Sinister: Woolies' chart position

[Hopkins, Tim]

Corporal Arenacea said:
> umm.... I take sort of serious issue with the following....
> I mean, supporting indie stores and all is great, yes, but the 
> unfortunate truth is that most Mom + Pop record stores don't exist 
> outside of major urban centers around the world anymore.
> 
Two things: 
1) do you mean the world, or do you mean the U.S.? I don't know about the rest of the world, I
only really know about record shopping in England, and I do know that Woolworths not having it
is unlikely to inconvenience more than a tiny number of fans (i.e. those living in very, very
remote areas). Frankly, those fans will not be relying on the likes of Woolworths for their
musical purchases. Most will be used to travelling a little way to get their music.

2) Since, as you probably know
(http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/hypermail/current/0487.html), the Jeepster version
only covers the UK and Eire anyway, and so it's only really relevant to talk about this
'territory' when thinking about David's post. I'm sure Matador are handling Wal-mart and
suchlike differently. There aren't a great number of places in England where people have rely on
Woolworths to get their records anymore. The town where I grew up, Sidmouth, is one of them,
come to think of it. And I got used to travelling the twelve miles into Exeter to buy my
records. As did everyone else who was at all interested in music. So it goes.

Mark said: 

	>one of the JOYS of B&S is the whole Not Kow-towing To London-Centric Media BIT and in
	>fact Doing It For The KIDS, many of whom only have Woolies as an outlet. 

while Keith said: 

	>Another point is that by confining B+S records to purely indie stores, you 
	>are somewhat just preaching to the converted aren't you? I realise the 
	>intentions are good, but surely it'd be better if there was a B+S album in 
	>woolies rather than just another Colour me Badd album. Fopp for one have 
	>often forced me to go to HMV to buy albums. 

I was forced into Our Price to buy the record in Lancaster. It might as well have been Andy's
Records, or HMV, because they are all fundamentally the same. Until just over a year ago,
Lancaster had a little independent record shop, which stocked judiciously and interestingly. It
had the rather unfortunate name of Ear 'Ere records, but we will put that aside for a moment. 
It didn't just stock indie music, but a wide range of stuff, including reggae, hip hop, blues
and a lot of dance stuff. It carried a lot of vinyl, too. The staff were friendly, and didn't
laugh at me once. At least, not to my face.
HMV opened in Lancaster, with a more central location, a flashier presentation and the muscle of
a national buying organisation behind it.
Within a few months of HMV opening, Ear 'Ere was closed. I am fairly sure that these two facts
were not unrelated. And hey! Guess what? The range of music available in Lancaster has
significantly decreased.

The most London-centric thing will be if London is the only place in England where it's possible
to find a record shop which stocks out-of -the-way or unusual music. Or where it's possible to
develop a kind of working relationship with the staff, where they can get to know you and your
tastes, and make recommendations, and stuff. Where the music doesn't necessarily come
shrink-wrapped and antiseptic.

I am not saying that Ear Ere was any better morally or ethically than other record shops
(although in this case I believe it was, because I think it was run on a workers' co-operative
basis, but I might be wrong about that). I am just saying that if no-one tries to support little
stores, then they will go out of business, and everyone will be that much the poorer. Because
places like HMV or Our Price (and Woolies, even more so) are less and less willing to take
chances. 
Maybe I should stop being idealistic and accept that the free market has shown me that the shop
that I liked just wasn't strong enough to survive, huh?

Fopp may have 'forced' you to go to HMV, Keith. But HMV have forced me to go to HMV, or at least
a carbon copy of HMV. And you can go back to Fopp if you want.

B&S are nearly in a position where Woolies will be forced to stock the record on the band's (or
rather the label's) terms, which would be the ideal as far as I'm concerned. I have no problem
with the record getting out to shops like Woolies, (so people without a choice of vendor can get
hold of it) but I would have a serious problem with the label being forced into giving stores
like Woolies discounts and stuff ahead of the indie stores. But I do think that, given the
choice, supporting shops which go off the beaten track is a reasonably good idea. Otherwise
independent record stores *won't* exist anymore outside major urban centres. Which will be a
shame.

Sorry that this letter concentrates on England, and not other parts of the UK and Ireland, or
indeed the rest of the world. But I only really know about how it is in England. I'm not saying
that only England is important, honestly. I just don't feel qualified to talk about anywhere
else.

Mail order can be good, too.

I am still reeling at the image of young prefect Keith, 'Remain In Light' in hand, cowering from
a hilarious verbal barrage from a (clearly drunk) Aidan Arab Strap, and wishing Woolies stocked
Talking Heads LPs.

Cheers

Tim
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