The House of Wax: Chad Kassem on Building a Vinyl Record Empire | The Sharp Notes Interview

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

This episode feels like a meeting across time — the past, present, and future of vinyl commerce sitting down for a conversation. On one side of the table, there’s Chad Kassem — the founder of Acoustic Sounds, Analogue Productions, and Quality Record Pressings — a man whose passion for high-fidelity sound and meticulous craftsmanship helped revive the vinyl industry when nearly everyone else was going digital. And on the other side, there’s me — a fella who just opened The Sharp Notes, a new brick-and-mortar record store in Paramus, New Jersey, and who’s still figuring out what it really takes to run a record business day-to-day.

This isn’t just a story about vinyl records; it’s about building something real — from passion and persistence to payroll and pressing plants. Chad’s been doing this for decades, navigating every boom, bust, and comeback that the format has seen. So in this conversation, we dig into both the romance and the reality of running a vinyl empire: the nuts and bolts, the risks, the grind, and the enduring love of music that keeps it all turning.

For me, it felt a bit like talking to the oracle of wax — a veteran who’s paved the way for the rest of us who believe that vinyl still matters.