yeah one did that near me...beer kits...guess what? out of business.....

but i dont think downloading music killed them - it was BB and CC's of the world. also being able to buy cds cheaper on the web.

more competition is what killed them.

I agree, but I think downloading still contributed to it.

Regardless, all stores will have to adapt because the CD is about to become a fringe product.

I completely agree. I'm certainly considering completely abandoning pressing discs from now on. I can't see how it could possibly be anything but a disaster financially from here on out.

i download a lot of singles and will preview albums occasionally, but i buy a lot of music. yes, it's sometimes easier to buy major-label releases at bestbuy, but they really don't have a lot of what i'm searching out. that's why i try to go to a real record store (dusty groove or reckless, usually) about once a week.

what the mom/pop stores are good for are used bins. they should be making a killing off of those. for instance, dusty groove (though not really a mom/pop) gets local trade-ins and then puts them on their website for international buyers. they don't seem to be hurting too badly. used bins have been tricky for the past couple years because some people are purging their entire collections after ripping them, but with people not buying as many CDs as they used to, they're also obviously not trading in nearly as many as they had. sometimes you get lucky, though.

i agree to its contribution.......

my statement didnt come out completely like i wanted....

I'd be interested to find out how many of these bands actually leak there own discs. I'm sure a lot of the recent hype bands would never have sold as many units without the word of mouth generated from leaked stuff.

And there's a flipside to the "helpful indie record store clerk" scenario. I worked at Wuxtry in Athens, which is ostensibly just such a place, and the staff there delighted in knowing MORE than you did, and rubbing your face in it. Best Buy, on the other hand, left you the hell alone and let you put on headphones and listen to whatever you wanted.

It goes both ways.

I love both for different reasons, but ANYONE who thinks they can legilate consumer behavior is in for a bad surprise. As long as a way exists to do it for free, a large % of people will. Shit rolls downhill.

the only way they can curb piracy is regulating the internet. but that would be too big brotherish, not to mention downright impossible.

yeah, niche stores like DG are quite a bit different because you just can't get a lot of their stuff anywhere else.

Actually. I will go full blown buying stuff on the net.

Only one time in my life has a record store employee put a CD in my hand. (back in 1990 i guess, this guy gave me a promo copy of Nirvana's nevermind, a few weeks before its official release and telling me its going to be the biggest thing ever.) i bought a real copy with artwork when it came out..

i get where your coming from, and I agree to a point. I like shopping at mom and pop shops, and i understand they have to charge more to stay in business.....but, my loyalty is to myself, and my wallet and my bank account

there will always be venues to grab your music. it's a changing world....

in toronto, there are no mom and pop stores. most places there are only the big chain stores. so why should i care if i cut into their profits. . . . .like t makes a difference.

Spade's right about Not Lame. They released powerpop CDs by bands no one would have distributed; not because the bands weren't very good (many were fantastic), simply because the genre wasn't valued. Not since Jellyfish, anyway.

I download a crapload of music and I still buy more cd's now than I did before downloading came along. Now, would I if I were a broke college student? Probably not. Any money you get in college is for beer. If downloading beer ever becomes possible, I'm quitting work.

Because our economy wouldn't be any better than that of a small third world country without the existence and enforcement of property rights and contractual law.

i find myself buying more music as well. with the internet and downloading, i have been exposed to a shit ton of music.....

This is true for me as well. I'll always download and preview an album before I buy it, if I still like it after 3-4 listens I'll go buy the CD and delete the rip from my computer. I also buy 95% of my CDs from mom & pop stores. But since their prices are so much higher, there's no way I'm going to spend $14-16.99 on a CD I've never heard before and have it turn out to be shit.

I Hear new music because of the net, I buy more music (via the net +/- 70% digital 30%commercially packaged) No question.

So I have an idea: I think much of the problem comes from too many artists to rep. The net has shown the consumer more variety than ever before which leads to a more difficult marketing strategy for labels big and small.
What would be the result of labels stepping out front a bit more and saying "hey: these are our acts, place your trust in our ears and buy our bands."

Yes, I know that all artists are individual snowflakes, but when many times when you see a commercial for a car, its about Toyota, not as much about the celica. If labels have good recognition, and are known for repping real talent, then they can spend less budget and reap the same rewards.
Comsumers would begin to associate labels with music that suits their taste.
Most of us already know labels, but trust me, most do not spend much time scanning Cd Jackets for label info before buying.
my .02$

This is the scenario I'm most familiar with, actually. Personally, I'd sooner deal with the morons at the big box than some smelly jagoff with whiteboy dreads, but if I want used cds, I'm gonna have to hold my nose and deal with them. And if you've got enough money, that fucking morals or principles dictate where you shop, well, good for you. Personally, I'm always gonna try to save a few bucks because I generally need it.

As for downloading, I prefer a hard copy of something, with artwork. I realize that I could make cds and print out that stuff, but why should I?

Hear, hear.

Agreed as well, however I do miss vinyl for that very reason. There was something a little more intimate about opening up a gatefold, vs. me squinting my eyes trying to read the .1 size font type on my cd jacket.

Spent many an afternoon perusing the album art of my sister's extensive Iron Maiden record collection when I was in junior high. Can't pull that off at cd-cover size.

i think some sort of new music format is in order. right now we have the technology for way better audio quality than cds are capable of (and we're already realizing that with some of the albums remastered for surround sound on dvd). better quality will result in much more data, meaning much bigger files if you rip them to your computer. of course, really big files get shared on the internet, but its a hell of a lot more inconvenient to download a file thats 4 gigs than 3 megs.
i think then the file sharing would be more like movies than music. i know a lot more people who download crappy xvid copies of movies and still end up buying the dvd than people who download mp3s and still buy the cd. give the people something extra and they'll pay for it.

= solid economic reasoning.