Record Store Day

What a great idea -- a day to celebrate the record store.

Just reading the artist quotes alone stirs up that musical camaraderie....

Tried To Buy... Success!

I'm not sure why we keep going back to A&B Sound. It must be purely morbid fascination.

Hubby and I finally made it out for this week's new release shopping. We each had a pretty decent list, especially once we included all the titles we haven't been able to find yet. This week I wanted the pick up the new Jack Johnson and Sheryl Crow and I just could not imagine any store would not have those.

I was right. A&B Sound had both the Crow and Johnson on the release wall -- and little else. We were still still without the Bob Mould, the Nada Surf, the Joe Jackson from a few weeks back, and that elusive Magnetic Fields. We did find the last copy of the Vampire Weekend hidden on a listening station shelf.

Having the time, we drove across town to Play, an independent store located in Market Mall. They have a handful of locations in Western Canada, and the store is run by two guys who have been involved in Calgary music retail for decades (full disclaimer: While I have never worked for Play, I previously worked for the brothers who own Play).

We now have the Magnetic Fields. The Bob Mould, the Nada Surf, the Joe Jackson. We also have MGMT, MIA, the new Matt Costa and the Neil Young Live at Massey Hall release -- all titles we were interested in, but not sold on. It's amazing, once you start seeing all the good CDs you wanted to buy, all the ones you weren't sure about suddenly become so much more attractive.

I don't know what we would do without Play in this city.

And I have no idea why we keep going back to A&B Sound, and Best Buy and HMV, when I'd rather give my money to an independent store that actually brings in numerous copies of the stuff I want, at reasonable prices.

Groovy -- Is Vinyl Making a Comeback?

It has sort of been a cliche for years: "Vinyl sounds sooo much better than CD" "You lose the feeling with digital media" and so on. Usually it's accompanied by a sniff of the nose, or a comment about "real" audiophiles.

I had the worst luck with vinyl when I started out -- but then my family had a brutal stereo. I latched onto cassettes quickly -- cheap, portable, worked well with my ever-present walkman -- and onto CDs just as quickly. Oh, I spent years in my favorite used record stores as a teen, flipping through bargain bin records, picture discs, and the odd not-yet-released-on-CD gem, but the majority of my purchases were of the small shiny disc variety.

But recently I've realized: I miss vinyl.

I miss the artwork, I miss the sleeves and the liner notes. I miss the importance of the record label sticker in the middle of the record. I miss checking which song closes out side 1 and which song opens side 2.

It might have to do with my attempts to pick up the entire Bruce Cockburn catalog. It might have something to do with the fact I'm reading the story of Yorkville in Ontario in the late 60s, and the roots of Neil Young, the Band, Joni Mitchell, and so many other amazing, unknown bands that might lurk somewhere at a used record store or collector's shop.

Or maybe I'm getting old. But I get it now. I still love CDs and will continue to buy them at an alarming rate, but some of the best stuff can only be bought on vinyl.

I'm not the only one. As the record industry implodes, geeks like me are turning to collectibles and classic vinyl.

Just leave the Cockburn stuff for me.

Why I still buy CDs

It seems lately I've seen a ton of comments about the CD being dead and how no one buys CDs anymore. Yes, the numbers are down and yes, as a format it is certainly not going to survive long in this digital age, but as a music fan I still love CDs.

• Liner Notes. I love liner notes. That should put me into the music geek club right there. It goes beyond the lyrics. I like knowing that Prince co-wrote a track on the album, or that Emmylou Harris sings background vocals, or that then-session guitarist Dan Huff played on 90 per cent of the CDs I bought in the 80s. I like being able to pick up the liner notes to see what that sample is that I just can't place. I even read the meaningless "Thank You" section.
  
• Artwork. Artwork is already a dying art once you take a canvas that used to be the size of an album and condense it down to a CD cover, but there's still some very innovative artwork out there. Recent Bright Eyes, Radiohead and Beck all come to mind. While artwork is probably even more subjective than the music itself and rarely a deal-breaker for buying the CD, the memorable ones stay with you and become part of pop culture. Dark Side of the Moon anyone?
  
• Record stores. A good record store can make your day. There's something about spending an hour (ok, more), quietly flipping through rows and rows of CDs in a store that's well stocked. You see things that you would normally never even think of looking for. You see titles that came out without your knowledge. You see those sweet re-issues on sale. Imports, box sets, delete bins, new release wall, specialty sections -- none of that can be replaced online.
  
• Backups. I'll be practical for just one moment. Having a CD means I still have my collection if my computer dies. Sure, I could back it up, but it's time consuming and, frankly, a pain in the ass. Can't figure out where I stored all my Josh Rouse files? I'll just grab the CD and throw it on. Yes, the house could still burn and take my collection with it, but try claiming 20GB worth of iTunes files on your insurance and see what happens.
  
• Convenience. Sometimes it's just easier to throw on the CD. If I make a spur of the moment decision to listen to Miles Davis as I drive to the mountains I gotta make sure it's on the iPod. Is the iPod charged? No? Ok, better grab the cable for the car, and make sure the iTrip is there. Oh, and as I drive over this hill a new station comes in so now I need to change the station and retune. Or, I could just grab the CD and pop it into the car's player (plus I have the liner notes handy).
  
• Physical Presence. I'm old school. When I plunk down my hard earned cash for tunes, I want something physical in my hand.
  

I'm certainly not so stuck in the past that I don't download at all. MP3s and my iPod have changed how I listen to music -- mostly for the better. iTunes is a godsend for the stuff I can't find in stores and I've been known to partake in online downloading for the truly hard to find stuff. I'll never go back to mix tapes or CDs and even though I whine, the iTrip is heaven for the car.

The first thing I do with a new CD? Rip it of course.

But I won't let go of the CD. I'll try every avenue before I buy an entire album online, even if the record store experience leaves me less than thrilled these days. There's something about physically going to a place that sells music that connects you to the music, and to others who love music like you did. Nothing can compare online.

Tried To Buy... Weekend Edition

Despite the worst weather we've seen this season (yeah yeah, it was nothing, we know), hubby and I ventured out for some CD shopping. Maybe it was the fabulous luck we'd had last weekend, maybe it was the fact I'd finally heard enough tracks from some recent releases, but we had a decent number of CDs on our list:

• Cake - B-Sides and Rarities
• Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
• Neil Young - Prairie Wind
• Magnetic Fields - Distortion

All major labels, all somewhat recent releases (except the Neil Young, which came out in Sept/05). Was it foolish to think they could all be had and for a decent price?

Yes, apparently.

First stop was HMV, hoping they were seeing the same stock influx as A&B Sound. No such luck. Cake was selling at $14.99, which was reasonable, but the Magnetic Fields -- which had streeted that week -- was nowhere to be found. Neither were the Weakerthans, which was very surprising. What is the shelf life of a new release CD that isn't Justin Timberlake or Led Zeppelin? Prairie Wind was there, it was part of HMV's new lower prices promotion: $19.99 marked down from $25.99. Right.

We left the Cake CD and headed over to A&B Sound. Surely they would be able to supply us these few titles.

Or not. No Cake. No Magnetic Fields. And the Neil Young at a bargain $22.49, even though they had around 12 copies of it, obviously brought in for a sale. And I don't know how, but in just a week their stock managed to look.... picked over.

However, a single copy of the Weakerthans was there for $14.99. And I'd been hoping to pick up a DVD copy of the Neil Young movie Heart of Gold, which A&B had for around $16.00, so we were partially successful.

A stop at another HMV came up empty again. We broke down and asked someone there and after checking, we were told Magnetic Fields didn't come out until the 22nd. This seems a little off since not only is it available on iTunes, but a friend of hubby's has already picked it up. But the reality is, it's probably the biggest release of this week and hubby had checked three different chains without success. We'll hold off "Tried To Buy" judgment until next week. Maybe then we'll find Neil Young's Prairie Wind for less than $19.

Until then, the same Cake CD is on iTunes for $7.99. And through Apple you get two tracks not on the CD. Hmmm....

Calgary Music Store Nostalgia

I was heading out to meet friends at a pub on Stephen Avenue Mall when I came around the corner at 1st St and 8 Ave SW and saw this:



I never even liked Music World and this made me sigh deeply and remember better music retail days. The store has been closed for over a decade (in fact I worked across the street at A&B Sound at the time), and I even know the guy who opened a Subway franchise at that location. I guess they took the Subway sign down and left what was underneath...

Tried To Buy.... Success Story

The whole "Tried to Buy" segment of this blog sort of fell by the wayside with the dismal release schedule of December. Since January is usually pretty dire itself, I didn't really anticipate much shopping this month either.

But you know, when you're a die-hard music consumer, you eventually have to venture out to the stores anyway, and on Sunday, that's what hubby and I did.

Maybe it's because our expectation levels were low, maybe it's because we waited just the right time after the Boxing Day/Week sale madness, maybe the chain knew it was time to bring out the sale stock, who knows. But A&B Sound was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

First off, I managed to add not one, not two, but three Bruce Cockburn titles to the collection, and can finally update the Cockburn Tracker. I was willing to pay full pop for any of these titles if I was ever lucky enough to see them in stock -- Sunday I got Salt, Sun and Time, Joy To The World and Night Vision for $5.99 each!

