The Graying of the Record Store

Just what the name says.
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krabapple
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The Graying of the Record Store

Postby krabapple » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:18 am

The NY Times ran this article today about how brick and morter
'record stores' are going down the shitter, patronized mainly by aging baby boomers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/fashi ... store.html


The Graying of the Record Store
By ALEX WILLIAMS

SO this is an evening rush?

On a recent Monday, six people — soon enough four, then two — were browsing the bins of compact discs at Norman’s Sound and Vision, a music store on Cooper Square in Manhattan, around 6 p.m., a time that once constituted the daily rush hour. A decade ago, the number of shoppers might have been 20 or 30, said Norman Isaacs, the owner. Six people? He would have had that many working in the store.

“I used to make more in a day than I probably make in a week now,” said the shaven-headed Mr. Isaacs, 59, whose largely empty aisles brimming with punk, jazz, Latin music, and lots and lots of classic rock have left him, many afternoons, looking like a rock ’n’ roll version of the Maytag repairman. Just as troubling to Mr. Isaacs is the age of his clientele.

“It’s much grayer,” he said mournfully.

The neighborhood record store was once a clubhouse for teenagers, a place to escape parents, burn allowances and absorb the latest trends in fashion as well as music. But these days it is fast becoming a temple of nostalgia for shoppers old enough to remember “Frampton Comes Alive!’’

In the era of iTunes and MySpace, the customer base that still thinks of recorded music as a physical commodity (that is, a CD), as opposed to a digital file to be downloaded, is shrinking and aging, further imperiling record stores already under pressure from mass-market discounters like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

The bite that downloading has taken out of CD sales is well known — the compact disc market fell about 25 percent between 1999 and 2005, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade organization. What that precipitous drop indicated by the figures doesn’t reveal is that this trend is turning many record stores into haunts for the gray-ponytail set. This is especially true of big-city stores that stock a wider range of music than the blockbuster acts.

“We don’t see the kids anymore,” said Thom Spennato, who owns Sound Track, a cozy store on busy Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “That 12-to-15-year-old market, that’s what’s missing the last couple of years.”

Without that generation of buyers, the future looks bleak. “My landlord asked me if I wanted another 10-year lease, and I said no,” Mr. Spennato said. “I have four years left, then I’m out.”

Since late 2003, about 900 independent record stores have closed nationwide, leaving about 2,700, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail, a marketing research company in Studio City, Calif. In 2004, Tower Records, one of the nation’s largest chains, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Greta Perr, an owner of Future Legends, a new and used CD store on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, said that young people never really came back to her store after the Napster file-sharing upheaval of the late 90’s; she has responded by filling her windows with artists like Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. “People come in and say: ‘I remember when I was 20, Steve Miller’s second record came out. Can I get that?’ ” she said.

Industry statistics bear out the graying of the CD-buying public. Purchases by shoppers between ages 15 and 19 represented 12 percent of recorded music in 2005, a decline from about 17 percent in 1996, according to the Recording Industry Association. Purchases by those 20 to 24 represented less than 13 percent in 2005, down from about 15 percent. Over the same period, the share of recorded music bought by adults over 45 rose to 25.5 percent, from 15 percent.

(The figures include CD’s and downloaded songs, with CD’s still an overwhelming share of the market in recorded music, 87 percent, in 2005.)

The dominance of older buyers is especially evident at smaller independent stores in metropolitan areas, where younger consumers tend to be more tech-oriented and older music fans tend to be more esoteric in their tastes, said Russ Crupnick, an analyst with the NPD Group, a market research firm.

At Norman’s, which is 15 years old and just around the corner from New York’s epicenter of punk, St. Marks Place, shoppers with nose rings and dewy cheeks are not unknown. But they may only be looking to use the automatic teller machine. A pair of teenagers — he with ink-black dyed hair, and she in ragged camouflage shorts — wandered in one evening recently and promptly froze in the doorway, stopped in their tracks by an Isaac Hayes cut from the 70’s.

