April 30, 2008

The Death of the Record Store

Posted by Suemedha Sood at 7:26AM

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Earlier this month, many of us celebrated Record Store Day by visiting local record stores, or possibly mourning the loss of some of those stores. In the last decade, over 3,000 independent record stores have shut down across the country. A new documentary is looking at why record stores are losing their place in American life and what it all means for the music industry as a whole.

I Need That Record!: The Death (Or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store features such musical greats as Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and Ian Mackaye of Fugazi. They're joined by experts including punk historian Legs McNeil and political theorist Noam Chomsky. Filmmaker Brendan Toller also interviews both small business owners and music label executives.

The film not only explores how technology and the Internet have changed the way we consume music -- with everything from mp3 players to iTunes to music blogs and MySpace to, yes, of course, illegal downloading. It also takes a hard look at how corporate giants like Wal-Mart and Best Buy are pushing small businesses out of the market, how corporate radio dictates what many of us listen to, and how major music labels "squash new ideas" by focusing on the bottom line.

From Toller's I Need That Record! blog:

The music industry has always been a unique marriage of art and commerce, but today commerce has proved to be the ultimate influence. Rather than develop great acts, embrace new technology, offer affordable products; the major labels are more concerned with turning the clocks back to preserve old business models- with only one thing in mind- THE BOTTOM LINE.

Keep the full paid expense accounts and 7 figure incomes. Keep suing fans. Keep shoving bland music down people's throats that will sell x amounts. Keep producing homogenized radio programs that play the same 50 songs. Keep supporting big box businesses that could care less about music; businesses that sell music below list price. Keep screwing the consumers and retailers who love and care about good captivating music. Squash new ideas, new innovations, and new possibilities as the future of recorded music, a commodity that supports the artist, vanishes.

I Need That Record! premiers May 3 (this Saturday) at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. All are welcome to attend the screening.

View the trailer here:

And check out a few more links here: