Scottish music world domination plan !
Most people would be surprised I think at Scottish indeoendent music’s worldwide appeal and also the international reputation of Avalanche. People come from all over the world to visit the shop often but not always based on our reputation for recommending Scottish bands. We are also well known for selling bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, Bright Eyes and Beirut but especially since our move our reputation for not only having a wide selection of Scottish bands but also helping customers find music they like seems to have grown massively. Our support for local bands of course goes all the way back to the later Shop Assistants singles which we still sell regularly. Older customers also remember our work with many New Zealand bands.
Anyway the result of all this is that we regularly get in the shop other shop owners, workers or regular customers who recommend their shops as potentially partners with Avalanche in our support of Scottish music. There are bands I know would sell worldwide because I play them in the shop and people from all over the world come to the counter and ask to buy. Star Wheel Press are the latest example of course but there must be around a dozen, maybe 15 bands that either sell loads when played or when recommended after listening to a customer’s tastes.
My plan would be to send free of charge a couple of each album to the world’s best shops as have been recommended to me all housed in a nice display box. These would be shops I know would support the albums and of course the plan is that they will sell so well that they will want more. There would of course also be a worldwide press campaign to coincide. There is interest from LA, Chicago, Nashville, New York and many more in the US. Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Barcelona, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenberg, Zurich, Rome, Berlin, Athens, Melbourne and Sydney to name just some of those who have expressed an interest.
It would not cost a huge amount of money but it would take up a fair amount of my time as it would all be done by personal contact. What we need is a sponsor who would benefit from the world wide coverage it would receive. Shops and customers will listen to these albums because of Avalanche’s reputation but they will buy them because of the quality of the songs.
Only recently I mentioned the idea in passing to Grimey’s in Nashville after one of their customers had been in wearing their Record Store Day t-shirt. They immediately came back saying they would love to hear more of our Scottish bands and thought it was a great idea. Interestingly in the previous two weeks I had sold copies of Emily Scott’s albums to people from Nashville who had said she would do well there and should come over and play.
Everything is ready to go and all that is needed is the money to cover the cost and my time.