HOW TO SAVE THE RECORDING INDUSTRY PART 1: Record Shops

The recording industry will continue its slow decline for a few more decades yet. Music will exist to be archived, enjoyed, studied, mashed-up, dipped into, lauded, hated, remixed, repackaged, uploaded, downloaded and recorded. It'll survive somehow, if anything, if only by unconventional means. Probably.
I'm not an industry insider or an A&R person (although I feel I might as well be an A&R person, because I rarely make new discoveries from anything on the radio these days but by trawling blogs; services like Soundcloud,  Youtube, Last FM and anything else out there). My qualifications might be the same as yours. I'm a music lover, frustrated pop star and in theory an 'audiophile'. It's not nostalgia that's driving this piece but the present reality. Ironically this next section will begin with me placing my fingers in my ears and not so much as humming but fantasising.

Origami Vinyl, LA

I have many fantasies. This is one of them.
There are record shops everywhere.  As many as coffee shops (actually they could sell coffee too and tea). I would prefer if most of them were independent. Independent record shops each have their own identity, specialism subject, niche, whatever. They are little worlds you can get lost in. Lost in music, if you will.  They are record shops though. Which means they sell vinyl. Lots of them. They can still sell music on compact disc/mp3/cassettes, and mini-discs if they like. The emphasis should be on the pieces of plastic we also call 'records.'

In my fantasy (and in reality as it happens) vinyl is a luxury item. Not so much in terms of price per album/single but the whole idea and ritual from the packaging, purchasing to playing. However they will all be available in all these record shops which happen to be everywhere. In these record shops (which I hope are also very stylish and welcoming, designed to reflect ease of use, as well as looking quite fab, perhaps with milky, chocolate, coffee colours, and wooden panels) I want record players to be on sale. Maybe like the one above, but some affordable one's as well. I want them, along with the vinyls and compact discs, to be sold by staff who are friendly and not intimidating. They can have a personality, of course, but it's my fantasy and I don't want my shopping experience affected by someone who scowls and sniffs just because I happen to enjoy 'Martha, my dear' by The Beatles. Here's another picture of a stylish turntable.

I want decent record players, turntables, amps and speakers to be on sale. In my fantasy there will be demand and manufacturers will meet this demand because people are buying them, because they have been publicised and there are places to buy them, people who appreciate good sound quality and because, well, it's my fantasy and in my fantasy record buyers will treat music as a luxurious pastime, not something that's half-heartedly being piped into supermarkets. Consumers care about romance, packaging, presentation, supporting independent shops, the anticipation of the release date, going out to look for the album, seeing it on display, maybe hearing it being played in the shop, the journey home, taking the record out of the sleeve and carefully placing it onto the slip mat...turning the lights down...and hearing the sound of your favourite band/classic album pouring out of the speakers.

Seattle, 1944

My record shops will see the return of listening booths. You will be able to browse or have a coffee, read the wide range of music magazines and papers that will exist (as in my fantasy they won't fold because they'll be written by actual music fans that will engage young people as well, and not just exist as style/tabloid fodder like the N.M.E.). You could order a new sound system. There will be some on display although you may have to order one, safe in the knowledge that our experts will deliver, assemble and give you advice on caring for your new product. Record players will be held in such high esteem that buying one and inviting people over to listen to music would be similar to buying a television in 1953. They really should be small works of art, something that enhances your living space.

In this climate (my fantasy, and some small sections of reality) people care about the sound quality in music. They've grown tired/deaf  from compressed music, low bitrate, tinny, shitty, low quality mp3's that screech out of mobile phones, cheap speakers in clothes shops, hammered into your face in bars, pissed out of computer speakers and Christ knows what. Our customers are tired of remastered albums where the sound engineers, to compete with other bands and artists, just actually whack up the master track, rather than enhance, restore, preserve the space and dynamic range in each of the multi-tracks. In my fantasy world, my products will not be refugees of the Loudness War

In addition, in the UK we have a day once a year where some of our artists, in support of independent record shops, release limited edition vinyls. It's called 'Record Store Day' or something like that, although it should be known as 'Record Shop Day'. Anyway, it does quite well, gets a lot of support from the music press and radio. Now why can't it be like that every week? Better still why don't artists just make their stuff available (at least on one format) exclusively at record shops? Let the supermarkets sell pap. (Of course I know the answers. It's money, money, money) Still...

In Part 2, I'll look at Technology and Culture of the recording industry.