They had the confused looks of would-be congregants who had stumbled into a church of the wrong denomination; they quickly shuffled off. Most of Norman’s other customers were old enough to remember eight-track tapes. Steven Russo, 53, for instance, was looking for jazz CD’s. Mr. Russo, a high school teacher in Valley Stream, N.Y., said that he values the store for its sense of camaraderie among cognoscenti as much as its selection. “It’s the ability of people to talk to people about the music, to talk to personnel who are knowledgeable,” he said.

Richard Antone, a freelance writer from Newark whose hair was flecked with silver curls, said his weekly trip to the store is a visual experience as well as an auditory one. “I remember how people admired the artwork on an album like ‘Electric Ladyland’ or ‘Sgt. Pepper’ as much as the music,” he said.

The lost generation of young shoppers — for whom a CD is a silvery disc on which you burn your own songs and then label with a black marker — will probably spell doom for Norman’s within the next five years, said Mr. Isaacs, the owner. Several of his downtown competitors have already disappeared, he said.

Some independent owners are resisting the demographic challenges. Eric Levin, 36, who owns three Criminal Records stores in Atlanta and oversees a trade group called the Alliance of Independent Media Stores, representing 30 shops nationally, said that businesses losing young customers are “dinosaurs” that have done nothing to cater to the new generation. Around the country, he said, shops like Grimey’s in Nashville, Shake It Records in Cincinnati and Other Music in New York are hanging on to young customers by evolving into one-stop hipster emporiums. Besides selling obscure CD’s and even vinyl records, many have diversified into comic books, Japanese robot toys and clothing. Some have opened adjoining nightclubs or, in Mr. Levin’s case, coffee shops.

“Kids don’t have to go to the record store like earlier generations,” Mr. Levin said. “You have to make them want to. You have to make it an event.”

But diversification is not always an option for smaller stores with little extra space, like Norman’s. Mr. Isaacs’s continued survival is due in part to a side business he runs selling used CD’s on Amazon and eBay. He buys them from walk-in customers who are often dumping entire collections.

Unlike the threatened independent bookstore, with its tattered rugs, dusty shelves and shedding cats, indie record stores in danger of disappearing do not inspire much hand-wringing, perhaps because they are not as celebrated in popular imagination as the quaint bookshop. (Record geeks can claim only “High Fidelity,’’ the book and movie, as a nostalgic touchstone.)

Still, the passing of such places would be mourned.

Danny Fields, the Ramones’ first manager, points out that visiting Bleecker Bob’s on West Third Street in the late 70’s was “like experiencing the New York music scene” in miniature — it was a cultural locus, a trading post for all the latest punk trends. “Dropping into Bleecker Bob’s was like dropping into CBGB’s,” he said. (You can still drop into Bleecker Bob’s.)

Dave Marsh, the rock critic and author of books on popular music, noted that rockers like Jonathan Richman and Iggy Pop honed their edgy musical tastes working as record store clerks.

“It’s part of the transmission of music,” said Mr. Marsh, who recalls being turned on to cult bands like the Fugs and the Mothers of Invention by the clerks at his local record store in his hometown, Waterford, Mich. “It seems like you can’t have a neighborhood without them.”
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dudelsack
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Postby dudelsack » Mon Jul 17, 2006 11:17 am

The most astonishing part of the article is learning that Bleecker Bob's was once not a totally worthless rip-off. Who knew?

Also, Norman's Sound and Vision is a pretty crap store at this point.

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Postby Xenu » Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:00 pm

dudelsack wrote:The most astonishing part of the article is learning that Bleecker Bob's was once not a totally worthless rip-off. Who knew?


I've never been to Bleecker Bob's...what's so bad about it?

Also, Norman's Sound and Vision is a pretty crap store at this point.


Norman's has always had an interesting selection of "old" CD pressings (most of which seem to be used stock sold as new), but the prices are a little unreal.
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njwiv
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Postby njwiv » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:26 pm

It's a pretty sad state of affairs, although that may have more to do with the older generation's disappointment at seeing something that seemed like an immutable rite of passage become inessential to the modern youth culture. Does it make us dinosaurs?

My local indy has taken to renting independent films and other DVDs in hopes of driving more foot traffic from the younger generation.

Jay

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Postby David R. Modny » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:42 pm

I have to admit that the first time I was ever in a NYC record store, 20 years ago, I was disappointed. Not only for the insane prices, but for some of the other quirky things a couple of the stores seemed to do. For example, removing the vinyl and sleeve from the jacket of used LP's and keeping it behind the counter (kind of defeats the purpose of browsing), passing off used stuff as new, etc.

