Death of a Record Shop
Wednesday July 16th, 2008
The record stores all over Philadelphia are shutting down. Many of the places I used to spend hours sifting through music just can’t make it anymore; the Internet is quickly making sure of that. With the growing popularity of online music retailers and the widespread proliferation of peer-to-peer piracy, there’s little place for the cozy... View Article
The record stores all over Philadelphia are shutting down. Many of the places I used to spend hours sifting through music just can’t make it anymore; the Internet is quickly making sure of that. With the growing popularity of online music retailers and the widespread proliferation of peer-to-peer piracy, there’s little place for the cozy record store and all its plastic discs filled with data. This is of course nothing new, it’s been happening for years now and not just in Philly. What’s growing more evident recently, however, is the growing obsolescence of studio records as a product and primary income source. If Radiohead’s recent experience with In Rainbows is any indication we’ve seen that you don’t need to charge $18.99 for a CD to make money off of it. What’s more, you’re going to gain yourself a few more loyal fans that may not have paid for your album. Radiohead isn’t the only group with these ideas; Prince, Madonna, Trent Reznor and many more have followed suit, proving that artists are no longer as concerned with the album as a principle income stream. This is of course bad news for the record labels and music stores, whose sole source of income is from the sale of tangible recorded media. What does this mean for the music fan? It means more free music to come, but the budgets for recording those albums will invariably be lower. Also, expect the price of concert tickets to continue to rise as more people try to get a piece of that pie. I hope that a more localized music economy grows out of this transition, where the million dollar marketing budgets are no longer necessary to be a successful musician. Things, though, don’t look too good for that cozy little music store.
Here’s some reading:
Record Stores Closing in US at Record Rates
findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20080330/ai_n24978984
Why Prince’s Free CD ploy worked
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1644427,00.html
The Music Industry Evolution
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/175/music-distribution-revolution/
