Indie Record Stores Learning To Thrive In The Age Of File Sharing

Culture

from the learning-to-adapt dept

We’ve discussed in the past the idea that the real bottleneck in having the recording industry accept file sharing was the existing channel: the record stores like Tower. However, it seems that some independent record stores have realized that instead of whining and complaining about file sharing, they should adjust to a different world – and they seem to be doing a pretty good job of it. A bunch of independent record stores say that file sharing is introducing people to new music that they then run out and buy at their stores. What’s much more interesting, though, is that it’s clear from the article that the independent stores they talked to have realized that they need to go beyond just being a record store, and turning the music shopping process into something of a social event. One of the stores described is full of old music memorabilia and was designed to be “half museum” and resemble the owners high school bedroom. Another is basically a club as well as a music store. It stays open late and has DJs playing. In fact, the owner claims that people come to his store after a night out dancing, and want to buy the music they heard. These are stores that are adjusting to how the market is changing, while all the big music stores seem to want to do is complain, blame file sharing, and declare bankruptcy.