That's a good note from Mike Himes. The fact remains that Huck is out of a job, although he probably wouldn't have liked standing behind a cash register or restocking the main floor all day.
What Himes says about the changing nature of the business is very true. Last week the headlines were all about Steve Jobs dictating to the record industry what their new business model will be. They don't like it one little bit and nothing is for certain, because the industry has 100 years of whatever it takes (and I mean that) to keep near total control of the creative output of musicians. But that is the way it is. What Mike Himes, Huckaby, Vince and all you who have worked in the fast-diminishing world of retail record stores have is intimate knowledge of where the good stuff is. That doesn't need four walls and a bunch of display racks, and it's very valuable. Ebay is one place where that knowledge goes, podcasting is another, and there are a lot more opportunities going forward. I'm not worried about vinyl because the truth is, despite all its drawbacks, it has vitality as a performance medium. The "death of vinyl" at the end of the 1980s was the rise of dance music culture as vinyl changed from mass market to performance medium and allowed very small runs of 500 to 5000 to dominate, opening up the market radically to new sonic ideas. The digital revolution that began right at the same time has been dominated by the digital rights lockup of the industry and the RIAA, and they have killed the retail record stores moving from vinyl to CD and now DVD with their greedy and narrow-minded approach. Of course they will try and dominate the electronic digital media as well (sorry, Steve Jobs ain't *my* friend, his tussle with the industry is a competition among sharks), but there is an opening for many new business models, some of which will at last treat the creative and performing musician with some fairness. Submerge and many others selling on the net is one such but not the only model. Record Time was always an anomaly, if you ask me. What other full-service retail store during the last 15 years had a full size dance music room like in Roseville or a fully committed electronic music staff like Ferndale? Ameba in San Francisco has the latter but they have never even had listening stations which is the other essential part of the retail business model for dance music. And I can't think of any others. From Gramaphone to Eightball and Vinyl Mania in New York to Tweekin and BPM in San Francisco to the late lamented 12 Inch Dance Records in DC, the stores I've always found to be the best are specialists. Obviously RT will continue to emphasize electronic and dance music, but it is just the same the end of an era. Although if you want a tragedy, this isn't it. (A tragedy is the loss of those priceless record collections and stores and source recordings on St. Charles Avenue and the Lower Ninth and Treme and throughout Cajunland in the Katrina flood.) -- fred
