THE INAUGURAL MAKING Vinyl Conference, held last November in Detroit, felt like a gathering of the tribes dedicated to bringing 7- and 12-inch records back in style. Organized by Larry Jaffee, a music journalist and former publicist, with Brian Ekus, president of the Colonial Purchasing Cooperative, the conference, held in the ballroom of the Westin Book Cadillac hotel, featured a keynote Q&A with Jack White--whose Third Man Pressing plant was pushing out records a little more than a mile away. It drew nearly 300 attendees from 16 countries and included manufacturers such as Rainbo, United Pressing and Second Line Vinyl that continue to support the business during the industry's streaming takeover.

The spirit of congeniality and shared mission was so strong that White even stuck around to pose for selfies during the cocktail party that followed. There's reason for celebration. In the first half of 2018, vinyl album sales were up by 19.2 percent--a new high in a 12-year growth pattern--according to Nielsen Music. The 2018 version of Record Store Day, held annually in April, also logged impressive gains with 733,000 vinyl albums sold.

The Making Vinyl Conference will return to Detroit Oct. 1-2, and Jaffee plans to raise the bar with discussions about manufacturing issues, women working in the vinyl industry, the emergence of vinyl clubs such as Vinyl Me, Please and the formation of quality guidelines for the revitalized music sector. The gathering's Packaging Awards will also be back. Hosted by Grammy Award-winning creative director Craig Braun, most notably recognized for his design of The Rolling Stones' 1971 album, Sticky Fingers, the ceremony will honor achievements in 14 categories, including innovations in sustainability and for best vinyl package. Lastly, E Street Band guitarist "Little Steven" Van Zandt will serve as the conference's keynote speaker.

Jaffee gives a preview of Making Vinyl's second go-round, and says that two topics of discussion will be "how limited editions can be profitable and [the lack of] download-card usage."

How did you come up with the idea for a vinyl conference?

In 2012,I had this feeling that the comeback wasn't a fad. Record Store Day has consistently shown growth [in sales], multiplied by the number of releases out there. I remember saying to Brian Ekus that we might want to start thinking about doing something with vinyl, and he was intrigued. [Ekus'] Colonial Purchasing Cooperative is for media manufacturers--they pool their resources to get better deals on raw materials--and it seemed like the kind of thing that might help...