution for the vinyl junkie—take your entire collection wherever you go and leave your precious vinyl at home!”

What the website doesn’t mention is that Serato enables DJs to bypass record buying altogether. A music collection that once would have taken 20 years of thumbing through record bins can be acquired in as little as 20 hours on the Internet, free of charge. Put shortly, Serato, for many DJs, has made vinyl completely and totally obsolete.

“At first it was like every five out of 10 club DJs used Serato, now they all have it,” C-los laments. He says sales dropped drastically in the last year, coinciding with Serato’s ascent. In response, C-los and company president Icy-Ice are moving their store online: no more in-stores, no more clinics, no more Stacks as we loved it.

Just down the street on 183rd Street is a Guitar Center, one of many places where Serato can be tested, demonstrated and purchased. Albert Flores sells DJ equipment at the store, and he’s witnessed Serato’s explosion firsthand. “Serato definitely makes DJing much more accessible,” he says, “but it’s also cheating.” Flores, who has DJed for five years, remains loyal to vinyl: “I think that not only is [vinyl] analog and sounds better, there’s actually music on that record and not just zeros and ones.”

Binary talk aside, Flores is also convinced Serato has become the gold standard for a new generation of DJs. He says that above all other things, Serato is profitable. Unlike most of Guitar Center’s inventory, the price can’t be negotiated. “They give it to us for one price and we set it at that. Since they were first, they have had a monopoly over this market.” That may be, but there are others now. Flores even admits he plans on buying M-Audio’s Torq (a nearly identical program that costs much less), not so he can download his albums but so he can keep his records at home when he goes out DJing.

Back at Stacks, another clerk, Abel, who has been a DJ for 15 years and a Stacks employee for three. Once Stacks shutters, he’ll have to look for work elsewhere. Despite this, his feelings toward Serato are almost the same as Flores’: “I’m not mad at Serato—when used in the right context, it’s a good thing. It works too well. If I wasn’t working at a record store, I’d have bought Serato sooner.”

STACKS THE VINYL AUTHORITY 15969 PIUMA AVE | CERRITOS 90703 | 562.809.8560