The Terrible State Of Music Retail and How It Affects Metal and More

[PiercingMetal]

Let's face it, the ever shifting sands of the music business have also prompted dramatic changes in the music retail area and like it or not this totally affects everyone who is involved in music somehow. Before the days of online instant gratification, we had stores upon stores where the fans could go and grab the latest release from their favorite artists and now these same shops are all but a thing of the past. Of course we have large retailers who offer you not only music but video and electronics (Best Buy, Circuit City among the batch) but as time moves forward these sections are growing smaller and smaller. If you don't believe me, lets take a look at a couple of big examples of the changes.

Tower Records: An amazing place for all sorts of music purchase across numerous genre specifications if you were a Metal head and should you like Jazz, R&B, Pop, or Rap there were racks and racks and aisles and aisles of the stuff that could keep you browsing for awhile and often spending what little cash you might have had on hand. In 2004 after citing a number of different reasons for doing so, the franchise declared bankruptcy and began the process of closing all of their retail stores. Granted I sometimes found the place a little pricy, but I would still go and often buy, but by 2006 the stores that NYC had were gone. To many this was unthinkable, but to others it was a sign of a truly terrible wave of such practice.

Virgin Megastores: I remember that I was visiting Hollywood back in like 1993 and my friend used to leave me in the place while he ran errands since he knew I loved to dig through imports and releases that were often impossible to find stateside. You also had better chances of finding something that had gone out of print over the last few months since the place often had an ample supply. When they opened up not one but two of these stores in NYC I was jubilant. It became a great haven for our genre as you would easily find your Emperor alongside your Twisted Sister and your KISS alongside your Nightwish. The layout of the big Times Square store was aisle after aisle of alpha numeric product placement (all genres broken up into their own aisle) but over the last year I noticed that the entire floor was set up as bargain bins with each release they had in there selling for $10. The harder to find releases were all in a section downstairs, still full priced, but less in the overall number of aisles. Soon the announcement came that the Virgin Megastore retail stores would be closing and now the prices of CD's and DVD's are for the most part $5 and $7. Best get some shopping done folks.

Wal-Mart: It's been reported that Wal-Mart wanted to have their music section sell releases for no more than $10 apiece which meant the RIAA had to considerably lower their prices to the franchise for them to still turn their necessary profit. Somehow they managed to stave off the retail giant for awhile but Sam Walton's organization came back stronger and now demands an even lower price or they would review the practice of selling music altogether. You might not care since most Wal Mart's don't feature your Black, Death, Extreme Metal bands since they choose what bands and types of releases they will put on their shelves (censorship maybe? Big Brother maybe?) but here is something you might not be aware of. The music industry generates over 25% of it's profit from Wal-Mart sales while the retailer only generates about 2% of its overall profit from music. Until recently, Wal-Mart was the largest retailer of popular music but this has since been replaced by I-Tunes. We should remember that I-Tunes is pure downloaded product as opposed to Wal-Mart's physical product.

Anyways, let's see what everyone thinks about this because I think its a truly interesting and frightening area since waves of change will keep coming. I apologize the length of this opener, but that happens sometimes.

[GITTER]

Finally! The best and most thought provoking topic to hit the BITPOM. The best part about this question is that there really is no simple answer. No positive and no negative -- depending, that is, if you are flexible in your thinking about how we consume/purchase/obtain music.
First thing's first...metal fans are probably the most loyal of any out there. They will be back for an artist's release after release and are willing to part with a few extra dollars for better packaging, bonus material and anything to enhance the simple experience of an album. Hell, many of them are even (or never stopped) embracing vinyl once again as a bulwark against what seems to be a huge paradigm shift in the way music is beginning to be sold.
I can get into the notion of profit/profit margin/how it affects the retailer or the chain but I also want to embellish Ken's thought a bit with a bit of rambling and opinion. How do we as metal fans get that same experience in this brave new world? (thank you Aldous Huxley and Iron Maiden!) Hey look, what's happening at retail is the result of an unmanaged technological change that wasn't dealt with or properly monetized up front. To this end, the ostrich put its head in the ground versus the chicken decrying that the sky was falling. Now let's deal with the notion and let's discuss....
ROME AND THE FIDDLES HAVE BURNT!
So in the spirit of this discussion, I ask the question....if we are confronted with change as a tsunami bearing down upon us, how do we deal with it? I say the smart man runs toward it at full speed. The results might actually be more exciting, valuable an gratifying.
Right, kids?

