One of the reasons there wasn't open rebellion against the music industry and its price gouging ($15-$20 for a new CD using a process that costs LESS than vinyl to manufacture) until MP3s and P2P came along is that there was always the alternate outlet of used records and CDs for those willing to look a little harder. CDs make a lot more sense at $6-8 than at three times that price, and if you are willing to scrounge through the bargain bins, you can find full-length CDs and vinyl priced from a quarter on up. I can still walk into a good used store with $100 and walk out with 40 or 50 recordings. Of course I'm a freak.
But check out what's happening to used record stores in Chicago, as reported in the Chicago Reader:
- This May, Alderman Gene Schulter proposed the addition of two phrases to the city's secondhand-dealer ordinance: "digital audio disc" and "digital video disc." The law, which regulates the resale of certain items, was successfully amended in June, and those six words have had a severe impact on local independent record shops. At least one store has stopped selling used CDs, a clerk at Raffe's Record Riot was arrested, and Second Hand Tunes' Hyde Park store was shut down for failure to obtain a license after the four-store chain filed a federal lawsuit against the city. (It has since reopened under appeal.)
Municipal Code 4-264 is intended as a crime prevention tool — it requires stores that buy and sell used merchandise to obtain a special license (currently $500 annually); to qualify, applicants must pass a criminal-background check. Stores must also keep a log that lists used goods purchased and collect personal information to verify the seller's identity: name, address, phone number, height, weight, date of birth, and social security number. If the seller cannot present a picture ID the store must snap a photo or record the sale on video.
Only those used items considered prone to theft are included in the ordinance, and until June that meant audio-video equipment, cameras, computer hardware, watches, coins, and certain types of jewelry. Schulter introduced his amendment after receiving a letter from Lieutenant Lee Epplen of the 19th Precinct stating that in more than 80 percent of burglaries in the city CDs and DVDs were taken.
....But the new legal demands are more invasive, and, in the age of identity theft, disturbing to patrons. According to Felten, many customers who have come into his shop to trade in or sell used CDs have decided not to when asked for a social security number.
Article comments