A&B brought in a ton of titles from the bargain lines from most labels, most notably Universal. There were plenty of reissued titles sitting at $9.99 and recent releases at $13.99. The catalog was pretty decently stocked.

Hubby picked up every Sly and the Family Stone reissue for $9.99/disc. We also scooped a bunch of classic Neil Young at varying prices. We picked up some current stuff too, lest anyone think we're turning into solely classic rock listeners: Dustin Bentall for me, Orson for hubby. I think he bought some Who as well, but I'm pretending I didn't see that.

We pushed our luck by also stopping at HMV where the selection was ok, but the catalog was underwhelming.

If there was one downside to A&B Sound, it was that the glorious re-stocking of the rock catalog came at the expense of other genres: folk, jazz, world music, and reggae all looked positively anemic. Country music seemed to be shrinking as well. I guess there are decisions to be made, and from a retail perspective, I can't argue that if you want to bring people in, bulk up your popular sections first. Besides, without a knowledgeable buyer for the specialty sections, most stores have likely lost those shoppers to online stores long ago.

But a round of applause to A&B for bulking up their store at just the right time. Hopefully they're rewarded with a strong January despite the usual empty new release schedule.

See what happens when you have plenty of stock at reasonable prices? People buy CDs. And some people buy a lot of them. Go figure.

Sony BMG's next big thing -- Digital Music Cards

From Billboard.com:

The digital album gift cards, which retail for $12.99, will be artist-specific and feature album artwork, and will come with bonus material. The card will contain a scratch-off that will reveal a PIN number that can be redeemed for a download at MusicPass.com.

While I applaud any initiative to keep the retailers in the loop, I just can't see how this is going to fare any better than previous attempts to create physical sales of online downloads (not to mention it will allow the labels to monitor who is downloading what).

Isn't the attraction of buying online the idea of convenience and immediate accessibility? Are consumers going to be able to burn a copy of the download? Will they be able to transfer it to an MP3 player, iPod or other? The article claims DRM has been dropped, so I'm a little at a loss how it's progress to include extra steps in the purchase of online music.

Plus, the list of "retailers" sort of damages the claim that Sony BMG is trying to help the retailer.... most of the retailers involved in the program are electronic stores or chains. One's a drug store.

The music stores -- the guys out on the front lines actually invested in trying to sell music to people who want to buy it -- appear to be left out in the cold yet again by the labels.

Tried to Buy... Beirut Edition

Just as a bonus edition of Tried To Buy, neither hubby nor friends of hubby have been able to find the newest Beirut CD (The Flying Club Cup, released Oct, 2007) for less than $26.99.

Granted, it's an import in Canada through Outside music, so it's not going to be a cheap release, but several Canadian online retailers have it for under $17.00 and in stock, including HMV, selling it on their website for $15.99, with a list price of $19.99.

HMV is selling the same CD for $26.99 in their bricks and mortar stores.

CD Sales are down? Maybe it's the lack of new releases

I remember when the Christmas CD release season used to be the mother lode of exciting releases. We'd get stacks of release sheets. It was impossible to keep up with all the artists releasing new CDs in the months of November and December. CDs by major artists would be specifically targeted for release during these months. You knew if a title made it onto the schedule during that time period, it had to be a pretty good record. And if the title was bumped to the release wasteland that was January -- you knew the label was quietly dumping the album where no one would see it. If a major artist had an album scheduled for January release, you knew it was bound to be a major stinker.

There were also the greatest hits collections, some from current acts, some from acts that had not had a comprehensive set until that point. There would also usually be 4 or 5 major box sets, filled with a ridiculous amount of goodies.

Every Tuesday leading up to Christmas would get increasingly crazy and manic, with bigger and better from bigger and better acts, except for the Tuesday right before Christmas -- that would usually be quiet because even the labels knew major releases would get lost in the insanity of Christmas shopping (though I do seem to recall a Garth Brooks CD released on Dec 23).

This year was a lot different.