Not that this kind of behavior is exclusive to NYC...

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dudelsack
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Postby dudelsack » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:34 am

Xenu wrote:
dudelsack wrote:The most astonishing part of the article is learning that Bleecker Bob's was once not a totally worthless rip-off. Who knew?


I've never been to Bleecker Bob's...what's so bad about it?

Also, Norman's Sound and Vision is a pretty crap store at this point.


Norman's has always had an interesting selection of "old" CD pressings (most of which seem to be used stock sold as new), but the prices are a little unreal.


BB's is a tourist record shop. The prices are ABSURD, and the condition of most of the records is questionable.

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Postby Gary Dunaier » Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:00 am

I used to go to the used CD stores on St. Mark's Place two, maybe three times a week... and I could easily spend a good two-three hours there.

These days, I'm hard-pressed to go there once a month... and I think I'd be hard-pressed to spend even one hour, total.

seth
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Postby seth » Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:14 pm

I still go to all the record shops around the Village for used CDs and vinyl. But I have to agree about Bleecker Bob's and Norman's -- I NEVER go to those two. The only thing Norman's is good for is that they often sell new releases as soon as they receive them, before the official authorized Tuesday first day of sale. But why not wait 2 days and get it cheaper?

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Jeff T.
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Postby Jeff T. » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:58 pm

I get a sickish feeling when I'm in record stores now. The nice things are way over priced, the staff is resentful, the music being played is usually bad, the new releases boring.

I think when it became clear that 80% of the LP reissues in the bins are digital it took a lot of the value out of any potential purchase.

When you've been collecting for 35 years or so, you already have a good collection. So that will definitely make the pickins' seem slimmer.

When I am at Amoeba in LA and visit the DVD section, I get the exciting feeling I used to have in the music stores. You see all these new box sets, deluxe packages, imports on PAL, Japanese imports on R2 NTSC, and tons of used at bargain prices. It becomes clear, the movie and tv industries get it, and the music biz does not. Those deluxe packages are priced to sell, even the new ones, have two discs, booklet, hours and hours or entertainment in those DVD cases. The record labels only just realized that deluxe editions are a good idea, and prices better not be too high. But it is too fucking late for them, they sat on their asses refusing to dig into the vaults and give the fans some value. They signed up some pretty boys with cool hair, and some sexy girls with nice tummies and hot legs, shot some expensive videos to get a hit album or two, which killed off real art in music for the most part.

So basically, the reason for the fading of the record store is the fade-out commercially of real music. Really simple.

Oh, but way back when Bleecker Bob's had a location in LA on Melrose, they put up a Bowie - Man Who Sold The World w/ UK drag cover in Near Mint condition for $99.99. I snatched up the one quick. Always thinking it was likely a counterfeit. It proved to be legit and in condition never seen again anywhere. They messed up on that one, as it was worth $350 to $400 then, and is worth $600+ now if ever one appeared in that condition. I got Bowie to sign it. With a silver ink marker against the textured cover is looks stunning.

But anyway, I am glad for all those bargains, Los Angeles prices were low and selection the best compared to anywhere else I've ever lived or visited. Now I mostly find things at thrifts stores or on ebay. Often I buy thrift store finds, sometimes I flip them on ebay and use the money to buy others.

So the labels and record stores can lay down and die now, they had their amazing run, and let the DVD market capture the market. "

DVDs are the best value in recorded entertainment"
Last edited by Jeff T. on Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Patrick M
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Postby Patrick M » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:23 pm

Peter De Vries wrote:Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Chuck thinks that I look to good to be a computer geek. I think that I know too much about interface design, css, xhtml, php, asp, perl, and ia (too name a few things) to not be one.

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Jeff T.
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Postby Jeff T. » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:58 pm

No it isn't. And I really want to see Tower Records close up, completely admit that the era of the $17.99 CD with a side order of attitude is over.

I keep reading about people saying without that chain then they'd never have found out about such and such artist. I say that if that is the case, that listener is way out of the loop and "needs" to get online and read in some forums and newsgroups, and get out of that place.

