930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: bellenseb on March 01, 2006, 11:15:00 am
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Lately I've been morbidly watching the nationwide decline of record retail. So as a check-in, do y'all still buy physical media? And if so, where? Crooked Beat? Olssons? Melody? Best Buy?
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Sound Garden, or online via yourmusic.com, CDwow, the band's label, etc...
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Mainly Olsson's, CD Cellar, and Revolution Records (walking distance for me).
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I hate to say it, but I primarily go to Tower for CDs these days. I only buy stuff that's on sale though. If I have time (or I'm having a particularly bad day at work) I'll head over to Joe's Record Paradise to look through their vinyl. I try to buy a lot of stuff at shows too.
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I use Amazon - lots of ways to get the best deal. The Amazon Visa gives you 3% back, using a9.com (which uses Google) to search gives you 1.59% off, no sales tax, free shipping on orders over $25, and if a price goes down within 30 days you can submit a form for them to credit your card with the difference. Plus, the prices are generally about the cheapest to begin with.
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http://www.everydaymusic.com/ (http://www.everydaymusic.com/)
http://jackpotrecords.com/ (http://jackpotrecords.com/)
http://www.ebay.com/ (http://www.ebay.com/)
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I buy most of my CDs these days at shows. Sometimes, I'll buy a CD at Target if it's a big name and they have it on sale the week the album is released. Or Amazon.com if it's something more obscure and they have it discounted.
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crooked beat ... picked up the new pollard and artic monkeys there yesterday ...
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insound.com, Orpheus, CD Cellar, Olssons.
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I like Revolution (http://www.revolutionrecords.net/) a lot. Crooked Beat is a cool and small with very helpful staff. I still haven't checked out the CD-Game Exchange near me but it has been recommended on this board before.
If you're ever in Bawl-T-More, Soundgarden in Fells Point is great or any number of Record and Tape Traders locations.
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How much longer do you see most of these stores surviving? I feel like kids (by that I mean younger than 18 today) don't have any interest in buying physical media, and when I shop it's all older ppl...
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Yeah, its tough to be an indie these days
I get some of my CDs from Best Buy, some from emusic, some at shows, some from other online sellers, some from friends and some from Revolution
problem w/ Revolution is they are often out of stock or don't have the ones I want - stopped by last week to pick up the Arctics and the new Ray Davies and they were sold out of one and didn't have the other
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the stores out here seem to do pretty well
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Forced Exposure (http://www.forcedexposure.com)
T****t often has some decent bargains on mainstream stuff. Recently, they even had a rack of indie stuff for 8.99 (Sufjan, Clap, Danger Doom, etc.); some locations may still have it up.
B***B** sometimes has some real bargains. They recently had Arcade Fire for 7.99.
But for real cheap, at least for the next two weeks, head out to T***r in Annapolis. It's closing; 25% off now through Sunday then 50% off til 3/12. After that, bye bye Annapolis.
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Best Buy or Amazon.
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Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
But for real cheap, at least for the next two weeks, head out to T***r in Annapolis. It's closing; 25% off now through Sunday then 50% off til 3/12. After that, bye bye Annapolis.
On a similar note, Sam Goody in Montgomery Mall is closing. 30% off everything in the store.
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Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
On a similar note, Sam Goody in Montgomery Mall is closing. 30% off everything in the store. [/QB]
They are closing at the Pentagon City and Annapolis malls also.
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Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Best Buy or Amazon.
dude thats so "mainstream" of you :D
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Originally posted by bellenseb:
How much longer do you see most of these stores surviving?
well, i spent ~$40 on three cds yesterday at crooked beat not because i knew this was the cheapest way to get the albums (i already had the replacements "pleased to meet me" on MP3, i could have gotten pollard on emusic, and i'm sure i could have found arctic monkeys for cheaper than $14), but because:
a) i wanted these albums on CD
b) i really like crooked beat and want to support them
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Originally posted by beetsnotbeats:
B***B** sometimes has some real bargains. They recently had Arcade Fire for 7.99.
