When did I stop going to record shops?
Sometimes you don’t really notice profound change until it’s all happened.
I realised the other day, that I haven’t bought a CD from a bricks and mortar store since a last minute splurge at Xmas. And before that, well, frankly I can’t remember.
At the same time, I’m now probably buying more CDs than at any time in my life (doing the 50quid bloke’s demographic duty of keeping the industry alive).
For a huge chunk of my life, buying music was a favourite leisure activity. Saturday afternoons were meant for hanging out in record shops. In Liverpool, the place to be was Probe, as House of Neil remembers:
Every town had a place like that: the independent punk record shop that became the hangout for all the hardcore. It was the first one to ell punk stuff, and it sold t-shirts, fanzines: the works. It was a rite of passage to go there. The place was always packed with all kinds of unsavory characters. Pete Burns the singer from Dead or Alive worked there. It took balls to go in the first time, but I did, and bought “King Rocker”, the new Generation X single, “Sound of the Suburbs”, the new single by The Members, and the coolest Clash t-shirt you could imagine.
I went to college in Bristol, went to Andy’s records (and another slightly smaller, cooler shop that I can’t remember).Then it was on to London and we all got into Dance Music which meant going into little shops again only this time to wade through 12″ singles and buy a bundle without really knowing what I was getting (because I was too frightened to ask).
Anyway, that’s enough nostalgia. I don’t want to get all Nick Hornby on you. This is all gone; gone; gone. These days it’s click and buy. It’s Amazon (like you need the link) - especially their marketplace for back catalogue stuff - or CD WoW (which is cheaper for chart stuff, but I’m sure is unethical in one way or another) or Tunes for dance music.
It’s so simple. I can be sitting at home reading reviews, grab my laptop and have it ordered without standing up.
A friend swears by Disque in Chapel Market, Islington. And where I live, Stoke Newington, there is Totem records which I still stumble into occassionally while my wife is shopping for clothes (and I found a much loved 12″ of Farley Jackmaster Funk’s Love Can’t Turn Around there, for which I am forever grateful).
Sometimes, if I’ve got time to kill in the West End (like once a year) I mooch round a Virgin Megastore and Fopp is cheap and cheerful.
But, the thing with visiting record shops is a bit like making your own pasta: yes, it’s probably better to do it, and I know purists prefer it…but frankly, who can be bothered?
Online shopping is just so much more, well, efficient. All those recommendations. The ability to compare prices instantly.
The thing is: when did this change happen? I can remember in about 1995 poo-pooing the idea that anyone who lived in London would want to buy their CDs online. The next thing, I’m a 1-Click addict and eagerly awaiting this week’s corrugated cardboard package. I’m not a mad downloader bringing the industry down (well, not since the demise/ legalisation of audiogalaxy, anyway): I’ve just given up going to record shops . It’s like I still believe in god, but I’ve stopped going to the synagogue.
It was an article in Business 2.0 that got me thinking about this. In it, Paul Keegan asks ‘Is the Music Store Over’ (quick answer: ‘Yes’…to save you the sub you need to read it online). They talk asked retail guru Paco Underhill (you really should read his ‘Why We Buy‘) to conceive the music store of the future: and sure enough it’s more of a digital entertainment theme park than a traditional shop. Tattoo parlours, DIY mix booths, coffee galore. Retail as an experience: you know the sort of thing. It’ll probably be called Tunetown or something. For teenagers perhaps. Meanwhile…my sofa awaits my latest shopping spree.