I remember I was working at a record label and we put together an advertisement for that Pulse rag. Worked really hard to get it done and before the deadline and all. Then I get a call asking if we do mail/web orders, this from the Pulse sales office. They said that we were not allowed to mention our website if we do any sales from it. Tower did not like the competition and was going to refuse to run our add unless we took out the website mention. I knew then that there was about to be a great big divide. Tower was going to be served it's future, and it would not be a tall one.

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stevef
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Postby stevef » Tue Aug 22, 2006 2:55 am

Personally, I do not want to see Tower go away.

I saw this on tonight's local television news...
Here we go again...

from bizjournals.com--


Tower Records files bankruptcy, again

The Portland Business Journal - 2:33 PM PDT Monday

National retailer Tower Records late Sunday filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than three years and will likely sell within the next two months.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based company, which has 89 stores nationwide -- including one in Portland -- also announced an agreement for $85 million in debtor-in-possession financing with its current bank group, CIT Group. The deal allows Tower Records to purchase new product for its stores. Most record companies had halted shipments to financially strapped Tower Records in recent weeks.

Tower Records filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Sunday, the second time in about 30 months. The company exited bankruptcy in 2004 after it agreed to a debt-for-equity deal that transferred most of the ownership of Tower Records from the Solomon family to the retailer's bondholders in the 2004.

The company is evaluating letters of intent from potential buyers, Tower CEO Joseph D'Amico said in a statement Monday.

"Potential parties seeking to acquire Tower Records recognize the strength of the brand and its unique position with the marketplace, making it a very attractive opportunity," said D'Amico, a turnaround consultant who took over as CEO last month. D'Amico replaced Allen Rodriguez, who chose not to renew his contract that expired in July.

Speculation about the company's dire financial condition became evident when many major record companies stopped delivering CDs to the retailer because of missed payments.

"The trade has always supported Tower through difficult times and we recognize their support is imperative to the consummation of a transaction," D'Amico said Monday of the agreement that ensures new releases at its stores.

The company has hired Los Angeles-based firm Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin to sell the 46-year-old chain. Private equity companies may be interested in Tower Records, which was voted Retailer of the Year for the third consecutive year at the 48th annual National Association of Recording Merchandisers conference earlier this month.

Tower also licenses the brand for 144 stores in nine foreign countries, sells prerecorded media on its tower.com site and started offering digital music downloads.

___________________________________________


Analyst: Trans World likely buyer of bankrupt Tower Records

Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal - 4:57 PM PDT Monday by Kelly Johnson


A national music-store chain is the most likely buyer of financially strapped Tower Records, according to a music industry consultant on Monday.

Trans World Entertainment Corp.
, the only natural buyer for Tower now that it returned to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, will pick up Tower for no money -- only the assumption of Tower's debt -- the consultant said.

Trans World, a music and video chain of more than 800 stores, would cherry-pick Tower's 89 stores, and keep some open for now, said Barry Sosnick, president and founder of Earful.info, a music industry consulting firm and veteran of music retail mergers and acquisitions. Among its locations are stores in San Jose, Campbell and Mountain View.

"As of today, we have no intention of closing stores," a spokewoman for Tower said Monday.

West Sacramento-based Tower Records filed late Sunday for bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than three years, and will likely be sold within the next two months. On Monday, Tower also announced an agreement for $85 million in debtor-in-possession financing with its current bank group, CIT Group.

The deal allows Tower Records to purchase new product for its stores. Most record companies had halted shipments to financially strapped Tower Records in recent weeks.

Tower Records filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Sunday, the second time in about 30 months. The company exited bankruptcy in 2004 after it agreed to a debt-for-equity deal that transferred most of the ownership of Tower Records from the Solomon family to the retailer's bondholders in 2004.

A second, but less likely, scenario is that someone outside the industry will buy Tower, Sosnick said. But potential outside buyers may pass when they think about how Best Buy Co. Inc. sold its acquired Musicland division to Trans World after it failed to turn around the struggling retailer.

Trans World has been waiting for Tower to reach this stage, he said.

"When you're the only natural buyer, you don't have to rush and you don't have to pay anything," Sosnick said. "I think the stores will exist. The length that they'll exist for is the question."

