Friday, February 27, 2004
The Viability of Independent Record Stores
Do you have a good independent record store in your town? I live in Greensboro, North Carolina, and we have a great store in gate.city.noise. The owner, Andrew, has good taste in the records he stocks (and important to me, actually stocks a fair number of new LPs). He is very knowledgeable, and the store regularly hosts some of the best shows in North Carolina (ida, dr. eugene chadbourne, atom and his package, crooked fingers, the shins, q and not u, xbxrx, the mountain goats, ted leo and the pharmacists, the album leaf, poor rich ones, superchunk, neko case, american analog set, engine down, the mercury program, k., denali, rye coalition, six parts seven, my morning jacket, 764-hero, the capitol city dusters, elf power, jason loewenstein, archer prewitt, lanterna, the velvet teen, hot hot heat, the aislers set, the quails, hella, smog, the thermals and many more). That is an impressive list, and shows are always free (although a donation for traveling bands is requested and a moral imperative). Local bands also get to open for these bands, and there are many shows with just local bands. The store and Andrew are central elements of Greensboro's underground scene. gate.city.noise displays local visual art and also sells skateboards (although I am not qualified to comment on the skateboard side of the business).
The problem is that gate.city.noise is in trouble and may be shutting down. Andrew sent out this message the other day:
-----------
What does gate.city.noise mean to you?
And what I mean by that question is what does it represent to you and how does it make your day better. This isn't a "check me out" by any means. Believe me when I say I don't run this record store to be cool or to be some big man around town, and I'm not trying to get some recognition for what I do here. I don't need that. I'm doing this because I love music to death. It consumes me and nurtures me. I do this because music commands it of me, and I whole heartedly accept. And I know a lot of you out there feel just as passionate about music as well.
I have tried many subtle times in the past to express my worries for the record industry and the future of this store, but today I will not sugar coat it and I will tell everyone the facts as they are. Some of this may come as a shock to you and many others simply won't care, which is fine. So the situation that the store is in now is the worst that it has ever been in it's 3 years and 11 months of business. People just aren't coming out to buy cd's and skateboards. I could speculate for hours on why, but the facts still remain. The past few months gate.city.noise has had remarkably low sales which cause it to be in debt something fierce. You see, in this unique business of release dates and large amounts of expensive inventory, one has to keep abreast of the new and desirable titles that you think everybody wants. Well, after weeks and weeks of buying cd's and not selling them, the lack of funds begin to become apparent in the form of flubber checks and denied shipments. And none of this new. This has been going on the whole time here, it's just that we were able to pull through unscathed. Not this time I'm afraid.
Last year, I (Andrew k Dudek), the sole owner and employee of gate.city.noise, made a grand total of $6400.00 . That's right, I made absolutely nothing. That barely covers the mortgage on my house. I'm not lying about this. So how do I survive then? Simple, I sacrifice everything I have and do for the better of the store as I should, it's mine. But I purposely did not take paychecks because it was more important to have this store stocked with new titles then it was for Andrew to have health or car insurance or even take his girlfriend out to dinner .
The debt is in the thousands which isn't so astonishing if you think about it. One shipment from one distributor could cost $2000 dollars and that doesn't include restocking title. And all businesses owe, that's no secret. But the debt I'm talking about is such that the lack of business and interest, leave me to worry and stress about not finding a way out. I am seriously considering selling the store and finding some new line of work that brings in an honest paycheck. I have seriously considered not selling skateboards, cutting my cd stock in half and focusing on making this more of a venue that brings in slightly larger bands. I have considered many many different things all at once, and I am tired.
So the next few weeks I am probably not going to have the newest albums you're looking for, because i simply do not have the money to make any orders. Aside from ebaying some posters and old skateboards, I can only hope that sales will pick up and carry the store to a safer place.
My reasons for writing this aren't to lay guilt on people or to look for hand outs. I'm not looking for anything like that. I'm just trying to tell everyone like it is. I do this store because I too want to live in a town that at least HAS a cool record store. Is Greensboro capable of sustaining such a store? Do people not like what gate.city.noise does? I'm I doing something wrong? Has president Bush's stupid stupid campaign really made this country's economy so bad that even its young financially aided student is too broke to buy cd's? Has the internet and downloading and overall suck bands caused this much damage? These are questions I ask myself daily. I don't have the answers. I know this is a bummer email, but it's better to hear it now instead of seeing taped up windows in two months. If any of the 1000 people on this email list have questions for me or suggestions or criticisms, you are more that welcome to call or email me. Please just ponder what it is I've said and think about the question that have I asked.
-----------
I think that this presents many interesting questions. Some are local questions. What does this say about Greensboro? However, I think that most of these problems are similar to those faced by independent record stores around the country.
