NEWS
Record Store Day
Initiatives like record store day are encouraging people back into stores. Exclusive releases can be purchased and live artists enjoyed.
Composer David Amram: “Record Store Day should be our new national holiday. Independent record stores, where you can absorb yourself in hearing music which many chain stores don't carry, are an oasis for all who spend time in them.”
RSD occurs annually, where stores worldwide link up and share their common interest.
Paul McCartney: “There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record store. I’m more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come.”
I arrive on the day at London’s Rough Trade East at 8:15am. I was greeted by cue of fans and anoraks that extended around the corner and out of sight where the first person had arrived at 3:30am. Not giving up hope I joined the line, passing those with a shopping list in hand, eagerly awaiting the store to open.
Upon Rough Trade opening, the mad dash begins. There is security on the doors, only letting a certain number of people in at one time, though the store is in complete chaos.
RSD although great for independent shops, where some made a week and a halves takings in a day, collectors were fighting to get their hands on very exclusive records.
“The key for Record Store Day is to get people back into record shops, understand the cultural aspects and reattach people with the joy of getting something out of the racks and enjoy,” Philip Harding or Black Cat record store.
What could be argued is that although a great initiative where it helps keep the independent record store in business, the industry is only feeding those who are already obsessed with music, rather than encouraging new blood.
“This year I definitely saw more of the anoraks, it was my regulars coming in and hoovering up stuff, which I don’t think is helpful. What we need to do is back away from all these exclusive releases and focus more on being able to completely fill a rack up for a cheaper price to get new people in.”
Mike Offen: “It’s bit of fun for the collector but unfortunately they are responsible for manufacturing instant collectables, which is never a good thing because its only ever financially orientated.”
ISPs To Collect Pirate User Data in
2011
Record Sales Hit a 25-Year Low
Independent Record Stores In
Crisis?
Large internet service providers will be monitoring internet usage and hold users details if they continue to illegally download music.
Ofcom have released a draft code to ISPs to implement the sentiments of the Digital Economy Bill. Anyone caught out three times within 12-months will have their details sent to the copyright owner so they can held libel in court.
“We’ve always had piracy, whether it is home taping, burning a CD and now downloading, regulation should always try and catch that up with new technology but people will always look for ways around it. To get ISP’s to start doing that level of policing is highly unlikely. But I think government should try, said independent record store owner Philip Harding.”
This three strikes and you out policy has already met a fierce response, leaving innocent people to potentially receiving bulling letters and put on an offenders list with little evidence.
“This is another extremely rushed process, forced by the Digital Economy Act’s absurd timetables. There are huge unanswered questions, not least whether innocent people will have to pay to appeal,” said Open Rights Group spokesperson.
Those who infringe copyright will not only be held libel for unpaid royalties and placed on an offenders list, but could face long-term disconnection. A striking possibility, when in 2009 France’s highest court, the Constitutional Council ruled that access to the internet is a fundamental human right.
“Government needs to draw a clear line between the notifications and potential disconnection regimes. Otherwise, Ofcom can’t tell people what the accusations mean which is absurd.”
“There is little in the draft that protects the user from false accusations,” said TalkTalk spokesperson.
This week record sales fell below 5m for the first time in 25 years. Figures released by the trade body BPI have shown that annual sales fell by 3.5% in 2009 making this the fifth consecutive year for diminishing sales.
Although the yearly fall was met with a 56% increase in downloads through legal sources such as ITunes, but downloads are generally less profitable than the physical product.
The culprit for the downturn in sales is likely to be those who illegally download music via P2P networks like The Pirate Bay.
“I don’t think illegal downloading is affecting my business specifically, I think it has affected the record industry considerably as it has stopped a lot of artists, particularly big labels making money, where they have had to go down the road of budget and go down the route of mass market,“ said Philip Harding owner of Black Cat records.
"Some labels are not investing in pushing forward and are stuck in their ways so they have collapsed,” said Dan McHugh of Fat Cat Records.
Though the effects of online piracy are not always negative, people who download music illegally on average spend £77 pounds a year compared £33 for those who get their music from a legal source. So the Digital Economy Act could punish those who contribute the most to the industry?
Mike Offen from Really Good Records: “Coming from the perspective of a second-hand retailer, I believe that downloads are good for research and reference, but I perceive from the new outlets that downloading is having quite an effect on new sales, but also a preamble to purchasing the original artifact.”
Illegal file sharing together with the current recession, have seen the closure of some formidable giants of entertainment retail, where all that appears to remain is HMV / Fopp and the surviving independent record stores.
Some independent stores are surviving despite being hit with a double-edged sword.
“Obviously there are prerequisites such as location and price, but they key is to be knowledgeable, to know the market and dare I say it to be amiable and friendly,” Mike Offen owner of Really Good Records
“Some of the majors have a different aspect, although they are not meant to, some have a policy on age related staff hire, which isn’t the first perquisite.”
Independent record stores tend to be self-run and, as such there is the onus as such for the proprietor to do the best possible job.
“it’s your baby so to speak and you want to project the best impression you can, usually independent stores are run by people who are incredibly enthusiastic about music and were they to have staff, would employ people of a similar nature. “
Independent record stores are not just a place to buy records; some have incorporated other outlets (such as coffee shops, bars and host live shows) in order to survive. They encourage the social gains from ‘hanging out’ in a record store. This can only add significance to why such stores should be cherished.
“I think it’s more the culture thing that’s the main aspect of it, I remember I spent all my years growing up in record stores just talking to people behind the counter. When you’ve had it, its amazing but when record stores start closing down you think F*** its like a part of you that’s missing,” Dan McHugh, marketing executive for the label Fat Cat Records.
An added importance to the survival of an independent record store is “if you go to an independent they will make that extra effort to service your particular taste, HMV will only order what they perceive to be on catalogue and available,” said Mike Offen.