Here's a brief list of what CDs came out this year from the beginning of November:

Nov 6:

• Chris Brown, Jimmy Buffet (live), Cassidy, Five For Fighting (live), Jay-Z, Monster Magnet, Ricky Martin (live), Sigur Ros

Nov 13:

• Boyz II Men, Dane Cook (live), Celine Dion, Duran Duran, Aretha Franklin (duets), The Hives, Alicia Keys, Queenscryche (covers album), Seal, Shaggy, James Taylor (live), Trisha Yearwood

Nov 20:

• Sebastian Bach, Melissa Etheridge (live), Craig David, Genesis (live), Jordin Sparks (American Idol winner)

Nov 27:

• Chuck D featuring Kyle Jason and The Banned, Jesse Dayton and Brennen Leigh, Rob Jungklas, Pitball, The Rumble Strips (EP), Renee Zawawi (I don't recognize most of these acts, but this is the entire list of US releases I can find for this week. Someone, please tell me I missed something).

Dec 4:

• Daft Punk (live), Nelly Furtado (live), Ghostface Killah, Wyclef Jean, Scarface, T-Pain, Rufus Wainwright (live)
  

Dec 11:

• Chris Barber (live), Birdman, Bow Wow and Omarion, Hi-Tek, Mario, Dave Matthews Band (live), Beanie Sigel, Wu-Tang Clan

Dec 18:

• Mary J. Blige, Chingy, Jaheim

Obviously, next Tuesday is Christmas, so this is the last week of pre-Christmas releases. Tell me, how many of those titles were you rushing out to buy? There were certainly one or two major releases in there (Alicia Keys being the most notable), but nothing like the release schedules of the past.

And is it just me or are there way too many live albums padding the release schedule?

I'm not including hits collections or the "box sets" that were mostly just entire catalogs re-packaged and fancied up for a premium price (Radiohead, Pink Floyd -- thanks EMI!).

So when all the execs start talking about "disappointing" Christmas CD sales and the labels and retailers point at the godless consumer for downloading, think about this release schedule. What exactly was out there to buy?

HMV as a social network

HMV (in the UK anyway) has decided that flagging sales are a result of the fact that they don't have an online networking site. Or something:

HMV (LSE: HMV) will likely launch its forthcoming social network in beta form before Christmas, the entertainment retailer tells NMA. The network will let users “connect with like-minded fans” and get additional content relevant to their purchases. HMV is speaking with movie and music studios to acquire clips, full tracks and other info.

Because social networking works so well when the focus is to sell consumers more. I'm pretty sure "like-minded fans" have already figured out how to go to band websites, message boards, fans clubs, mailing lists, and groups on Facebook or MySpace to "get additional content", usually directly from the artist.

Full story on paidContent:UK.

The Big Four in music

Every time I hear the phrase "Big Four" when referring to the major labels, a little part of me cries.

How the hell did we get down to just four?

My music retail career began in 1993 -- maybe the last great time to be involved in the music retail side of the industry. We contended with 8 majors (Warner, Sony, Universal, BMG, EMI, PolyGram, PolyTel, and Quality). Yes, we considered PolyTel and Quality majors -- it was Canada and they were moving an insane amount of CDs at the time ("Dance Mix '93" ring any bells?), and a number of "minors" or indie labels. Or distribution groups made up of indie labels that wanted to supply to Canada without dealing with distribution themselves. Cargo Records (Sub-Pop went through these guys), Denon (they had Rykodisc), and so on.

Eventually the majors started to fall. First, by all rights, was Quality and PolyTel (Quality went bankrupt, and PolyTel merged with its parent company PolyGram). Six majors seemed about right. Then PolyGram fell. Our particular chain was on the outs with them over imports anyway, so it didn't change much. But something did change.

From that point on, there were always threats of more mergers, less majors. Warner and EMI seemed to constantly be in talks. Universal had picked up PolyGram's catalog and promptly cut their new massive catalog by 1/3, leaving us with much less depth in the catalogs in general. The other labels followed that lead, though much more discreetly. The logic was these catalog CDs could easily be imported from the US -- there was no reason to have a domestic supplier in Canada.

But imports are the bottom of the pecking order for any label. We were lucky to get a shipment a month, and consumers just weren't that patient. Often it would take 3 months or more for something that used to be readily available.

I read a little while back that the labels were upset consumers were importing CDs from other regions when they weren't available domestically. They were threatening to cut off stores who did this. But isn't this exactly what they've been telling consumers to do for years? You can't have it both ways. And don't even get me started on the poor beleaguered "CD sales are down" labels telling people not to stock or buy records until they say it's ok.

The indies, they went a different way. They'd go out of business for many of the same reasons -- stock was difficult to get a hold of on a consistent basis. Denon and Cargo made way for Oasis which made way for Sonic Unyon and Outside Music and Fusion.. well Fusion has always been around. I swear they survive because they stick to bringing in world/jazz/blues obscurities that people expect to wait 6 months for.

