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Unsung Forum » Record Store Day: The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle |
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Fitter Stoke 1672 posts |
Edited Apr 16, 2011, 19:33
Apr 16, 2011, 19:26
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Like many other lost souls, I traipsed to my local independent record shops today on the hunt for several "exclusive" "one day only" gems from my much-dug favourites. As Newcastle had no fewer than three stores participating in the promotion, I thought I had a decent chance of tracing the records I desired. And so it proved: only the Rolling Stones' 45 proved impossible to source. So you'd expect me to be happy. I'm not. For the pleasure and privilege of owning a small handful of 7" and 12" singles, I'm going to have to live on gruel and watta for the rest of the month. This is because I was charged between £6 and £14(!) per single. I passed on my LP choice (Syd) when I saw a price tag of £22 attached to a single album's worth of songs (on two records, but still only a single album's worth) I already had umpteen times over. By the time my wallet had suffered the cost of those singles, I couldn't afford it anyway. There's no-one more committed to keeping my local indie record shops alive than me, but I'm feeling more than a little ripped off (and pissed off) at the prices I was charged today. No doubt the shops' prices reflected the high cost prices imposed by the "struggling" music industry, but I feel overcome by the harsh stench of greed which permeated each premises. You pays your money and you takes your choice, of course. And I did just that. But I feel immensely dissatisfied and short-changed by the appalling value for money of a fairly unexceptional clutch of records, whatever their rarity. Maybe I'm supposed to feel exonerated by the fact that I've done my bit to keep my local record stores alive. A pox on that. At those prices I'll be bankrupt before they are. And, no doubt, many of the one day exclusives will remain on the shelves long after today, just like last year's Soft Machine release which was still in the racks this afternoon. I won't get fooled again. |
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IanB 5405 posts |
Edited Apr 16, 2011, 20:41
Apr 16, 2011, 20:33
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That the RSD and label web sites give no indication of the dealer price or an RRP might mean that it is intended to be like a PBS "Pledge Drive" where you pay a premium for being a good consumer and a nice person and the money goes to fund the station. In other words it is a turn-over beano for the indie stores and one big marketing op for the record business as a whole. I doubt very much that the dealer prices reflect the prices you were paying. Would not surprise me if some of the exclusive product was charged at a token amount to cover manufacture and royalties only. Might have been an idea if the record distribution business (major and indie) thought about all this before selling their asses to HMV and Virgin in the 90s while leaving the indie stores paying the best part of full dealer price for almost everything and on shitty payments terms t'boot. Fat lot of good that sell-out did them. I wonder how much the distributors lost when Tower and Virgin went under? I wonder how much HMV owe today? The leverage that big retail used against the record business did a lot more damage than is generally understood by people who always blame the labels first. Not that anyone is coming out of this looking like saints.
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Hunter T Wolfe 1286 posts |
Edited Apr 16, 2011, 20:47
Apr 16, 2011, 20:46
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More or less my feelings too. I'm browsing, and usually spending, in my local indie record shops every week, and I count some of the staff as friends. But joining a queue at 7am, being given a list of records available (without prices!) and a ticket, and then queuing to hand over my ticked list of what I want, and then a previously undisclosed sum of money, isn't really what I go to these places for. This year I just couldn't afford to join in; first month of the new austerity and all that. I reasoned that any decent tracks will be made available in some form eventually. I couldn't resist sticking my nose in a couple of shops around 11am though, and of course most everything of note was gone. It's fine as a publicity exercise, I guess, and you don't have to participate. So I didn't. That Moon Duo exclusive b-side will no doubt turn up on a compilation eventually, as will the Seeds tracks, and I can live without yet another Sonic Youth ltd release... right? Right?
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Dog 3000 4529 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 21:09
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My feelings about Record Store Day are similar to an alcoholic's view of New Year's Eve: that's when all the AMATEURS come out! I guess this "exclusive sale" thing must pay off or they wouldn't be doing it. But I have never even bothered to even look at those kind of things. I made sure to check the bins last week, so I wouldn't have to fight the crowds this week. The store was packed today, which I found annoying! But I bet they make more $$$ today than they normally do in an entire week.
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Sin Agog 1271 posts |
Edited Apr 16, 2011, 23:48
Apr 16, 2011, 21:11
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The whole point is to sell them on again on ebay when they become collector's items and make your money back plus enough to have that new kitchen installation put in. Silly rabbit. ;)
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Deepinder Cheema 1695 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 22:14
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Fitter Stoke is rightly aggrieved and Ian B puts a cogent analysis about how we have come to this state. I have always been rather uncomfortable about instant collectable items, and the onward march of ebay. I dare say the record companies will become further unstuck as Record Day will hopefully fall by the wayside. As for what is collectable, you do not know when you are in a golden age as records pressed between 1967 - 1973 are the most eagerly hunted down now - at this moment..and they should be UK pressings. Interest in collecting The Shadows and Cliff Richard is now at an all time low. The big money still comes from Japan, but since all that corrupt money has entered the pockets of wealthy Russians and all the Satellite states ..do not part with your mint Sabbath and Uriah Heep records for less than 3 figures
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Boxnudger 160 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 22:14
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Maybe the inflated prices were to either deter some of the ebay sellers - I'd be reluctant to pay £6 for a 7" in the hope that I could make a profit on ebay - or to make sure everything didn't sell out by 10am. The whole day does feel a bit like they are preaching to the converted though. It's a good way of raising the profile of record stores, but you're hardly going to bring back the crowds on a regular basis if, one day a year, you sell fairly pricey "exclusive" records. Most of the people queuing up there - and therefore the ones likely to get the most desireable releases - seemed to either be regulars at the shop or seemed to have an overly eclectic wish list (to sell on ebay by any chance?).
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Sin Agog 1271 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 22:34
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Actually, I doubt you'd make much money on most of these things. The whole record store day thing seems like a hype to me with a lot of taken people.
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Boxnudger 160 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 23:32
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Anyway, here's how my day went.... http://mooseic.blogspot.com/2011/04/record-store-day-2011.html
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Bilious Drummond 78 posts |
Apr 16, 2011, 23:37
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http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=336804
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