Vinyl Warning, the Australian company also responsible for the several Store DJ retail outlets across the country, has announced it’ll be shutting down its online vinyl retailer www.vinylwarning.com.au, in the process dealing out a fairly ominous omen on the future of vinyl in local dance culture. Indicating the company sees online distribution as the way to go, it has also bought into Australian download site Dance Music Hub as a major shareholder.

“Six years ago I started Vinyl Warning to service my friends, their friends and my own very real vinyl addiction. To me, as a DJ, vinyl was king and the tool of choice for local and international artists,” the company’s managing director Jeremy Leitch said this week. “Soon after starting Vinyl Warning, digital audio and computer technology really began to advance. It was not long before downloadable audio files became not only a real option, but a preferred one by DJs and artists.”

He concedes that vinyl nowadays has trouble competing with digital distribution options where all the music is instant, inexpensive and easy to find. “It has done its job and it’s time for it to say farewell!” To help say goodbye, the site is holding “the mother of all sales” to help clear out stock, with records selling for as low as $2.

However, it’s an onward march into the future with the Vinyl Warning company forging a new business partnership with Dance Music Hub, which will see the Australian dance download site promoted directly to the three Store DJ retail outlets across the country, to the chain’s DJ customer base as well as through www.storedj.com.au.

Lee Michaels, co-founder of Dance Music Hub, says he’s pretty happy with the new arrangement. “Most EDM download stores worldwide were launched from businesses already servicing the EDM market. The joint venture means that dancemusichub.com will reach a greater audience via a business that is already providing a great service to Australian DJs.”