Requiem For The Record Store

Rick Zeman writes "The Washington Post has an article (minimal registration required) in which record stores ('Daddy, what's a record?') are preparing for their own demises. They attribute this to the big box stores (Best Buy, etc), online retailers (Amazon, etc) and, you guessed it, downloading, both illegal and legal. 'The fat lady is warming up, but she's not exactly singing,' says one retailer, knowing that he still has a few more years until his business is totally moribund." Get it while it's hot -- soon, the Washington Post is switching to a more annoying registration system.

Comments

Don't Forget The Video Store

[tealover]

I haven't been to my local videostore in over 8 months. Netflix is where I go to get my rentals.

These types of businesses will have to get creative to stay in business. Perhaps supplement their rental business with other types of goods. There is a cool video rental place in the East Village that shares space with a pizzeria, theatre and screening room. Two Boots. Check it out.

Re:Don't Forget The Video Store

[Doc Ruby]

With the disappearance of live music venues, record stores would do well to promote live acts, and give out free samples on CD, which autoload the page that sells the band's merchandise, including recordings. Not only will their retail showrooms generate more revenue per square foot than do their boxes of inventory, but they'll attract more engaging salespeople, and more engaged customers. And there's a tiny chance that the music will improve, as it brings players, listeners and the music together in person, where the muse can play.

Same in the Netherlands

[johannesg]

I just watched the news and the exact same story was reported about Dutch record stores. Is this just a coincidence or some sort of global media offensive?

It surprised me to hear that piracy is considered responsible for the demise of classical music stores as well. I find it hard to believe that hardcore Bach-lovers are swapping the latest tracks on Kazaa...

Re:Same in the Netherlands

[Animaether]

In all fairness, the report referred to had the store owner who was being focused on in an interview.
The guy mainly blamed a large 'boxes' retailer that just started down the block, and they were selling CDs below Dutch import/cost price.
He simply couldn't compete anymore.

The store patronizers also pointed out the collateral damage - though they can get the popular stuff at that large retailer, they can't find the more obscure things there.
They could at the record store.

One patron actually walked in with a bag from the large retailer (Mediamarkt.. closest equiv. would be Best Buy) and pleaded guilty to buying CDs there, but was still coming to the record store for the other things.
Basically, he realized that his buying at the large retailer helped the demise of this record store, but at the same time had a look on his face as if to say that he doesn't care enough for him to be paying extra for the same music just to keep the record store alive.

Yes, online downloads were mentioned, but they weren't largely blamed for the demise of record stores at all.

In parallel, at the ending, some other once-common, now-obsolete stores from radically different markets simply due to the fact that MegaCorps are sprouting up from the ground and nibble at their specific market-segment with a vastly lower sales price.
And when push comes to shove, people would rather save money and go along with mainstream anything, rather than go out of their way to do the right thing and basically get 'punished' due to having to pay extra.

Physical Media

[77Punker]

I'll always be buying physical media whenever it's available, record shops or not. If I'm buying digital stuff, it's just a keystroke or bankruptcy away from being lost forever. With real stuff, it's much harder to destroy, can be easily backed up, and the format won't go out of style for quite a while.

Re:Physical Media

[Funkeriffic Toad]

Unfortunately, it seems largely recognized that the CD physical format *will* be going out style, and quite soon. While the digital collection may be almost perfectly preserved by backing up on burned discs, what protection do you have when manufacturers stop supporting CDs in favord of Music DVDs and the like? Then you are stuck ripping all your old, scratched up CDs to imperfect digital copies - a major hassle to say the least.

The only *real* benefit of physical media that remains is liner notes / album art. There just isn't a good pure-digital substitute for this, unless digital file formats increase in size enough to contain all the same material (which is a major tradeoff). Programs like Musicmatch and iTunes (and others too, I'm sure) have already begun including small .gif's of the album covers in the ID3 tags, and Musicmatch even allows you to view your mp3 collection as a grid of album art! While this is certainly progress, it's clear that we're not totally beyond the need for physical media.

