Also, this has to be the most mature and thoughtful comment section on the entire internet. Gives me hope in humanity…

Thanks for writing this.

interesting. i didn’t know that tower was profitable on a per store basis. were they overall unprofitable because of debt and corp overhead? i’d have to think the situation was pretty dire if NO ONE wanted to salvage the company. even if the store was profitable, the fact that they couldn’t find investors, probably means that the overall sentiment was that there was no chance of a positive return on investment because financial diaster–perceived or real–was looming on the horizon. man, where’s a fed bailout when you really need one..?

re: impluse buys. yes, the fact that stores are gone contributes here, but i’d say that online availability is the overwhelming reason why impulse purchases are done. i can’t say i lament the days of forking over $15 only to quickly come to the realization that i’m only going to play a disc one time in my life. on the flipside, i’m totally excited about how many new acts i can “impulsively” hear now whenever i’m online. there’s no way i’d ever have such exposure in the past. i see this as overall good for the industry. this could be debated to death too though.

so, maybe we should focus on the positives of what you’re saying? i’m guessing more people establish a direct relationship with matador by buying from you online. enterprising individuals will open very cool and niche vinyl shops. matador has a healthly sustainable vinyl business in the future. not to mention all the other “new online business models” stuff that will eventually work itself out in your favor.

i gotta get some coffee now.

I rarely see this excellent point made in discussions such as this one. With regard to “the full complexity of the story,” it’s worth mentioning the pressures that were put on stores to stop carrying vinyl in the late 80s. The big distributors stopped accepting returns on vinyl, and smaller distributors soon followed suit, so stores were less likely to stock vinyl on titles they weren’t certain would sell because they were afraid they’d get stuck with them. Add in the fact that CDs are cheaper to manufacture and distribute than vinyl but were being sold at nearly double the price as LPs and cassettes, and were hyped well enough that people were not only buying all new releases on CD but also re-buying old titles they already owned on other formats as quickly as labels could issue them, and there was even more incentive for “record” stores to focus on CDs and largely stop carrying vinyl.

Of course, at this time what I’m most concerned with is when I’ll be able to pre-order the Jay Reatard single. On vinyl.

I do agree with lots of it, especially the role the media plays in making people and stores think they’re losing something before they actually make themselves lose it.

The great thing about this post is really the fact that it sheds light on mostly overlooked reasons for decline in music sales and the so-called vinyl revival. BUT, the “downloading and competition from other formats like games and DVDs” ARE responsible, in part, to this decline. The availability of MP3s was huge even in 2002, before the media and stores went nuts with the conception that the CD is a dead format. So, I think, the effects of the media and the other reasons you stated here is really quite small. It exists, but it’s much smaller than the sheer power of illegal downloading and the availability of MP3 players.

ALSO, I’d really like to translate this post into hebrew and post it on my record label site. I’ll be glad if you can email me with an answer about it.

Thanks for the informative post!

Guy
Hiss Records, Israel