About That Record Store Day Thing
This past Saturday was National Record Store Day across the nation.
I'm sure you heard what the point was of it all; Go to your local indie record store and buy something.
Anything.
A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
Show your financial support and help keep their doors open.
Before they go the way of the:
Yet, if you read up on what industry "experts" are saying all over the web, maybe...just MAYBE...this is supposed to happen.
Maybe the record stores are meant to go away.
It's evolution.
One thing begats another thing which begats another that which begats another this.
This is how industry upgrades itself.
The Industrial Revolution screwed the farmers. Automation screwed the workers. Mass consumption screwed Main Street. Technology screwed customer service.
In the past 15 years we went from being helped like:
To:
So we all went online.
Well, most of us did.
The rest of us, kept traditions strong by still shelling out $16 for a CD, or $25 for some limited-edition vinyl at our local indie shop.
I understand why, too.
You see, for some strange reason, it just doesn't bother me shelling out $16 for a CD at:
Even though it DOES bother me doing the same at:
Not sure why it does.
It just does.
Like, I'd have no problem dropping $16 for music from indie rocker Eric Nicolau:
But, no way in hell would i drop $16 for another meandering piece of work from:
Maybe it's like the Twitter friend the other night who said they had no problem stealing music from Britney Spears because, well, "she deserved it," he said.
But to steal music from Manchester Orchestra? "Hell, no! I went out and bought their CD."
So does it come down to how businesses or artists portray themselves in the end?
Produce disposable music and you'll be disposed of rather quickly(?)
(Act like a whore, people will treat you like one= same idea.)
Be a bitch/asshole to us with customer service and we'll treat you back as such(?)
And maybe that's why we treat the indie stores that are left with respect?
They've earned it?
They treated us right and we are now returning the favor.
By having a national saving-of-our-musical-heritage day.
I dunno.
I'm not sure if indie record stores are supposed to go the way of:
Maybe, there will be a resurgence just like what happened when cable TV came out and attendance at movie theaters went in the toilet for a little while. That generation's industry "experts" said, at the time, that consumers wouldn't want to step foot in a movie theater ever again now that they could sit at home and watch films in the privacy of their own pajamas.
Sure, maybe the Technology Revolution of Netflix and Pay-Per-View are quickly killing:
But I have a very big feeling that, in a way, by us continuing to support indie record stores (who've never stopped supporting us), all we're really doing is quickly killing:
And providing a much brighter musical future for:
12 Comments:
I fully support this. I love my local music shops and despise the giants.
Sure, the big shops will "order" any CD I want but the locals usually have it already.
That any the local shops don't feel so sterile and disconnected. They don't feel as fueled by the top40 bullshit but still has it if that is your preference.
You could be on to something, Mike. As a Bostonian, I watched as the flagship Newbury Comics location outperformed and shut down both a Tower and then a Virgin Megastore right down the block over the last ten years. Their CDs usually aren't even $16 if you but them within a few weeks of being released, going for between $9-$12. I won't even try to pretend I've never downloaded music, but when I buy it's always from Newbury. They're a great company with a hopefully prosperous future and an honest business model...so in short, support your local indie, and viva la Record Store Day!
Yeah, I mean, I was up at Ball State, which is a college in Indiana, this Friday (a little late for Record Store Day, but it's the thought that counts right?) and I bought an old Bob Dylan record for $8. It was pretty crackly, but it doesn't really matter. The guy who owned it was really cool. He knew a bunch about everything he sold and he played the record for me and stuff. However, I think he actually lived in the house that he sold the records out of. But it doesn't matter when you love what you do, right?
I support what you said but I think you should lay off dissing bands because they aren't indie and shit. seriously. it would make many people happy if you lay off once in a while. thats the only complaint I have on you and AP, other than that i fucking love AP. but lay off the bashing please.
I posted about this day, too... and I agree with you. This parallels the indie book industry. Indies unite!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4qIjvB3uxk
do you agree with this blog? then support artists that DO deserve respect by downloading the Fearless Records summer sampler for FREE (including unreleased tracks from Breathe Carolina, Let's Get It & The Word Alive) from their myspace @ www.myspace.com/fearlessrecords & buy Eye Alaska's new full-length debut "Genesis Underground" @ a local record store near you or from itunes @ http://bit.ly/6tIge
I couldn't agree more with you on everything you said. There is only one record store near me that you could call "mom and pop shops", and although it's somewhat of a trip for me I would rather spend my money there then have it be spent in one of these bigger places. F.Y.E. is over priced and they almost never have anything I would want anyway. I have seen it countless times where little record stores are shut out because of that shit hole in the end.
so what happened to these weekly blogs? i haven't been to altpress.com for a while, and i come back looking forward to catching up on all the staff blogs i've missed, only to find out that there aren't any. :(
bring them back?
pretty please with cherries on top?
Some of the best days I've had were waiting to run to the store on the day an album I really wanted came out and then playing the CD on repeat in my room while reading along to the lyrics.
The younger generation is going to miss out on this feeling if record stores are going to keep going bankrupt.
I wish there were more local music shops, I really missed out on that whole thing. I would have much rather gone to a local store to support my favorite bands!
Mr. Shea, I agree with you about the future of actual records and if this will turn out like Fahrenheit 451, and everyone will have to remember their favorite songs because all our music will all crap out at once leaving people to make up their own music or go to shows, which brings me to my next thought, I download pretty much all my music, but i got to at least 3 shows a month, and almost every time I go I buy the artist record there, I like them seeing me hand them money for what they do, rather then by it at a store, which brings me to my second point, I do live in area where I could go to enough "independent" record store and buying music there, but they never have decent Hours, or are usually over priced if they have what Im looking for, if more record stores tried to have more shows, even if they were bi weekly or something like that, I think it would attract new customers, since Touring musicians are making more money then their records, and since most people's attention span is getting shorter and shorter it all about the singles now.
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