Best Buy to Indies: Drop Dead
Mairead Case reports:
On January 24, Best Buy announced its latest promotion: a sale on a handful of albums from "left of the dial indie heroes," such as the Arcade Fire, Cat Power, Danger Doom, Antony & the Johnsons, Atmosphere, New Pornographers, and Broken Social Scene-- all listed at the obscenely low price of $7.99. Yes, that's cheaper than every other store on the planet, including iTunes. In fact, it's cheaper than distribution wholesale.
How can Best Buy get away with that? Isn't that illegal or something? Well, no. Welcome to the wonderful world of co-ops. Co-op campaigns are deals in which labels exchange money or extra CDs ("cleans") for prominent placement in stores, bulk initial orders, sale pricing, and advertising presence. Co-ops exist everywhere, from megastores to Mom and Pops alike. In other words, whenever you see some Next Big Thing featured at the end of an aisle, nine times out of ten, the label paid for that artist to be there.
This isn't intrinsically a bad thing. However, when co-op money is used to lower prices as substantially as Best Buy has, it's independent record shops that suffer the blow: Given the recent plunge in album sales over the past five years, these stores are already struggling. And while it may seem dramatic to say that something like this could make these kinds of stores extinct, the danger is very real. For many, it will be the final straw that puts them out of business.
It's no surprise, then, that Best Buy's "Artists Outside the Mainstream" program has inspired a lightning-quick backlash from small stores and non-participating labels. Tongues are lashing at Saki Store, the blog home of indie distro Carrot Top Distribution and Carrot Top Records (Handsome Family, Antietem, the Coctails, Archer Prewitt). On January 24, CTD, Ltd. President Patrick Monaghan posted a screed lambasting Best Buy and the labels involved in the program. His post inspired a heated discussion that spread across the web, with label executives and store owners joining the fray.
"I don't really see any way you can blame the customer," Monaghan told Pitchfork. "Hell, what decision is a consumer supposed to make, assuming they actually want to pay for their music, when faced with a $7.99 vs. $13.99 CD? I also don't think you can blame Best Buy. You can't shame the sociopath, so what good does it do to try? In my humble opinion, the blame falls on the labels and bands who are participating in this co-op advertisement deal."
Monaghan continued, "It's a question of extreme pricing and sale. If there is no indie retail to help build new bands, we are left with MySpace, the unfiltered Internet, and ad/TV/movie placement to introduce people to new bands. Retail would be left to the Best Buy/Starbucks axis. That's not too appealing of a scenario to me."
Mac McCaughan, Superchunk/Portastatic frontman and co-owner of Merge Records, responded point-blank: "Obviously, Merge's job is to get our artists' records in as many stores as possible, and make them available to as many people as possible who want to buy them," he commented on Saki Store. "Someone who discovers an artist because the 'popular' record is on sale at Best Buy will then hopefully be driven to find out more about the band. [Then,] they'll have to get the back catalogue at a store that sells mostly music."
According to the labels involved in "Artists Outside the Mainstream", Best Buy never mentioned the $7.99 price plan when discussing the program. The promotional paperwork specified only print circular placement, special positioning, and sale pricing, but no disclosure of how low that sale pricing might be.
In this sense, the labels, prevented from price-point negotiations under 2002 price fixing legislations, were truly blindsided. As Secretly Canadian's Nick Blandford wrote to the label's retailers and distros, "To say that [the price] was a shock to us is an understatement. Before approving the program, we specifically confirmed with ADA, Secretly Canadian's exclusive distributor, that Best Buy would not receive any sort of discount."