That's almost a moot point, though, as the Industry has already decided that iTunes et al are the future. (Vis a vis, the recent Pepsi iTunes giveaway campaign... a certain precursor to an expanded marketing focus on legit downloads.) After all, it's been clear for some time that CDs, like every medium before them, are destined to be replaced. And if you think that delaying the switch, say, 5 years will make it any less of a pain, just ask the generations who had to switch from 8-tracks to casettes or vinyl to CD. I'm sure they also hoped that their "format [wouldn't] go out of style for quite a while."

As a last point, let me head off the notion that further switch to purely digital distribution will reduce the amount of personal contact with music experts. First of all, the vast majority (probably like 90%, although that number is made up) of buyers don't care what the guy at the counter thinks about music; they just buy what they see on MTV. Second, the remaining 10% or whatever are unable to get meaningful info at large-scale retailers like Tower, HMV, FYE, .... But this is irrelevant, because the main reasons they would need info are (a) recommendations, and (b) finding obscure albums and whatnot. The former - the essence of word-of-mouth popularity - can never really suffer, I think. The latter would be made *easier* by digitizing all CDs and distributing the tracks over searchable online databases. As for analogue media like vinyl, there is no reason why either the market for these goods or the commercial viability of the stores that sell them should be hurt.

Is this a bad thing?

[Reality Master 101]

I'm not sure what the big deal about this is. I seriously doubt that many people care about "knowledgeable" record store owners. All they want is the lowest price, which the large retailers are going to provide. People learn about music through their friends, the radio, etc.

Now, the knowledgeable people used to be more important, because we didn't have online sources of knowledge. Who wants to trek down to ask Record Story Guy about that obscure album when you can sit in front of your computer and make a post on some web site to the world? Sure, there are some people who want the record store experience, but I highly doubt that it's a significant number.

There's just no reason for them to exist anymore, unless they can somehow sell for less.

Re:Is this a bad thing?

[yintercept]

I've come across some new mixed concept shops which are geared entirely around local music. The store had a stage for bands to play, sells and promotes local musicians, helps local musicians with recording, etc.. Difficulties in the megastore record store concept might open the door for more local and independent music scene.

Good idea/Bad idea?

[Thiscatiswild]

Bitching about annoying registration requirements: Good idea
Opening slashdot to charges of copyright infringement by reposting an entire piece of copyrighted material here: Bad idea

Generic pure record stores may die

[Gogl]

But those that either appeal to specific hard-to-find genres (like places that have a lot of used stuff and let you trade in and so forth) and those that have diversified beyond recordings (like Borders) will still be around for awhile, I think. Even with the internet, I still like going to Borders and hanging out, browsing some books and previewing some cds and generally shopping around. And the used places are nice too, as you can often encounter things that you probably wouldn't find anywhere else.

interesting enough...

[MoceanWorker]

i read a similar article yesterday in Newsday about Tower Records filing for bankruptcy

The article though takes a somewhat different approach stating that competition from Wal-mart and Best Buy and their lower priced CDs is causing Tower's bankruptcy..

If they actually start lowering CD prices to, say, $6 or so for an album.. i'll buy..

Re:interesting enough...

[queen of everything]

The last time I was in a Tower Records store they wanted $16 for a cd. Back in 1988 I paid $16 for a cd because it was still a new thing. Why would I pay that much when I could pay so much less at Wal-mart? The people who work at Tower (at least by me) are not music aficiodos, they know their particular genre, that's it. Plus, they were scary, not the type of people you feel confortable going to up and asking a question. To me, the "service" is not worth the extra cost.

I'm much more comfortable sitting in front of my computer and ordering the cds that I want and waiting for my best friend to bring them to me, Mr. UPS man.

I cant say I'm suprised

[56uSquareWave]

I have downloaded music for years, but all that has done is vastly widen my musical taste. Now I want albums from labels that the monkies in virgin and hmv haven't even heard of! So places like amazon are always going to win with a wider range. All I want now is for them to stop the stupid price fixing restrictions CDwow and i will be happy.

joe

I've already seen some businesses fail

[lake2112]

I live my an independent music store that recently shut down due to a Best Buy open up right next door. While the Best Buy is able to offer cheaper prices and more variety, they lack the human interaction I found at my local recordstore. I knew many of the sales associates there and valued their opinion as to what music to buy. They always knew the newest indie rock band to recommend to me, while at Best Buy the only thing recommended to me is Britney Spears, crappy nu-metal, or some talentless mainstream musician.