Trans World, if it does buy Tower Records, could keep Tower as a separate brand or fold it into existing operations, he said.

Trans World's brands include For Your Entertainment, Coconuts, Wherehouse Music, Sam Goody and Suncoast.

"Tower's brand equity has eroded over the last couple years," he said.
"Once (founder) Russ (Solomon) got marginalized by the bankruptcy courts and the creditors, then the chain became less effective at satisfying customers."

Amazon and iTunes dominated -- instead of Tower -- as the place to go for niche products and older titles.

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Jeff T.
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Postby Jeff T. » Tue Aug 22, 2006 3:13 am

I can't see a future in Tower Records. I just can't. Nobody in their right mind would poor money into that chain. They are now at the end of their rope with no knot to hang onto.

I wonder how you file BK on a Sunday? Don't you have to wait until Monday when legal offices are open?

And 3 of the 4 labels stopped sending product a couple of weeks ago. I doubt that they will just change their minds.

I am still pissed at them for the handling of a return of a Hendrix purple box set I bought. It was 49.99 on sale. I lost the receipt, but has all the shrink wrap with price sticker, all I wanted was an exchange, but they would not budge. My copy had LPs that looked really scratched and dirty. I ended up buying another to get a receipt, and then taking it back for credit.

Another time it was getting 10 min. to closing and they got on the speaker and really were annoying about closing, and demanded everyone bring their purchase to the front now, or you won't get to buy anything. I walked out and never bought another item there at all.

The stores are ugly, the help over-rated, the prices have always been the worst except for sale items. Just not a good experience. Better going to Amoeba or Virgin Megastore.

It was once ok many years ago when they had an import section. But times have changed, things move on, and ALL THINGS MUST PASS.

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Postby stevef » Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:00 am

Jeff T. wrote:I am still pissed at them for the handling of a return of a Hendrix purple box set I bought. It was 49.99 on sale. I lost the receipt, but has all the shrink wrap with price sticker, all I wanted was an exchange, but they would not budge. My copy had LPs that looked really scratched and dirty. I ended up buying another to get a receipt, and then taking it back for credit.



One may not like Tower's *strict* return policy (I know I don't), but all of their rules for returning an item purchased there are clearly *stated* behind the counter. And *why* one has only 14 days to return an item is really ridiculous. (It should be 30 days like most stores - Target offers a generous 90 days for returns or exchanges.)

But if I didn't have a sales receipt, (lost or otherwise), one's chances of returning the item back to Tower for credit or exchange (a refund in this situation would be impossible) are ZERO... like it or not.
(The only way Tower might oblige is right after Christmas, and that's if the item is sealed with a Tower sticker on it.) I know this from years of experience, and from the many clerks I know at Tower. There are always the rare exceptions (and some store managers are nicer than others), but the general rule of thumb IMO is if one doesn't have a receipt... forget about returning it at Tower.

In fact, few stores will oblige anymore without a receipt.

The best thing to do when one loses a receipt is take the unopened item (without the sticker) to a Borders store. There, they will give you full credit at Borders. Of course, this is at *Border* prices but... it's doable.

That Hendrix box (which I acquired from Costco for $27) is worth about $60 in credit at Borders. Not bad.

Hope this helps...

Steve

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Jeff T.
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Postby Jeff T. » Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:34 am

stevef wrote:
Jeff T. wrote:That Hendrix box (which I acquired from Costco for $27) is worth about $60 in credit at Borders. Not bad.

Hope this helps...

Steve


No, it does not help. Mine was the LP set and not the CD box. They are worth 80 to 100 now. I got the last one in the store as a replacement, and they never got more, or if a few more arrived, they were not on sale for 49.99.

It's all too little too late. Tower is going down now. It may take a few more years if they wish to blow millions more in denial, or it may come in Jan. after that last holiday season. But they are going down, I hate the shopping experience (of course I am in the center of the used music capitol of the universe) at Tower, don't like they way they acted like shopping there was a privilege for the rich and the cool. And I look forward to going to the close out "goodbye LA" clearance sale even if I don't spend a penny.

Sorry to hear you like it, because it is going out like the dinosaur, or a badly wired light bulb.