I can speak to the state of independent record stores in the cities where I have lived. I have been in Greensboro less than a year and a half. I grew up in Connecticut, went to college in Boston, and law school in Manhattan. I also practiced law in DC for two years. When I was in Boston, it had great record stores, and I assume it still does. It is a fairly large city with a very large student population (although I have heard that even Newbury Comics is struggling with the record side of the business). New York of course has good record stores; New York can support a myriad of underground niches. Washington, DC, on the other hand, does not have a good independent record store (at least as of of 1.5 years ago). It used to. There was Vinyl Ink which was a great store, but it couldn't make rent as a store-front and became an internet business. Then, tragically, George (the owner) died a premature death about two years ago, so the mail order business disappeared as well. Smash in Georgetown has punk records, but it isn't a great place for independent new releases. DCCD in Adams Morgan was a pseudo independent store, but it closed in December. Yesterday and Today, out in Rockville Md., closed its doors two years ago and is today just an internet business. Yesterday and Today is owned by Skip Groff of Limp Records fame. On Limp he put out a bunch of great early DC punk and wave bands but is probably most famous for co-releasing the second Minor Threat 7". Many of the important figures in DC punk and hardcore worked at Yesterday and Today at one point.
My point is that if DC repeatedly can't support an independent record store in today's climate, I am not surprised that a city the size of Greensboro can't. Tom Ivey, a fellow WQFS dj, argues:
---
"I don't have the answers either. I think some of it falls into the decreased sense of community in today's society, where we (in the collective sense) are too busy and too isolated to even know, much less care about our neighbors. And yes, I think it takes a certain amount of social awareness when you're in the big chain stores or the ubiquitous discount department store (you know the one, the evil W world) to think, "do I really want to buy my music here or do I make a community quality of life decision and support my neighborhood indie store that carries the regional and unique titles I'm interested in as well as the major artist releases?" "Do I go to the major venue that's owned by the monopoly that's killing radio and pay a ridiculous service fee in addition to the ticket price or do I support original, live music at my local venues?" "Do I buy the records of the artists I love, or do I burn a copy from someone else?" I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir here. Definitely something to think about though. To steal a slogan from one of my old concert t-shirts, "change begins with the individual"."
---
All repect for Tom, his argument may be part of the problem, but I am not sure it is the main problem. I don't think the problem is with the people of Greensboro and especially not with the people involved in the underground scene. They are the patrons of independent music and support it as best as they can.
I may be out of touch with mainstream music consumption behavior and have an overly indie-centric view of the world. I haven't been to a big box record seller in almost a decade. I either buy new independent releases at a local independent store if I can get them that way, or I get them on the internet, usually straight from the label or band. I can't recall the last time I purchased a major label new release. I also buy out of print vinyl on eBay, but that is just about the only way to get it. I do not download music, either illegally or legally. The Luddite I am, I like to get new releases on vinyl if I can.
My (perhaps uninformed) sense is that a lot of gate.city customers do buy records and do most of their bricks and mortar shopping at gate.city. They may download, but I think they probably buy as many records as they would otherwise even without downloading. The average buyer of independent records has a limited record budget, but I think he spends most of that budget. Downloading may keep some people out of the store altogether, but it is unclear how many of them would be gate.city customers otherwise. I think the same is true of the big box. I am not sure how much of an intersection there is between big box customers and independent customers. I think there are two universes of record shoppers: independents and mainstreamers. The mainstreamers I know wouldn't shop at gate.city and vice-versa. I think that the biggest problem is that except in the largest markets, the universe of independent buyers is not large enough. There are also structural, financial difficulties faced by independent stores and labels. Independent records cost more to make but sell for less on the rack than major label releases. Major labels don't deal fairly with independent stores. The majors charge too much for their releases, so independents can't turn a sufficient profit on major releases. Walmart gets huge volume discounts. A store like gate.city gets charged more than any other retailer. Majors really don't even want to bother with independents who have tiny sales. As Andrew explained above, a record store requires a lot of cash and a large inventory for what, under even the best conditions, is a relatively small turn on investment.
There are so many ways to get music these days, and we can't really blame people for taking advantage of a number of these methods. We will see what happens with downloading, and a lot has been written on the subject. It may swamp the industry. Often times the most convenient way to get records is online. For some of the more obscure titles I buy, gate.city doesn't stock them and can't even get them on special order. I have no sympathy for people who buy at big boxes, but big boxes aren't really a place to get independent releases anyway. In short, I don't think we can blame our community if gate.city goes under. Essentially, the economics of the business are bad and Greensboro probably isn't a big enough market for an independent record store. That sucks. It sucks for me who may not have someplace to pick up new releases (I'll have to go online). It sucks that there will be less shows(although hopefully Ace's Basement can take up a lot of the slack). It sucks that a cohesive element of the community might disappear. It sucks for Andrew who put his heart into the business and could very well lose his shirt. What sucks most, though, is that the fourteen year old kid who discovers independent music through gate.city may never discover the music. She will go through life listening to whatever the corporate taste-makers sell her and will not experience the community of independent music. She will be a different person. On the other hand, her parents will probably be happy she goes down the path more traveled.