[Eric]

Very interesting post! I do not claim to know anything about business or retail or stuff like that, but I do notice changes in such things. Change isn't necessarily bad. These types of things are to be expected in a capitalist system. It sometimes sucks, but you either accept the change and adapt or fall by the wayside. The market changes, and products get bigger and better because of it. At least, that's how I see it. I may not really know what I'm talking about.

I agree with GITTER on this, just run towards it. Resistance is futile!

[Ogre]

Is the internet crushing only the retail music industry? No. The internet is crushing retail in more industries than I could list, to be sure. I used to shop at Tower Records in the 80's (yeah, I'm that old). I started buying through Relapse Records and Century Media mail-order around (best guess off the top of my head) 1990-91, or so, and have never stopped. I occasionally pick up a cd at Zia Records on rare occasion, sometimes Amazon or eBay, but I purchase the vast majority of my cd's through CM Distro, now. Note: Gravitated to CM because they and Relapse seem to be quite cooperative and CM is simply much closer (west coaster) for delivery times and such. Note #2: I do not download songs, I buy cd's. I don't know much about downloading songs, but I do know that if I buy a cd, especially directly from the label, the label/band will see the money, and that's what I want. I digress.

The internet has changed not only sales, but also marketing. In that respect, it's been a boon to metal. When I started buying Venom and such in the early 80's, the only way we heard of other bands was word of mouth and the wonderful "Special Thanks" lists in the liner notes. The bands knew each other and threw out names in their liner notes, and we hunted down those bands. Now, I get e-mails from CM, Nuclear Blast, etc, and I can check out what the new bands sound like, and buy their cd's if I choose, from the comfort of my home.

I do not worry about the state of metal. That's for younger fans, no disrespect intended, honestly. I did the same thing when I was a teenager listening to Slayer, Death, etc, and Tipper Gore and the PMRC released their Filthy 15 list in the 80's; and when the Bon Jovi's and Poison's were calling themselves metal and ruling retail. What happened when Bon Jovi and Poison ruled the world? Death, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Carcass, Sepultura, Obituary, Pestilence, Nihilist. What happened when Nirvana took over the world? Cannibal Corpse, Hypocrisy, Fear Factory, MDB, and on and on. Same thing when nu-metal came to the forefront, metalcore, whatever. By now, I've seen the heaviest metal survive every fad abomination belched forth and shoved down everyone's throats and every attempt by retailers to bury us, whether though parental advisory stickers, age requirements to purchase, or simply not carrying titles.

Nothing will kill metal, people. Not fads, not retail, nothing. Unless we, the fans, stop listening and buying, and I have no intention of doing either. Was this rant off-topic? I don't know, and don't really care.

[chubbiesquirrel]

I do miss the variety of metal labels that were availible in stores. If the Tower Records that use to be down the street didnt have what I want then I went 2 blocks down to Zia's who then had it for cheaper, and if they didn't than across the street I went to East Side records although about 20% more expensive but hey atleast one of them had the albums I was looking for.
So I persoanly don't see or feel very impacted by much of what your talking about. Although I completely understand and it is noticeable cause that Tower Records I went to did close :(( Now there is just a more conveniant way for people to purchase what they want and for less money!

I do miss it alot, when basically my only way to find out about another bands was by word of mouth or by reading the liner notes, & mags. So I guess what I'am saying is there's not as much thrill in the hunt cuz now it's just a click away and the info of new shit is e-mailed to me.
Since there are fans such as ourselves I dont think it'll be much to worry about. Sign of the times.

[Rev Ciancio]

This is a great topic and unfortunately, I don't think current retail has a solution. Much like Ogre said, we metal heads found better shopping experiences online where our needs and wants were better served. I used to love hanging out in record shops but those shops don't exist anymore and as I get older, I have less free time. Being able to order online or purchase digitally just makes things easier. I don't need the record store experience to find what I want. As long as people continue to buy records they want in whatever method they prefer, the business will never go away.

[PiercingMetal]

A little more insight on this, and thanks everyone for offering up some truly interesting answers, is that the remaining providers of the stuff on the retail angle are showing sweeping change as well. We have a Circuit City right near me and if the Rock section is an aisle or two on its own I would be surprised. The new Rush came out, there was not a copy in stock. The new Opeth, same answer and when I checked with the desk was told that they must have sold out of the couple of copies they ordered. A couple of copies??? That's an answer a small local seller would offer, not a massive chain. We also have a Best Buy and I admit their selection is much more admirable.