Matador president Gerard Cosloy told Pitchfork, "I don't deny for a second that using hot indie titles as a loss leader is a total sucker punch to mom and pop record stores. But without diminishing the significance of such an event, cool record stores should have something else up their sleeves besides using Best Buy as the bogeyman. We've used Best Buy for years, but the vast majority of our time and energy has been devoted to selling records through independent retailers. To date, we've yet to do any instores with Best Buy or any exclusive titles with a chain store or non-music retailer, and we continue to come up with specific releases [like the 99¢ Cat Power seven-inch and Interpol remixes] that you can't purchase anywhere other than indie retail."
So how do artists feel about the situation? "Artists have never complained to us that their record was in a chain store or on sale at a chain store," McCaughan told Pitchfork. "However, artists have often complained if they couldn't find their records in a chain store."
McCaughan was blunter on the Saki Store blog, arguing that "if [Merge] announced to our bands, especially bands that sell a lot of records, that their CDs would only be available at the cool stores and no longer at any chains, the roster of artists that Merge fans love would evaporate. If you don't think that's true, then you're living on a different planet."
"In any event," Cosloy told Pitchfork, "it should be stressed that [Matador] is pretty circumspect about which titles we choose to put into a co-op program at the chain level. Unless an artist's sales history, touring, press or airplay justifies such a thing, you won't see us trying to place 30,000 CDs on the shelves of your favorite appliance retailer."
Although the $7.99 promotion has ended, and most of the "Artists Outside the Mainstream" titles are now selling for a sensible $12.99, the principle remains: Don't take your local independent record stores for granted.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-02/23.shtml (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-02/23.shtml)
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i get all my records from Big Lots or Ollie's Bargain Outlet
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Penguin Feather!
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http://www.amoebamusic.com (http://www.amoebamusic.com)
http://www.emusic.com (http://www.emusic.com)
Can't remember buying an album from anywhere else in quite sometime.
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Originally posted by HERR PROFESSOR DOKTOR DOOM:
Penguin Feather!
That was the answer for the 'Where do you shop for whippets?' thread.
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sam goody, only because i work there and get the discount, by the way all of the sam goodys in this area are shutting down except for the gallery (in baltimore i think), union station (in DC) and i think fredreck
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STOP THE PRESSES!!!
Apparently, kids still buy CDs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101128.html) (or at least their parents do).
NEW YORK (Billboard) - After seven weeks on the chart, the soundtrack to Disney Channel's "High School Musical" jumped five places to No. 1 on the U.S. albums chart Wednesday, becoming the first set from a TV show to lead the list since "Miami Vice" spent 11 weeks there in late 1985/early 1986.
The Walt Disney Records set sold 101,000 copies in the week ended February 26, according to Nielsen SoundScan data issued Wednesday. With a sales increase of 4%, it was the only title in the top 20 that saw a gain.
Tracks from the collection have been making news recently as well. In early February, there were no fewer than nine cuts from the soundtrack on the Hot 100 singles chart, five of which ranked in the top 40.
Another kid-friendly title, "Kidz Bop 9," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 98,000 copies. Featuring sing-along covers of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together," Weezer's "Beverly Hills" and Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends," the Razor & Tie set managed the best-selling week for the series and its highest chart post. The previous best was set by "Kidz Bop 8," which last year peaked at No. 6.
Last week's champion, Jaheim's "Ghetto Classics" (Warner Bros.) tumbled to No. 10 with 59,000 copies in its second round.
The top debut belonged to British buzz band Arctic Monkeys' first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (Domino), which arrived at No. 24. The album recently made waves across the Atlantic by becoming the fastest-selling debut in U.K. chart history with 360,000 copies, but it managed to sell only 34,000 copies in the United States.
Jack Johnson's "Curious George" soundtrack (Universal) fell one place to No. 3 with 89,000 copies, two weeks after debuting at No. 1. Another former chart-topper, Mary J. Blige's "The Breakthrough" (Geffen) held at No. 4, with 76,000 units.
With his single "You're Beautiful" currently at No. 2 on the Hot 100, U.K. balladeer James Blunt's "Back to Bedlam" climbed three places to a new high of No. 5 with 72,000 copies. Barry Manilow's former chart-topper "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" (Arista) fell three to No. 6 with 66,000 units.
