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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :-)

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.

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.