Gotta Groove Hits A Musical High Note

As business decisions go, opening Gotta Groove Records in 2009, 27 years after the first CD and eight years after the first iPod, was questionable at best. “The majority of the people that I spoke to didn’t think it made a whole lot of sense,” says owner Vince Slusarz. “They didn’t have the awareness that vinyl was starting to come back.” These days, the record is enjoying a full-on resurgence with annual vinyl sales up $414 million over 2006 figures. This year, Gotta Groove produced more than 1 million units in its MidTown manufacturing facility for management groups and labels, independent musicians and national acts such as Fleetwood Mac. We look at some numbers behind Cleveland’s grooviest business.

2 — Number of employees in 2009
37 — Number of employees in 2017
130-150 — Grams of polyvinyl chloride used to produce each standard record
100 — Tons of pressure exerted onto PVC to produce a record
20 — Number of stock record colors available
2,000 — Total number of records Gotta Groove pressed in 2009
5,000 — Average number of records Gotta Groove pressed per day in 2017
100 — Copies printed of a custom record with strands of hair in it (Other customs have included shredded cash and coffee grounds)
$4 — Cost to produce one 12-inch black record and jacket
82,000 — Copies produced of Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits, the most Gotta Groove has printed for any band