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| From | "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@comcast.net> |
| Subject | Re: The loss of music retailing |
| Date | Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:26:27 -0500 |
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Josh:
I agree fully with your points. In fact, I kicked myself for not more fully
addressing the 'cause' behind the 'effect' I posited in my earlier e-mail.
It may be the fog of memory speaking here, but it does seem to me that music
retailing (at least amongst the big-box and mall chains) got steadily more
conservative the older I got. I remember how sad I was when I went into my
local Strawberries and couldn't find anything I liked.
I vividly recall reaching a point about 5-6 years ago where it occurred to
me that those outlets were just catering to the broadest swath of consumers
and that the likes of me (hell, us) weren't their intended audience any
more.
Once I made my peace with that, things seemed to get a whole lot easier.
I've also been comforted by the likes of Borders, where I can actually find
a Steve Wynn or Velvet Crush disc more often than not.
To further cement your point: I'm not sure I could pick Kenny Chesney out a
lineup.
Ashlee, well, that's a different (and, admittedly, more base) matter
entirely. And I still feel guilty about thinking that "Pieces of Me" was one
of the better mainstream pop singles of 2004.
john
----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Chasin" <jchasin@nyc.rr.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 2:06 PM
Subject: Re: The loss of music retailing
>I see it a little differently John. I think people "like us" were the very
>first ones the B&M stores lost, because we are far less satisfied with the
>releases that comprise their inventory, and far more likely to want music
>by bands you can't find on the shelves. I gradually migrated almost all my
>music buying online after (1) my frustration grew with walking into a
>record store to buy 4 titles and finding maybe one of them in stock; and
>(2) discovering that I could go home, order them all from one place, and oh
>yeah, it was cheaper to do so.
>
> I think there is something hopelessly out of kilter with the music
> business. It is absolutely the only industry I can think of that is
> aligned around its lightest purchasers. McDonalds targets heavy fast food
> customers, even Hollywood makes movies for people who go to a lot of
> movies. Yet who is more likely to have a Kenny Chesney or Ashlee Simpson
> record-- your friend with 60 CDs total, or your friend with 5,000? So
> people like us, the heaviest of the heavy music buyers, did what we had to
> do to get our needs satisfied, which is the way we are supposed to behave
> in a free market economy. If that meant the demise of the retailer, we
> weren't the perpetuators; we were the beneficiaries.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@comcast.net>
>> It's odd that we've spent so much time talking about the "demise of the
>> retail music shop" without acknowledging our (collective) role in it.
>> On any given day, you'll find people on here extolling the virtues of
>> Parasol, NotLame, Bullseye, and Paisley Pop (gratuitous plug), or even
>> iTunes. I think it's safe to say that online communities such as this one
>> have done as much to "harm" (to the extent that such a thing is possible)
>> bricks-and-mortar retailers as "the kids" are doing with single-song
>> downloads and file-sharing.
>> And I say this in full acknowledgment of my own fondness for
>> brick-and-mortar record stores. My first and fondest memories of music
>> shopping were at the Strawberries Records & Tapes in Avon, Conn., and the
>> Caldor in Torrington, Conn., where I grew up. At that time (c.1983-84),
>> when I was first discovering music, they seemed like wondrous places. I
>> vividly remember being stunned that a record by The Jam was readily
>> available at a Caldor in provincial Connecticut. It seemed then like
>> those songs were being beamed in from another planet.
>> In one store, it seemed, I could go from The Jam to Hank Williams and
>> then to Augustus Pablo. It was a wide-ranging experience, and it seemed
>> then like the breadth of taste was just endless.
>> While I remain omnivorous when it comes to my consumption of music, my
>> tastes are a little more tailored, and the music I'm seeking appeals to a
>> much more segmented audience -- hence my reliance on online retailers
>> like NotLame, or SoulJazz or Parasol. If I do buy a retail CD, it's from
>> the local Borders as I'm shopping for books for myself (or my daughter)
>> or a DVD. That's not to mention quarterly trips to Record Connection in
>> scenic Ephrata, Pa., which remains indispensable to me, or efforts to
>> seek out record stores in towns I hit during the course of business
>> travel.
>>
>> All of which is a long-winded way of saying that, as we bemoan the loss
>> of record retailers, we should probably acknowledge our own culpability.
>>
>> Just a thought.
>> John Micek.
>>
>
>
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