Andrea Bocelli's "Amore" (Universal) dipped two places to No. 7 with 65,000 copies. The Eminem retrospective "Curtain Call: The Hits" (Interscope) rose two places to No. 8 with 73,000 copies, while Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts" (Arista) fell two to No. 9 with 61,000.
The Motown soundtrack to current box office champ "Madea's Family Reunion" bowed at No. 26 with 33,000 copies.
At 11 million units, overall CD sales were down by 10% from the previous week and down 1% compared to the same week a year ago. Sales for 2006 were down 2% compared to 2005 at 86.8 million units.
Reuters/Billboard
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Originally posted by ryanbender87:
by the way all of the sam goodys in this area are shutting down except for the gallery (in baltimore i think), union station (in DC) and i think fredreck
Why?
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Originally posted by vansmack:
http://www.amoebamusic.com (http://www.amoebamusic.com)
Really wish there was one around here...
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
So how do artists feel about the situation? "Artists have never complained to us that their record was in a chain store or on sale at a chain store," McCaughan told Pitchfork. "However, artists have often complained if they couldn't find their records in a chain store."
Although the $7.99 promotion has ended, and most of the "Artists Outside the Mainstream" titles are now selling for a sensible $12.99, the principle remains: Don't take your local independent record stores for granted.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-02/23.shtml (http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-02/23.shtml)
Yeah I'm really sure artists are going to bitch at the fact their CD is more available for everyone to pick up easier instead of just downloading/stealing it. If the CDs are more available at more locations, people will buy them. Being in a band, it's always nice to find out that our CD is available in some of the bigger chains like Best Buy, Virgin, Tower, etc.
I wish our record label would do something like this with Best Buy for an end-cap promotion of $7.99! Instead Best Buy is selling our CDs for $15 :(
There's a new underground music store opening up in Annandale called Strangeland Records (http://www.strangelandrecords.com). Most of you won't like it but I'm sure if you started talking to them now, they could branch out with more indie stuff. They're targeting more of the punk, metal, industrial and electronica genres.
MindCage
Mindless Faith (http://www.mindlessfaith.com)
Deep6 Productions (http://www.deep6.com)
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the sam goodys are shutting down because the company voluntarily filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. they were already shutting down their sister company musicland everywhere, leaving only sam goody music and suncoast video, but now there is talks that the people behind F.Y.E have bid on the company
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Originally posted by amnesiac:
Originally posted by vansmack:
http://www.amoebamusic.com (http://www.amoebamusic.com)
Really wish there was one around here... [/b]
It takes a different state of mind really. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/01/MNGTUHGG8U1.DTL&feed=rss.news)
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Originally posted by HERR PROFESSOR DOKTOR DOOM:
Penguin Feather!
That was the answer for the 'Where do you shop for whippets?' thread. [/b]
hahaha!
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so i went to the sam goody in monkey county mall today and will have to say, do they ever have a load of crap in stock. the trip was only salvaged with a 40% off purchase of the Nuggets III and Sire boxsets. Got the Stooges Fun House, the Greenhornes, and the T. Rex concert Dvd. The best find was the Threesome soundtrack with Teenage Fanclub doing "Like a Virgin"... The had a couple of the Nuggets and several of the Girl Girls group boxsets left. and some stuff i'd consider buying when the percentage gets up around 70% off...
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Crooked Beat all the way. Great shop and great guys too. Online I like to order from darla.com and tonevendor.com---both great places if you're looking for more interesting selections than just Franz Ferdinand and The Killers.
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Yeah, Tonevendor. My favorite!
I use to use Darla until I found out that they never paid my friend for the CDs from his label that he sent them.
No matter what anyone says, I like Amazon too.
For walk-ins, I tend to use Record & Tape Traders, Soundgarden, CD Depot and a very rare deal maybe at Best Buy.
And then there are the odd balls from shows and direct from band and label websites.