Category Archives: Business

Vinyl Overtakes CD Sales for the First Time Since 1987

No longer just a niche hobby for dads and hipsters, vinyl is experiencing a major resurgence in mainstream music. According to the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) annual revenue report, vinyl records outsold CDs in the US last year for the first time since 1987, selling 41 million units against 33 million for CD.

Vinyl record sales have consistently increased over the last 16 years according to the RIAA report published on Thursday, now accounting for 71 percent of all physical music format revenue. The growth margins here aren’t trivial, either — while physical formats as a whole increased by 4 percent, earning $1.7 billion between 2021 and 2022, vinyl sales alone accounted for $1.2 billion, experiencing a 17 percent increase in sales compared to the previous year. Comparatively, CD sales plummeted by 18 percent in 2022.

Brownie Bytes asks why? Why do you think this music format is making a comeback? Doesn’t the digital version sound better?

👇 What do you think? Leave a comment below.👇

See More [The Verge]

What It Takes To Be A Top 1% Earner In Your State, Mapped

SmartAsset scanned IRS data from 2019 to see what each state’s biggest earners had in common, and what made them stand out from everyone else. They adjusted their 2019 findings to 2022 figures using the data from the BLS’s CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers.

Key Takeaways

• Being one of America’s top earners is the hardest thing to do in Connecticut, where you’d have to rake in more $955,300 to join the one percent club. If you’re looking for a compromise, earning more than $336,900 would put you in the top five percent.

• Earning upwards of $275,000 would make you among the top five percent in New Hampshire, Maryland, New York, Colorado, Virginia, Washington, California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

• The top one percent earners have an average tax rate of 25 percent in the top 15 states.

See More [Digg]:

https://digg.com/data-viz/link/what-it-takes-to-be-in-the-top-1-by-usa-state-mapped-WW04bDD5jC

America’s Favorite Gas Stations, Ranked

From average gas bills to how many minutes they’d go out of the way to fill up at a particular gas station, here are America’s favorite, and least favorite, places to fill up the tank.

America's Favorite and Hated Gas Stations

Payless Power surveyed 1,011 Americans about their gas station preferences, asking them about brand loyalty and how much they usually spend when filling up the tank. Ten percent of the survey respondents were Baby Boomers, 22 percent were Gen X, 43 percent were Millennials and 25 percent were Gen Z. Just over half (57 percent) were men.

Overall Costco was rated the best gas station, while Valero was rated the worst. Costco was ranked cleaner and cheaper than others, while Valero was ranked as one of the meanest stations.

On average, people who stopped at a Circle K, Speedway, Shell, Love’s or Wawa gas station spent more than $50 on each visit, whereas Costco and 7-Eleven had the cheapest bills.

Average Spend at Each Gas Station Visit

See More [Digg]

Automated Commercial Dishwashing

Employment at restaurants continues to be replaced by machines. As employee costs go up, machines and these types of services become more affordable for businesses.

Dishcraft uses proprietary robotics and AI to deliver clean dishes everyday while reducing waste, improving efficiency, and increasing reliability.

See More [Dishcraft]

Business Idea? 4 Tips to Make it Successful

Build Your Brand – 1 min.

The first work day of 2023 is today for most and many are setting goals for the year.

Start strong! Your goals and ideas will always work better when you collaborate with top performers. Think about all of your past successes. Did you do it alone? Probably not. Build your brand! Here are tips to help you do that: Design, Content, Marketing Strategy, Reliable Team

See More [R. Michael Brown Tips]

Thank You and Happy Holidays!

The holidays are a time of giving, and we’d like to give you a huge thanks for being our cherished clients, coworkers, and friends. Have a happy, happy holiday season and we look forward to working with you in 2023.

We will be closed Christmas weekend and New Years weekend but as always, if you have a crisis, you can contact me at Mike@RMichaelBrown.com.

See More [R. Michael Brown]

Wide-Leg Khaki Pants Are Back. For Real This Time.

Wide-leg and longer-rise trousers—khakis, jeans, even Cary Grant-ish suit pants—are selling out in the early fall shopping season.

The pants are huge. Sales have been, too.

After years of edging into the mainstream, wide-leg trousers are officially back according to at least one metric: J.Crew’s “Giant-Fit Chino Pant” is completely sold out online. An early hit of the mall brand’s recent refresh, the baggy, off-the-thigh pants have a leg opening nearly 50% wider than its standard slim-cut chinos.

See More [Wall Street Journal]

Wide-Leg Khaki Pants Are Back. For Real This Time.

BrownieBytes: Finally I’m a fashion icon. They’re catching up to me. I’m years ahead of my time….

I’ve always found fashion reporting to be funny.

Don’t Let Perfection Be the Enemy of Productivity

I’ve worked with organizations that thought perfection was the perfect standard. It actually killed creativity, progress, and growth.

They were stuck in place and productivity stalled. Perfection is the enemy of great.

— Read on hbr-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/hbr.org/amp/2020/03/dont-let-perfection-be-the-enemy-of-productivity