Most record stores have their niche, at Sit and Spin on Lambert you can find Punk records and local Metal bands, at SOOK Vinyl and Vintage you can find deep cuts by world-renowned Black artists, but at Latchkey Records on Passyunk Ave you can find all of the most modern and popular records in American culture today.
“We started as a little bit more of an 80’s and 90’s variety shop and it has blossomed into a full-scale record store focused on new releases and classics,” said Latchkey Records owner Marc Faletti.
When asked why Latchkey made the pivot from 80’s and 90’s records to newer releases, Faletti explained “Basically customer requests and demands. Records were the most popular thing in the shop by far.” Stating that they started with “the big guns like Taylor Swift and she would do a release and people would gravitate towards that stuff.”
According to Luminate Data, vinyl sales have “increased from 13.1 million to 49.6 million” from 2016 to 2023, a growth of nearly 300%. Vinyl may only have a fraction of a percent of the revenue that streaming brings in, about $14 billion. The revival of physical media has risen alongside the normalization of streaming services. In a world where songs and albums can unceremoniously disappear from streaming services, there is a growing urge for music fans to own their favorite records.
“We’re all a little sick of the algorithms,” Faletti explains. “We are all sick of subscribing to rent things instead of owning. This shop gives you a chance to connect more deeply with the things you love, to discover the way a lot of artists originally intended to discover it. I think it’s a way to balance your life with a little bit more tangible, physical, meaningful things than the ephemeral digital life we’re all stuck in.”
Last year the highest seller at Latchkey was Chappelle Roan, Doechii cracked the top five, and according to Faletti “one of our consistent best sellers has been ‘Jagged Little Pill’ by Alanis Morrissette.” Faletti also mentioned Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX.
To many music aficionados the word “pop” has a dirty connotation, but Latchkey has leaned into the success that pop music has brought them and owned the label. “A lot of what we do is pop music, we sell a lot of other genres, but all of those (pop) artists are way more distributed.
If you’re looking to own a new release forever, look no further than Latchkey Records. They pride themselves on bringing in new music every week, for example this week they have Lady Gaga’s new album Mayhem, which has been out for 4 days, as well as Noah Kahan’s Live Album from Fenway Park.
On March 29th, Latchkey is hosting a listening party for the band Djo’s new album. Djo is a popular rock group fronted by Joseph David Keery who portrayed Steve Harrington in Stranger Things.
Philly Plain Dealer 
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