Record Store stories-Whats yours?
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
Record Store Stories-whats yours?
Pitchfork is showing "I need that record" on their site, a doc on record stores and their decline.
http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2144- ... t-record/1
I am probably known on this board for being militantly pro-filesharing. The concept of someone downloading the new Bruce cd, and that causing Bruce to go bankrupt and unable to feed his kids, I have no patience for that argument, and its one i cant wrap my head around. How am I financially harming a multimillionaire, who makes millions each year from touring alone?
What I can understand and am thoughtful and contientious about is, the record store, the indie record store, the local cd store. I see them as a casualty in all this. Most of these stores arent made up of greedy people, they are owned and visited by people like us, like me, people who live for music.
I can remember going to my local cd store as a kid, 9, 10, 11 years old, at the height of the grunge, and they had these listening stations, where you could ask the clerks to grab a cd, and you could sit on a couch, with headphones and listen to the record on a cd player. I remember hearing Nirvana Unplugged that way, Vitalogy that way, Neil's Sleeps with Angels that way. As I got older, I got more adventurous. I would try new genres, hip hop became my go to genre. I would buy 6 or 7 albums at a time. There is something to be said for the communal vibe of a record store. both in terms of who owns it, and who visits it, but also, the idea that until Sleeps with Angels was officially released, you didnt hear it. At all. You might not have even heard a single. Nowadays it seems like, we hear a ton of a bands new album before its even released, through an early leak yes, but also through live shows, the proliferation of youtube, where you dont even have to attend a live show to literally see a band perform, through bands playing their songs on tv and commercials now. So, nowadays few records are really heard together, everyone in the world, or the u.s. hearing a record on that day. In Rainbows maybe was that, everyone heard it at the same time. but of course we know that was a rare case.
I remember a local cd store, on campus here, very indie, very hip, i spent thouands of dollars at this place. the clerks were nice and friendly and knew me. again, i would often buy 7 records at one time, and would order records like crazy. the stuff they didnt carry i would order through them, again multiple cds at a time. When a musician came by, for an in store promotion thing, i got my picture with the guy, and the record store, held onto the photo for me, cause they knew i would be back frequently. That record store closed down years ago.
Seems to me the idea of a record store no longer exists. Sure their are still some in existance. the one where i first heard vitalogy, is still up and running here in eugene. but the idea of a place like in Empire Records, a place where I would love to work, its calm, its sort of easy work. you spend your day turning people on to records you love, and you get to spend time around music all day. a place where music geeks hang out and find out about the new bands of the day. that place doesnt exist anymore. and that truely saddens me. Not only because I want a job doing that, but because i understand the importance of it all.
What is your story? Did you as a kid spend hours and hours at the record store? Did you discover new bands and new friends at the shop?
Pitchfork is showing "I need that record" on their site, a doc on record stores and their decline.
http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2144- ... t-record/1
I am probably known on this board for being militantly pro-filesharing. The concept of someone downloading the new Bruce cd, and that causing Bruce to go bankrupt and unable to feed his kids, I have no patience for that argument, and its one i cant wrap my head around. How am I financially harming a multimillionaire, who makes millions each year from touring alone?
What I can understand and am thoughtful and contientious about is, the record store, the indie record store, the local cd store. I see them as a casualty in all this. Most of these stores arent made up of greedy people, they are owned and visited by people like us, like me, people who live for music.
I can remember going to my local cd store as a kid, 9, 10, 11 years old, at the height of the grunge, and they had these listening stations, where you could ask the clerks to grab a cd, and you could sit on a couch, with headphones and listen to the record on a cd player. I remember hearing Nirvana Unplugged that way, Vitalogy that way, Neil's Sleeps with Angels that way. As I got older, I got more adventurous. I would try new genres, hip hop became my go to genre. I would buy 6 or 7 albums at a time. There is something to be said for the communal vibe of a record store. both in terms of who owns it, and who visits it, but also, the idea that until Sleeps with Angels was officially released, you didnt hear it. At all. You might not have even heard a single. Nowadays it seems like, we hear a ton of a bands new album before its even released, through an early leak yes, but also through live shows, the proliferation of youtube, where you dont even have to attend a live show to literally see a band perform, through bands playing their songs on tv and commercials now. So, nowadays few records are really heard together, everyone in the world, or the u.s. hearing a record on that day. In Rainbows maybe was that, everyone heard it at the same time. but of course we know that was a rare case.
I remember a local cd store, on campus here, very indie, very hip, i spent thouands of dollars at this place. the clerks were nice and friendly and knew me. again, i would often buy 7 records at one time, and would order records like crazy. the stuff they didnt carry i would order through them, again multiple cds at a time. When a musician came by, for an in store promotion thing, i got my picture with the guy, and the record store, held onto the photo for me, cause they knew i would be back frequently. That record store closed down years ago.
Seems to me the idea of a record store no longer exists. Sure their are still some in existance. the one where i first heard vitalogy, is still up and running here in eugene. but the idea of a place like in Empire Records, a place where I would love to work, its calm, its sort of easy work. you spend your day turning people on to records you love, and you get to spend time around music all day. a place where music geeks hang out and find out about the new bands of the day. that place doesnt exist anymore. and that truely saddens me. Not only because I want a job doing that, but because i understand the importance of it all.
What is your story? Did you as a kid spend hours and hours at the record store? Did you discover new bands and new friends at the shop?
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This should keep you entertained for awhile
http://forums.pearljam.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=112189&start=105