Hopefully we can come together as a community, realize what an important asset gate.city.noise is, and give the store the support it deserves.
Use the comments to put in your two cents on the subject. If you have something longer to say(the comments have a letter limit), write me an email, and I will post it to the site.
The problem is that gate.city.noise is in trouble and may be shutting down. Andrew sent out this message the other day:
-----------
What does gate.city.noise mean to you?
And what I mean by that question is what does it represent to you and how does it make your day better. This isn't a "check me out" by any means. Believe me when I say I don't run this record store to be cool or to be some big man around town, and I'm not trying to get some recognition for what I do here. I don't need that. I'm doing this because I love music to death. It consumes me and nurtures me. I do this because music commands it of me, and I whole heartedly accept. And I know a lot of you out there feel just as passionate about music as well.
I have tried many subtle times in the past to express my worries for the record industry and the future of this store, but today I will not sugar coat it and I will tell everyone the facts as they are. Some of this may come as a shock to you and many others simply won't care, which is fine. So the situation that the store is in now is the worst that it has ever been in it's 3 years and 11 months of business. People just aren't coming out to buy cd's and skateboards. I could speculate for hours on why, but the facts still remain. The past few months gate.city.noise has had remarkably low sales which cause it to be in debt something fierce. You see, in this unique business of release dates and large amounts of expensive inventory, one has to keep abreast of the new and desirable titles that you think everybody wants. Well, after weeks and weeks of buying cd's and not selling them, the lack of funds begin to become apparent in the form of flubber checks and denied shipments. And none of this new. This has been going on the whole time here, it's just that we were able to pull through unscathed. Not this time I'm afraid.
Last year, I (Andrew k Dudek), the sole owner and employee of gate.city.noise, made a grand total of $6400.00 . That's right, I made absolutely nothing. That barely covers the mortgage on my house. I'm not lying about this. So how do I survive then? Simple, I sacrifice everything I have and do for the better of the store as I should, it's mine. But I purposely did not take paychecks because it was more important to have this store stocked with new titles then it was for Andrew to have health or car insurance or even take his girlfriend out to dinner .
The debt is in the thousands which isn't so astonishing if you think about it. One shipment from one distributor could cost $2000 dollars and that doesn't include restocking title. And all businesses owe, that's no secret. But the debt I'm talking about is such that the lack of business and interest, leave me to worry and stress about not finding a way out. I am seriously considering selling the store and finding some new line of work that brings in an honest paycheck. I have seriously considered not selling skateboards, cutting my cd stock in half and focusing on making this more of a venue that brings in slightly larger bands. I have considered many many different things all at once, and I am tired.
So the next few weeks I am probably not going to have the newest albums you're looking for, because i simply do not have the money to make any orders. Aside from ebaying some posters and old skateboards, I can only hope that sales will pick up and carry the store to a safer place.
My reasons for writing this aren't to lay guilt on people or to look for hand outs. I'm not looking for anything like that. I'm just trying to tell everyone like it is. I do this store because I too want to live in a town that at least HAS a cool record store. Is Greensboro capable of sustaining such a store? Do people not like what gate.city.noise does? I'm I doing something wrong? Has president Bush's stupid stupid campaign really made this country's economy so bad that even its young financially aided student is too broke to buy cd's? Has the internet and downloading and overall suck bands caused this much damage? These are questions I ask myself daily. I don't have the answers. I know this is a bummer email, but it's better to hear it now instead of seeing taped up windows in two months. If any of the 1000 people on this email list have questions for me or suggestions or criticisms, you are more that welcome to call or email me. Please just ponder what it is I've said and think about the question that have I asked.
-----------
I think that this presents many interesting questions. Some are local questions. What does this say about Greensboro? However, I think that most of these problems are similar to those faced by independent record stores around the country.
I can speak to the state of independent record stores in the cities where I have lived. I have been in Greensboro less than a year and a half. I grew up in Connecticut, went to college in Boston, and law school in Manhattan. I also practiced law in DC for two years. When I was in Boston, it had great record stores, and I assume it still does. It is a fairly large city with a very large student population (although I have heard that even Newbury Comics is struggling with the record side of the business). New York of course has good record stores; New York can support a myriad of underground niches. Washington, DC, on the other hand, does not have a good independent record store (at least as of of 1.5 years ago). It used to. There was Vinyl Ink which was a great store, but it couldn't make rent as a store-front and became an internet business. Then, tragically, George (the owner) died a premature death about two years ago, so the mail order business disappeared as well. Smash in Georgetown has punk records, but it isn't a great place for independent new releases. DCCD in Adams Morgan was a pseudo independent store, but it closed in December. Yesterday and Today, out in Rockville Md., closed its doors two years ago and is today just an internet business. Yesterday and Today is owned by Skip Groff of Limp Records fame. On Limp he put out a bunch of great early DC punk and wave bands but is probably most famous for co-releasing the second Minor Threat 7". Many of the important figures in DC punk and hardcore worked at Yesterday and Today at one point.
