Our first year in the Grassmarket

Without a doubt both the music industry and retail in general have changed more in the last year than at any time in Avalanche’s history and that includes the introduction of CDs and the start of online selling. I can not pretend that it has not become a constant annoyance to me to hear people within the music industry spout outdated (possibly something true even 3 months ago) ideas of ways forward in general and for shops in particular. The current phrase seems to be “living in a bubble” and that is certainly what most people involved with music do. They have their own world that rarely crosses into the world of many others. At the same time those who want to be involved often find entry into these “bubbles” difficult if not impossible.

It is the nature and most would accept the strength of a shop that we come across a wide spectrum of those involved in music (many from outside Scotland) on a daily basis. Musicians, labels, record companies, distributors, promoters,  journalists and media folk in general (TV, film, radio etc), recording studios, managers and bloggers just off the top of my head. I’ve no doubt forgotten an important sector ! I have my own opinions but mostly if I say something it is based on the most current information from all these people. By far the most common misconception still spouted by virtually all those in the wider music industry is that if shops just put on interesting events and provide good customer service they wil be “alright” which admittedly Avalanche’s own move was based on.

However customer’s behaviour has changed dramatically even in the last year. Small but interesting events will attract nobody at all. Slightly bigger and more popular in-stores, exhibitions etc will attract good crowds who will just come along but on the whole not buy anything. Whereas before people would feel obliged if they had taken up your time to ask advice about music to at least buy something many now consider us to be merely an information service and finish with “I’ll go and listen to some more online”.

Thankfully our many visitors still on the whole tend to appreciate advice given and I must say buy more than ever. We are however still getting a fair number of people with notebooks simply writing down all our recommendations from our Scottish bands section. Again on the plus side we do get people from all over the world who come in to buy from us after reading the blog/website’s recommendations. Online sales have increased but many customers from abroad admit they hold off ordering if they know they will be in Edinburgh in the future as they like the personal approach of not only buying the music they have discovered but then having other music recommended too. As you can tell there are many who do appreciate the service we provide but unfortunately there are too many who consider music and information/advice to be something they shouldn’t have to pay for. In an ironic but positive twist many who see no value in music do see worth in posters and t-shirts and posters in particular have been a huge success since our move. Most striking are the young Arctic Monkeys fans who come back week after week to buy more posters (we have seven different ones @ £3 each) but would never dream of paying £3 for an Arctic monkeys CD.

I have several meetings this week. Proper meetings not the usual people popping into the shop for a chat “meetings”. I will then make decisions about how we move forward. As one customer pointed out this week the most sensible thing for me to do after getting in such a great collection of vinyl would be to shut the doors and just put it all online. That is a given if money was the only consideration. However contrary to what a small minority seem to think it has never been about the money as many others will testify. We have to make money. We have to make enough money. It is not about maximising the amount of money to be made at the expense of the things that have made Avalanche known all over the world.

Avalanche Manifesto 2 – coming soon.