This is going to sound like an overused phrase, but trust me. The answer is, “It’s more complicated than it might seem.”
The question, asked by numerous customers who step up to the counter, is, “That ‘music downloading’ must really hurt your business, huh?”
When people ask that question (or brag about downloading instead of spending money), I want to explain just how this phenomenon works. But, the reality is that I’m behind the counter and small talk is all the rage with customers.
That means it’s time to subject you to the lengthy exploration of this subject. Feel free to insert an evil laugh. It’ll go well with my dark goatee.
Yes, the music-downloading phenomenon is hurting my business. But only my type of business (music retail). All you idealists who think you’re sticking it to the recording companies, well, you’re just following
an empty ideal. Not only are you not doing any real damage to them, you’re also not affecting the massive retail outlets like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Circuit City. You’re only screwing the smaller chain stores that sell music. Thanks.
Allow me to elaborate: We begin this journey with the customer base that has no inkling of how to download music. In fact, that opening question is most often asked by the average customer who knows nothing of what an mp3 is. In a general sense, this category is made up of the baby boomer generation and older. I’m usually not one to generalize, but music downloading requires computer savvy and software availability. This means that it’s usually not the older crowd that’s going to download.
In addition, Stephen King pointed out an interesting occurrence in the baby boomer demographic. In his Entertainment Weekly column, he states that this generation, who once listened to challenging and creative music, has now resigned itself to purchasing music that is safe and well-worn.
I can attest to this trend. Our highest-selling release in the last few months was Clay Aiken, followed by Josh Groban. Both were usually purchased by people over 30. Our most consistent seller has been Rod Stewart’s new album, a second volume of old standards. Bob Seger was on our “Top 20” wall, and his was a greatest hits album, volume two. Even Britney and Blink-182, the masters of popular music, were trumped by the re-mastered Beatles album Let it Be that was released the same week.
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
Ken, don't take this the wrong way cause I'm sure you're a great fellow, but I don't care one whit if music retailers big, small or medium get squeezed out of the game. Y'all are just middlemen- and increasingly seem expendable. Trying to get the economics of the business in order, retailers and wholesalers seem like the first obvious places to squeeze.
The whole game is changing in a thousand ways, and everybody along the chain needs to justify their continuing cut. Bigger chains can work cheaper and more efficiently. They don't have to make much on music software, and they subsume a lot of the overhead as part of the larger store.
The smaller stores may tend to lose their reasons for being. They can't compete with prices, or even with selection. They certainly can't compete against Amazon for selection.
One traditional advantage of small stores might theoretically be getting more knowledgeable sales staff that might turn you on to cool stuff that you wouldn't otherwise know about. That was a nice idea.
It's largely irrelevant now, though. There are SO many more ways to hear about music, starting with but not limited to the internet. Again, just the automated recommendations and customer reviews sections at Amazon do me a hell of a lot more good in finding new music than anybody working at record stores ever has.
Then of course there is Blogcritics, which is where most cool people go for the skinny on the best records, books and video.
Other than to buy a concert ticket, I haven't been in a stand alone music retail store more than a time or two in several years now. I get more selection, cheaper prices and better information elsewhere.
Why exactly is it that we should give retail music stores our money, exactly?
2 - jadester
slightly left-of-centre on this topic but:
i do wish the record companies, or whoever is responsible for this, would take heed of the fact that releasing new albums with a bonus DVD at no extra cost/£1 extra is definitely the way to go, especially if said cd contains at least two music videos (any other content can be anything). Whilst i probably would have bought them anyway in the end, i now have two CDs bought over the past year that are the "spcial edition" ones with a bonus DVD. It's just that little bit extra, which also means i don't have to go over to Kazaa or similar if i want to get said music video.
Also, when it comes to music DVDs, bands should *really* take a leaf out of Tenacious D's book - their "The Complete Masterworks" DVD is TWO discs for £12.99 from amazon. Talk about vfm...
3 - Eric Olsen
I love small retailers and have talked about those who are remaining successful by finding niche markets. It seems to me that most of these issues apply whether online music is legit or illegit, and with the labels finally getting into the legit game, I'm not sure what the alternatives are other to become in essence a recommendation service that people trust, and to push the used stuff.
4 - Craig Lyndall
That's exactly what Al said. They need to prove their worth in the chain and they can't do it on price or selection most of the time. I guess I still love my local record store, but it must not be enough, because I have fallen in love with buying CD's on the secondary market like half.com and amazon marketplace. I always try and buy used stuff in good shape. Occasionally I get burned but I have saved so much money buying 5-7 dollar CD's that someone else doesn't want anymore that I can't justify going to the local indie shop anymore.