My point is that if DC repeatedly can't support an independent record store in today's climate, I am not surprised that a city the size of Greensboro can't. Tom Ivey, a fellow WQFS dj, argues:
---
"I don't have the answers either. I think some of it falls into the decreased sense of community in today's society, where we (in the collective sense) are too busy and too isolated to even know, much less care about our neighbors. And yes, I think it takes a certain amount of social awareness when you're in the big chain stores or the ubiquitous discount department store (you know the one, the evil W world) to think, "do I really want to buy my music here or do I make a community quality of life decision and support my neighborhood indie store that carries the regional and unique titles I'm interested in as well as the major artist releases?" "Do I go to the major venue that's owned by the monopoly that's killing radio and pay a ridiculous service fee in addition to the ticket price or do I support original, live music at my local venues?" "Do I buy the records of the artists I love, or do I burn a copy from someone else?" I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir here. Definitely something to think about though. To steal a slogan from one of my old concert t-shirts, "change begins with the individual"."
---
All repect for Tom, his argument may be part of the problem, but I am not sure it is the main problem. I don't think the problem is with the people of Greensboro and especially not with the people involved in the underground scene. They are the patrons of independent music and support it as best as they can.
I may be out of touch with mainstream music consumption behavior and have an overly indie-centric view of the world. I haven't been to a big box record seller in almost a decade. I either buy new independent releases at a local independent store if I can get them that way, or I get them on the internet, usually straight from the label or band. I can't recall the last time I purchased a major label new release. I also buy out of print vinyl on eBay, but that is just about the only way to get it. I do not download music, either illegally or legally. The Luddite I am, I like to get new releases on vinyl if I can.
My (perhaps uninformed) sense is that a lot of gate.city customers do buy records and do most of their bricks and mortar shopping at gate.city. They may download, but I think they probably buy as many records as they would otherwise even without downloading. The average buyer of independent records has a limited record budget, but I think he spends most of that budget. Downloading may keep some people out of the store altogether, but it is unclear how many of them would be gate.city customers otherwise. I think the same is true of the big box. I am not sure how much of an intersection there is between big box customers and independent customers. I think there are two universes of record shoppers: independents and mainstreamers. The mainstreamers I know wouldn't shop at gate.city and vice-versa. I think that the biggest problem is that except in the largest markets, the universe of independent buyers is not large enough. There are also structural, financial difficulties faced by independent stores and labels. Independent records cost more to make but sell for less on the rack than major label releases. Major labels don't deal fairly with independent stores. The majors charge too much for their releases, so independents can't turn a sufficient profit on major releases. Walmart gets huge volume discounts. A store like gate.city gets charged more than any other retailer. Majors really don't even want to bother with independents who have tiny sales. As Andrew explained above, a record store requires a lot of cash and a large inventory for what, under even the best conditions, is a relatively small turn on investment.
There are so many ways to get music these days, and we can't really blame people for taking advantage of a number of these methods. We will see what happens with downloading, and a lot has been written on the subject. It may swamp the industry. Often times the most convenient way to get records is online. For some of the more obscure titles I buy, gate.city doesn't stock them and can't even get them on special order. I have no sympathy for people who buy at big boxes, but big boxes aren't really a place to get independent releases anyway. In short, I don't think we can blame our community if gate.city goes under. Essentially, the economics of the business are bad and Greensboro probably isn't a big enough market for an independent record store. That sucks. It sucks for me who may not have someplace to pick up new releases (I'll have to go online). It sucks that there will be less shows(although hopefully Ace's Basement can take up a lot of the slack). It sucks that a cohesive element of the community might disappear. It sucks for Andrew who put his heart into the business and could very well lose his shirt. What sucks most, though, is that the fourteen year old kid who discovers independent music through gate.city may never discover the music. She will go through life listening to whatever the corporate taste-makers sell her and will not experience the community of independent music. She will be a different person. On the other hand, her parents will probably be happy she goes down the path more traveled.
Hopefully we can come together as a community, realize what an important asset gate.city.noise is, and give the store the support it deserves.
Use the comments to put in your two cents on the subject. If you have something longer to say(the comments have a letter limit), write me an email, and I will post it to the site.
