People Love Record Shops but bands and labels too
I have a friend with a gift shop. Interesting things you don’t see all the time. She has to go through every box taking out the little leaflets inside from the supplier which basically say thank you for buying this from a shop but next time why not buy something directly from us instead listing of course their website address. This is the problem now facing record shops. We introduce a customer to a band or label and the customer will understandably then check out their website. The next release they may then buy directly.>
We long ago lost all our Domino customers and maybe in a pointer to the way forward things have come full circle and we are now working with their publishing arm who are being very supportive indeed. Even a shop’s loyalist customers will sometimes buy from shops but other times directly. Labels will say the extra revenue makes all the difference to them and I’m sure in many cases it does. However shops need every sale they can get these days too so sharing/losing customers they have introduced to a band/label makes all the difference to them also.
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Of course when the customer’s interest is in the type of music then they will return looking for recommendations of similar things. We don’t only suggest Scottish music of course and we are a big supporter of the Pearly Gate Music album. There is a good chance if you like that you will like The Savings and Loan and vice versa and of course now the latest in that lineage is the Star Wheel Press album.
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We are getting customers from abroad back in the shop after a year or two saying how much they enjoyed the Broken Records and Frightened Rabbit albums we recommended to them and looking for more of the same. I always suggest whatever I think most suitable but more than ever it puts me in a dilemma. Nobody is more supportive of Avalanche than the Fence label for instance (we have the Kid Canaveral in-store next weekend) and yet we have had many customers return telling us that they have gone on to buy stuff directly from Fence after our recommendation. Should I continue to suggest smaller Scottish labels and bands that I am likely to lose custom to or support equally good and probably bigger bands on bigger labels were this is less likely to happen ?
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By coincidence while a customer (as it turned out Matthew (I think) from Loch Awe) was in buying the Christ album and asking for the new split single on Gerry Loves Records who comes in to collect his Radiohead twelve inch but Andy from Gerry Loves Records on his way to having the sleeves for the new split single screen printed. I’d already mentioned the earlier singles and as you can see from the tweets below done a good job in selling them. However the bottom line is another lost sale. Now the thing is I don’t begrudge the label the sale at all but sensibly if Avalanche is to survive I can’t just rely on selling Andy’s releases to tourists looking for “interesting” vinyl.
LochAweBand Loch Awe
Today I bought a Christ. LP @avalanche_edin. It’s brilliant. Had to try very hard to stop myself getting every @gerryloves release too…
gerryloves Gerry Loves Records
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@LochAweBand ah, that was you. Sorry I wasn’t chattier, you caught me at a bad time. Yes, buy all the records!
LochAweBand Loch Awe
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@gerryloves Indeed it was. Don’t worry about it – you seemed in a rush, haha! I’m gonna go for the deal on bandcamp when I get paid. 🙂
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Let me make it very clear here that I’m not complaining about this merely trying to highlight the issues it raises. In fact Andy actually mentioned the possibility of a labels’ market to me recently and while I was very much against the London version I was more than happy to support a Scottish labels’ market if it was done in conjunction with shops and not at their expense. I have also looked quite closely at trying to organise some sort of distribution for the many Scottish bands that currently don’t have any but again the stumbling block will always the issues already mentioned. I know Fence are quite actively looking at supporting shops that support them and certainly that looks a promising way forward. If a healthy balance can be struck between shop sales and label/band sales then all sides I think will benefit.