Even if the owner is a super cool guy who talks to me about music it is hard to justify. Maybe I should split the difference and buy a couple discs a month from him, but it is so great to just rock through a website, rack up 5 discs in my virtual shopping cart, see that I just averaged $10 per disc INCLUDING SHIPPING and have them trickle into my mail for the next couple of weeks. It's like buying year round Christmas.
5 - Eric Olsen
C, I would say it was "approximately" what Al said. iwould still much rather go to a physical store for used CDs because then I can see what I'm getting, plus used stores usually have SUPER MOFO CHEAP sections for a dollar or less and I always find things there and can gauge the condition for myself, etc. So I would say there IS a place for a physical store, but not in the long run for new releases.
6 - Craig Lyndall
That's fair. I will admit that I love the bargain bin or red sticker section at CD Game Exchange. I just think in the long run, the secondary market is much more efficient online and the price discrepancy will be pretty great. Or maybe I am one of the few who can deal with getting burned occasionally.
7 - Tom Johnson
Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats spending an hour slowly scanning the shelves for intriguing things. That's where the online retailers will never succeed. A lot of times I find things just by doing my slow walk up and down the aisles that I would not have remembered to specifically look for. That said, I've had to curtail my buying of *new* CDs at the local indies because their prices have gone through the roof. I understand their problem, but I've got a budget too. Adding $3 to the price of a CD will drive me out the door and down to Best Buy, I'm sorry to say. And I'm usually willing to wait a week for a shipment to arrive if I can save even more online. The biggest problem I'm finding is that instead of stocking more unusual titles, the indies are stocking more and more very commercial artists (at higher prices than anyone else) at the expense of less commercial stuff and I'm FORCED to resort to online purchases. If you won't stock it, it can't possibly sell, can it? And if you price those big commercial releases at $5 more than Best Buy, you're not going to sell those either. What's more, they usually have a list of top-20 sellers and they're usually less well-known artists. Hello?! Stock that stuff more than the big commercial releases - that's what your buyers want! When they've got 40 copies of the latest Britney Spears and they sell out of the only 2 copies they ordered of the new Death Cab For Cutie on the first day it's out, they can't blame customers for going to other stores to get that DCFC album. Panicking about lost sales and overstocking only big name artists is a dead-end - and it's exactly why I rarely buy new CDs at these stores. It's a real shame when I can find indie releases at Best Buy, of all places, but not at the local indie music store.
8 - Mark Saleski
yea, nothing will ever compete with a good record store. sadly, there aren't too many of them left. in the boston area, Newbury Comics used to be pretty good...but they've gone downhill in the last three years or so (and they were never good at jazz).
9 - Kevin
WOW!!!! This is a great website
10 - Eric Olsen
Kevin, please stop spamming our site with your inane ejaculations and tell your "best friends" to do the same. You are all idiots.
11 - Smenkharon
I haven't found amazon.com to be all that helpful with finding underground music. A CD I bought three weeks ago right at the import release date at one of the many great independant music retailers in Vancouver, B.C. is still nowhere to be seen on Amazon. As a lover of music and the entire package of art and info contained in a CD, I want to get my music first, and in it's entirety. I don't want to wait for an album that I have heard to be delivered to me, I want it in my hand right after I preview it in the store or the next day after a friend plays it for me or whatever. Downloading music is like reading a book online, personally I prefer to hold something and feel that it is a part of my life. My few burnt or downloaded CD's rarely get listened to, and I am reluctant to mix them in with the rest of my collection due to their unpleasing asthetics. Also I have many CD's that I have had signed by the artists at a live show, can you imagine asking an artist to sign the blank jewel case from your burnt CD! Major chain stores will only get my money if I'm buying something off of a major label, and then I feel good buying at less than cost and leaving without any of their other crap. The selection at independent stores, at least in the city I live in, is still far superior to anything I have seen online, and I for one will continue to support music retailers who are in it for the love of the art.
12 - anonymus
Ha ha! Foolish brainwashed American! People like you who believe everything the greedy monopolies like the RIAA are the reason why people like me wave our Canadian flag with pride!
I DOWNLOAD MY MUSIC WITH PRIDE, SO FUCK THE GREEDY CORRUPTED AMERICAN MONOPOLIES!!!!!!!!!