But I can't help but think the very model the labels stuck to was part of their downfall. Maybe they needed to merge to save their skin, but I think they only managed to hasten the demise of the model they're fighting to save.

More on Music World's demise

More thoughts on the bankruptcy of Music World from the Halifax Daily News. This is notable because I never knew A&A Records and Tapes was owned by Columbia Records.

I also loved the reference to the old Phonologs that used to exist in records stores -- those big yellow books that listed everything available by artist, title and then incredibly, by song. I loved that book. If I could have found a way to have one sent to my house, I would have.

Music World files for bankruptcy protection

I was surfing idly (I'm really good at that), when I tripped upon this news on Canoe.ca:

Last week, Canada's second-largest music retailer, Music World Ltd., filed for bankruptcy protection leaving HMV and big-box stores to duke it out for your listening pleasures.

From: Music World faces bankruptcy -- Canoe.ca

The article fails to mention that we have A and B Sound here out west, but I'm not really sure that's a plus or minus for the Canadian music industry. To be honest, I'm only surprised A and B didn't beat Music World to the punch.

I have no real emotion about the potential demise of Music World. Even as a kid they seemed like a distant fourth to A&A Records, Sam the Record Man and HMV. They didn't have the pricing, the imports, the stock, the staff or the superstores to get my attention. The last time I stopped in a Music World was a few weeks back on one of my Cockburn quests. Let's just say it was an act of desperation.

That said, there's something not right about HMV being the only national retailer in Canada. Hopefully this is sign of more grassroots regional chains gaining strength.

Tried to Buy.....

It took us a while to get out for this week's CD shopping. I wasn't terribly inspired by the releases this week and hubby wasn't picking up anything at all. Our planned hiking was cancelled by trees blocking an access road, so we opted to stop at A&B (what were we thinking).

I'll rant about A&B Sound in a later post, but suffice to say we usually don't have a ton of faith when we resort to A&B for our new releases. I'm not sure if their problems are financial (likely), or lack of interest on the part of the buyers (very likely), but we often walk out without most of the week's releases. Sometimes the catalog is good though, and they go through spurts of bringing in tons of stock, so we gave it a shot.

Plus, if nothing else, I wanted to pick up the Seinfeld - Season 9 DVD set that was released this week.

Well to recap, my CDs this week were:

• David Byrne - "The Knee Plays"
• Result: DENIED! In fact, there wasn't a single David Byrne CD in stock.
• Neko Case - ""Furnace Room Lullaby"
• Result: SUPPLIED! But, I don't think this was the reissue. No matter, this was sort of an on the edge CD for me anyway, so I held back.
• Sigur Ros - "Hvarf/Heim"
• Result: I lied. Hubby wasn't even interested, so we didn't check.

Underwhelmed by the rest of the catalog that was there (despite a whack of mid-price MCA titles obviously brought in for a price code promotion), I wandered off to price out the Seinfeld set (not sure when I became such a bargain shopper).

No Seinfeld. Not on the new release section, the best sellers, the TV series section. Nada. As much as I hate to ask, I just had to.

The one (!) guy working there says, no they're not sold out, they haven't even gotten them in yet. I can't help but gasp out "You've got to be kidding." He stops just short of shrugging and goes back to what he was doing.

Isn't the Seinfeld set kind of, uh, major? Especially in a week when precious little else came out in music or DVD? Especially mid-November when all the Christmas decorations are coming out and shoppers are starting to look for the easy gifts?

I have no idea how this company is still in business.

And so it begins...

Hubby and I were wondering just the other night if it would be possible for a music retailer to buy copies of the new Eagles album from Wal-Mart and then sell them in their own store:

But then we heard whispers that people were finding the new “exclusive” album at small mom-and-pop record stores and, remarkably, big chains like Virgin Megastore. We investigated these claims and discovered that the CDs are indeed being sold outside of Wal-Mart. Not only that, it didn’t take speakeasy tactics to secure a copy; some stores were boasting the album by the dozen in front display cases, where new releases are usually showcased.

Full story from Billboard.

Eagles top Billboard charts

Normally the Eagles topping the Billboard charts wouldn't be news.... in the 70s. But this is notable because Billboard magazine picked this week to adjust how they calculate the Billboard Top 200 Albums.

Until this week, CDs that were limited in distribution to one retailer were not included in the rankings of the Album Chart. Billboard made their change to reflect changes in music retail.

It's disappointing. Billboard should be against the labels going to one retailer, not encouraging it. With only Wal-Mart reporting sales numbers, there are no checks and balances, and Billboard is entirely reliant on a non-music industry retail chain for reporting important music sales figures.