Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
I'm a baby boomer (so called), and none of the brick-and-mortars in my area can afford to stock what I crave. So it's a combination of Internet sellers and transfering my large LP collection to CDR.
If the answers to last week's Vote is any indication, record stores are indeed in trouble. What percentage of your music purchases in the last 12 months has been at a brick-and-mortar retailer in your area?
I would gladly purchase more music from retail stores, however because my musical tastes tend towards classical and jazz, I find it increasingly harder to find even new releases from major labels locally, forcing me to buy online. Wish it wasn't so. I love to browse and expirament.
I try to deal with local merchants when shopping brick-and-mortar stores, even when it means paying a small premium over the "chain store" retailers. I do, however belong to a record club, so not all of my purchases are not local.
So I'm a dinosaur. The best equipment retailer in Dallas put new focus on stocking vinyl last year, the independant small chain re-seller I pass by on the way home carries both bleeding edge new stuff and a good out-of-print stock and I still enjoy going up to the counter with such a stack and variety at Tower that the manager comes over to see who the old guy is that's buying BT, Big Youth and Neil Young is and to give me a 15% so I'll come back. But the guys are hurtin' some. I still have to e-buy. It's the only place I saw Elvis Costello's Clarksdale Sessions, for instance.
All of it, from a little store in Westport, CT called Sally's Place. I don't get there that often anymore, since it's a few hundred miles away, but I make a point of visiting whenever I'm in the area. It's the only store I know (any more) where you can have a real conversation with the owner about music.
The fifty percent from a brick and mortar store actually was mostly foreign music that sells at much more reasonable prices(as low as $5-6,if you know where to shop). Other then that I only buy when I see rare disc or discs I want on sale.
Classical Millennium here in Portland Oregon has the most amazing selection of CDs, vinyl, DVDs etc on the west coast; it is one of those places where you get giddy from the sheer sensory overload of so much great music! And it is only part of the larger store Music Millennium. They've been around since the 1970s. Check out their website too: musicmillennium.com
I purchase from a variety of dealers; however, most have been from Border's. They have a significant inventory of the Naxos label. They frequently offer online coupons that save 20% to 25% off the retail price. Best Buy has a large music selection at somewhat discounted prices, but the jazz and classical offerings are slim. I look at online sources such as Amazon and CDNOW for hard-to-find music. I have also purchased music from Stereophile and Mapleshade.
Selections keep dwindling done. Quite frankly, buying on line is easy and I can generally find everything I want. Shipping comes out to about the same as paying sales tax. Seems like a wash to me. Audio software is becoming an inventory nightmare with low margins to boot.