Trump’s tariffs can hit you in unexpected places: your vinyl collection
As President Donald Trump’s chaotic development of tariffs rattled the nerves of businesses in America and almost every industry around the world last week, the San Francisco Bay area owner was trying to figure out whether he could pass through the outside Fole.
Eric Muller of punk rock record label Pirates Press had been wondering if colored vinyl releases from bands like Rancid, The Slackers and Cock Sparrer could be categorized as “informational material.” In doing so, records can be imported from looming plants overseas without pose a tariff under lesser known laws.
Above all, Mueller wants to find peace of mind. “Volatility is insane,” he says. “I’ve had dozens of freight leave in the last few days and I’m trying to figure out what people are charging!”
The Trump administration’s volatile, recurring approach to tariffs has been subject to general disruption across record industries. Manufacturers and brokers, Mom-‘n’-Pop and others recognize that additional costs incurred by customs duties will ultimately be passed on to consumers. Even Trump’s revised 10% increase (at this time) could create a major dent in an industry that is already negatively affected by rising inflation and costs. Recent industry estimates suggest that the proposed tariffs can raise costs by 24%, with more production being offshore. Mueller estimates that new vinyl records could be sold for $30-40 a few years ago for $30-40.
“Look at math: people’s incomes aren’t rising that much,” he says. “The industry is definitely backing down. Factory is struggling. When records costs go up, that’s not a good thing. It won’t help anyone.”
However, the exception that saves industry potential labels is from Berman correctionprovides exemptions for “informational materials” such as books, films, tapes, CDs and other media, including materials protected under the First Amendment, regardless of country of origin. Passed in Congress in 1988 and written by Democratic leader Howard Berman, the amendment, is one of the earliest obstructions of US lawmakers’ attempts to ban Tiktok; Washington Post a headline that calls it “Ambiguous hurdles. ”
“What does this exemption do?” Mueller said, “Make sure there is still a free flow of information.”
Representatives of the American Record Industry Association, the trade organisation representing the US music industry, have tentatively confirmed that imports of records have been excluded from Trump’s tariffs.
For a record industry, that’s good news. Despite the rise in Homegrown Manufacturing over the past decade, which has continued from the revival popularity of vinyl records themselves, many albums on record store shelves are being produced overseas. Czech-based Conglomation GZ Media is the world’s largest record presser, kicking out roughly 70 million records a year. Under the current Berman Amendment sculpture, all of these records can be imported within the state without being affected by major tariffs. But that doesn’t mean that the US vinyl industry is in the woods. (A GZ spokesman refused to speak to Wired, saying the company has “decided not to comment on topics related to politics or tariffs.”