Re:I've already seen some businesses fail

[shark72]

"I live my an independent music store that recently shut down due to a Best Buy open up right next door."

Incidentally, this is how the record companies got nailed for price-fixing a few years back:

1. The big box stores (Best Buy, etc.) started selling CDs at little or no profit as an incentive to bring customers into the store (where they'd presumably also buy a high-margin item at the same time).
2. Smaller vendors, as expected, freaked out and complained to the record companies.
3. The record companies starting using a mechanism (already common in many other industries) called MAPS, or Minimum Advertised Prices, or MAPs. Retailers who sold their wares had to agree to not advertise CDs below a certain price -- they could sell them for any price they want, but not advertise them. This was done to help protect the "little guys" who didn't have a metric buttload of high-margin CE devices in the back of the store and thus couldn't slash prices on CDs as a draw.
4. The big box retailers complained to the government.
5. The record companies stopped doing MAPs. Meanwhile, lots of other merchandise in your local Best Buy is sold with a MAP arrangement -- the difference is that nobody's complained to the government. Yet.
6. Smaller retailers who can't compete on price continue to go out of business, as covered in the article.
7. Some slashdotters -- those of you who'll be hurrying to mod this down -- (correctly) point out that record companies have been nailed for price fixing; thus they are corrupt evil greedy bastards, and (incorrectly) thus it is morally okay to use Kazaa for this reason. Two wrongs making a right, and all that.
8. ...Profit! No, just kidding.

Its because of the retail clerks

[thedogcow]

I know why the stores are at their demise versus online venues... The retail clerks...

I shop online because I've been to the stores and the retail clerks all seem to be essentially worthless.

The quality of knowledge is decreasing exponentially in these huge mega stores upon the retail clerks... or at least it seems more often than not.

Video Stores will be around for a while...

[Cyno01]

Video stores will stick around becuase sometimes people just need a movie to watch. I was out to dinner with friends last night and somone was talking about the evining with kevin smith special, and we were like, what the hell, lets go rent it. Thats what rental places will cater to, spur of the moment type things. Netflix is nice, but if you dont know what you want in advance it cant beat wandering the ailes trying to decide on a movie for that nite. Until VOD services get better(speed, selection and widespread) there will still be a blockbuster on the corner. Most popular movies it would be easy enough to download it p2p and output it to my tv, but even with my high speed cable connection it still takes at least 40 minutes to download a 700mb divx dvd rip, its a lot quicker to walk over to blockbuster.

Why don't they do the obvious?

[Simonetta]

If the record stores really want to stay in business, then why don't they do the obvious?

Install a very high speed telecom line and a bank of DVD/CDRW burners. When someone wants the latest album by Shithead (pronounced Shee - thay - hahd; an ancient Celtic term meaning brave and worthy) then they would go to the record store and buy a CD-R or DVD that is burned from the copy that is storage in the store's hard disk RAID array. (Or they would download the album from the record company (and store it on their in-house hard disk RAID bank if it wasn't there already).

The fact is, record stores are going out of business because, they are TOO STUPID to adapt to even simple changes in the business environment.

Re:Why don't they do the obvious?

[tealover]

Unfortunately for the record stores, they are nothing more than the middleman. They do not own the music they sell, they merely own the discs the music is pressed on.

This means they do not have th freedom to experiment in the manner you suggested. They need approval from the various music companies that are loathe to try anything new that does not involve legislation or lobbying. Getting all music companies to agree on any given plan is very difficult.

Re:Registration? What's that?

[rixstep]

Well it was 'minimal' registration - whatever that means.

I have a serious suggestion: as so many people are royally pissed at these stupid harvesting zines, why don't we just wait until a decent news source publishes before coming to /. with a story?

So we don't have to hide our tails between our hind legs with unbelievable utterances such as 'minimal registration'.

And thanks, parent, for doing the gentlemanly thing and pasting in the entire article. It was a good read. Most kind of you.

