This business turns vinyl records into mixtapes

PORTLAND, Ore. (InvestigateTV) — Vinyl record sales in the U.S. increased in 2025 for the 19th consecutive year, according to the RIAA. Sales remain below 1970s levels, when more than 300 million LPs and EPs were sold each year.Since April 2008, music fans have marked Record Store Day, which highlights independent record stores and vinyl culture. A Portland business is combining the vinyl resurgence with another personal music keepsake: the mixtape.Mixtape Vinyl, based in Portland, has created vinyl record mixtapes for 10 years. Jennifer Dawson and the late Portland-based singer-songwriter David Freel, of the band Swell, founded it in 2016.“We get people who are quite often trying to woo somebody,” Dawson said. “It’s obviously a crush, and they’re putting their favorite songs onto a vinyl instead of a cassette.”Dawson and her team use a lathe, a rotating cutting machine, to create albums for occasions including weddings, graduations and gender reveals.“And I think the most meaningful r