The Internet is not without its faults either and I recall a time in most recent past where E-Bay was reported to have banned the sale of Black Metal. Now, I admit to not having the full story here, but can guess that some of the more questionable stuff caused an uproar and resulted in the decision but who is to stop them from making such a decision regarding Death Metal or perhaps Grindcore or something else that can be determined to raise people's eyebrows. Normally I would not care what E-Bay would do, but everything has a ripple effect and this kind of stuff could be opted as a course of action by providers such as Amazon.com or CD Universe etc, etc.

I know Metal is strong and the followers of it will find a way, but the overall lack of support from so many different sides sure makes this an interesting battle. I am very happy to see it still sells, and to watch the shows where kids are lined up 3 deep to purchase stuff or to meet the bands. It's promising but there is so much against us on the way. More thoughts?

[Ogre]

eBay has not banned black metal. There are currently over 400 items for sale on ebay-music that actually have the title "black metal" in the descriptor. I've sold black metal cd's on eBay and also categorized them as such. There's a list of banned items on eBay's site, the most vague being "offensive material," however, nothing addressing music, whatsoever. That's a can of worms eBay would just as soon avoid, as they'd have to address not only black metal, but rap/hip-hop, religious music, etc. Ebay isn't like a retail outlet that decided against carrying some titles because, for example, most metalheads don't shop retail. Music is a big piece of eBay's pie.

On the other hand, if eBay were to ban music, great. The second afterwards I'd start a site that mirrored eBay's practices, catered exclusively to music, and collect all the fees myself. Fuck 'em.

[Izzy]

Yup...you can find damn near ANYthing on eBay...and like you said, it they don't, CM Distro or Amazone sure as hell does. Sheesh... you can find anything, ANY metal you want, on the internet. I don't see any faults with that at all. It's easier than ever to find metal these days!

[PiercingMetal]

Thanks Ogre, the E-Bay folks might have changed their tune on this but it was something that happened not too long ago however I couldn't find much to quote about it for everyone's reference. As far as Izzy mentioned about buying Metal at Wal-Mart, yeah well the idea is rather inane, but we were speaking more of it being a major outlet that is setting standards it holds of importance and that has a ripple effect that eventually reaches a greater majority of similar companies. One will not find Dark Funeral or Behemoth at Wal-Mart, but maybe that rocking new Cold Play album.

[Ogre]

Agreed on both points regarding Wal-mart, but you must also consider Wal-mart's business model. Their model is to carry a wide variety of items, the most common items available of pretty much every-fricken-thing. However, their selection of said specific items is, for the most part, very limited. Wal-mart does not cater to collectors. And metal fans may as well be considered as such. Wal-mart carries the most basic stuff. If you're after the latest Coldplay cd while you're out picking up a pack of diapers and a box of cereal, Wal-mart may well be your destination of choice. If you're after the latest Behemoth, well, your average 73-yr old Wal-mart greeter isn't going to have a clue what the hell you're talking about. And that's fine, Wal-mart's made billions with that model, they're not going to change. I think Wal-mart's shite but, in retrospect, I damn sure wish I had gotten in on the bottom floor of that cash-cow years ago, so I'm just jealous.

Best-Buy, Virgin, etc, they're purpose is not to sell music, really. That's just the means to the end. Their primary purpose is to turn a profit. Right or wrong, Dark Funeral and Behemoth don't create the kind of sales that would result in their goal. So why should they carry them? They'll carry shiteloads of what will sell in shiteloads. I don't begrudge a business that. I just don't shop there.

It's best to simply do your talking with your wallet. I spend my money at CM Disto and with certain eBay vendors with whom I have a rapport (Translation: they're good sellers with good products and have the uncanny ability to track down hard to find items, usually out of print titles. Check out a seller named kreator72. Name's James, he operates out of Singapore and can find just about anything you're looking for, original pressing, no Russian items, etc, the dude is money).

[Izzy]

Wal-Mart is setting standards that has a ripple effect in regards to purchasing metal??? Dude, when exactly did that start happening??? Seriously! Have I been living under a rock or am I just totally not getting what it is you're trying to say? I mean, yeah, they're a "major outlet", but they are NOT a music store... you know? You might as well compare them to Kmart or Walgreens in that regard. They carry a very limited supply of stuff they probably know is selling... by no means a "record" store.
Btw, when has metal EVER been as accessible as it is now? I just don't see how the accessibility has declined at all... ?
(hahahaa...i typed "Amazone" in my previous post...that's fricken hilarious!!!)

[Izzy]

If I can't find something I want at Zia (they can order stuff if you ask them also), then I order it on-line. No problem. Btw, I've never even thought of going to Walmart for metal....that's just weird. hehehe ;)