Record stores should still work

[Peter Cooper]

I don't think the humble record should die, and I don't think it will. Many will go, but the good ones will stay. The problem, as I see it, is that most record stores have become completely homogenized. They all play crappy R&B music (the new type, not real R&B), have generic attendants, and want to sell you DVDs, computer games, and all sorts of crap.

Back in the 60's it wasn't uncommon for people to hang out at the record store, buy records, lay around on beanbags checking out the latest stuff, and walk out with a bag of records at the end of the day. It was also quite common for bands (big and small) to play at record stores. Why can't this happen more these days?

Yeah, okay, I'm yearning for the record stores in films like High Fidelity, and to a lesser extent, Empire Records :-)

Cry me a frickin' river...

[bckrispi]

Maybe if the poor, victimized record stores (e.g. Virgin, Warehouse, et.al) would stop charging $17.99 for a CD, they wouldn't have this problem.

Re:no Virgins worth entering in the record store b

[broller]

That wasn't "interesting" at all. Basically the parent poster said:

Oh boo hoo. I went to a store and had to search and search through the popular stuff that they sell everyday! I picked the brains of the employees, and *gasp* they weren't music historians, but knew quite a bit about the current offerings. How dare they!

I finally found what I was looking for, twice even, but they didn't have this obscure song by an unpopular artist in stock right away! What do they think they're in business for? To sell popular music to people who like popular music?!

As I passed the posters, t-shirts, books, magazines, and DVD's on my way out of the store, I thought, "If they're not going to sell the music I like, they should just stop pretending to sell music and focus on selling pop culture."

Hey buddy, the term is "target audience" and sorry, but you're not in it.

Apple is NOT losing money on every iTune Sale

[Nova Express]

Likewise, at 99 cents per song, Apple is actually losing money on each track it sells.

No, Apple is NOT losing money on every track they sell. Time and time again they've stated that the iTunes store itself breaks even; by now, with all the volume it's doing, it may even be turning a slight profit.

This is yet another example of why you can't trust newspapers or any "general interest" journalists (I'm a Mac owner, so I keep up with Apple very closely). As a fellow science fiction writer (I think it was S. M. Striling) said on a panel: "You know all the errors you spot when a newspaper does an article on a subject you're an expert on? Well, all the other articles are just as inacurate, you just don't know it."

How to Actively Fight Intrusive Registration

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Marshall said the company and advertisers would not send messages to the e-mail addresses unless the user gave permission to do so during the registration process. However, the company is not promising not to send mail to the home addresses, he said.

There are a couple of old-as-the-routers methods to passively fight these intrusive registration system like, "Don't read their content" or "Make up a fake person" or "Use the google back-door." But the Washington Post is providing us with a great way to actively fight back here.

Everyone who registers for a pseudonymous account should be sure to use a zip code in the DC area and then pick a real home address in a more expensive part of town. But, make your pseudonym offensive.

Simply calling yourself firstname fuck lastname you probably won't work because that is easy to filter for. Instead, be creative with the spelling and the spacing for example, "C'King, AssFu" or "Suk-My Long-Dong." When they start using these addresses for their own promotion or selling them as a mailing-list, there are going to be some pissed-off, humorless rich white folk. All it will take is a lawsuit or two and the Post will see the error of their ways.

Of course they may consider canceling all free access, but that knife cuts both ways and they've got a lot of competitors who are happy enough that they don't feel the need to squeeze every last penny out of the system.

RTFA

[The Wicked Priest]

One of the troubled chains mentioned in the article tried to do exactly that. But they were stymied by the record companies.

WalmartTower

[JCMoney]

I prefer buying CDs at Walmart and Best Buy because the people working there arent the hardcore music freaks, they are the teenagers who need a quick job and got sent to the music department. It really gets me angered when I ask for a CD and the salesmen degrades my choice. An example at a Tower Records would be: Me: Do you have the new MXPX CD? Tower Guy: Ugh...MXPX totally sold out. They are not even punk anymore. Me: Well, where could I find it? Tower Guy: All of there new stuff is horrible. I dont know how anyone can like it. You should check out their old stuff. Me: I have their old stuff, I want the new one. Can you show me where it is? Tower Guy: We're sold out. That just pisses me off. At Best Buy you ask them, they check and they tell you if they have it and where to get it. So much easier.