Archive for September, 2012
James Yorkston box set now to be available in shops !!!
This morning I noticed I’d missed an email with presales for October 8th. One item however was highlighted as released October 1st. I was surprised to see it was the Domino label only release of the James Yorkston box set for his latest album. Clearly it hadn’t sold all 1,000 copies and shops were being offered the remainder. As I mentioned on twitter at the time along with the Dead Can Dance box set only available from the band I was asked for this a lot.
Even stranger I was sure I remembered the price being £35 and yet now I was being offered it for £35 + VAT as the dealer price. There was then a discount but clearly the initial dealer price to a shop shouldn’t be more than the price to the public. I quickly googled to see what came up and immediately got a link to the Fence website who were selling signed copies of the regular vinyl (another mystery solved as I’d been asked if I had signed vinyl) and linking to the Domino site for the box and confirming the price at £35 + £2 p+p.
http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/albums/09-05-12/i-was-a-cat-from-a-book/
Checking the sales notes nowhere did it indicate that the box had been on sale for sometime from the label. Also by releasing it on the 1st a shop would receive it late September and therefore be expected to pay for it at the end of October.
I had had a US record shop owner in only last week telling me exactly the same story of how labels selling to the public cheaper than shops had eventually caused him to close.
Anyway I skim down further and there is the PAWS album on Fat Cat so I check their website. As you might expect the label are doing all they can to get fans to buy directly offering bundles and a low price for the CD. I then notice the tour dates. The album launch (where I’m guessing they will sell the album release date Oct 8th) is Octber 4th in Glasgow.
Those shops that are left have survived Amazon and downloads and are still here, many just and no more. What will finish the rest of us off is this constant erosion of sales by labels and of course record companies (don’t mention the latest Sex Pistols coloured vinyl to a shop).
If some labels no longer see any point to shops then fine but let’s be honest about it and not start being all supportive come Record Store Day. However many labels I know see it as putting their own survival before that of shops and I of course understand that. I just think there is a better way forward for all of us and it starts with a level playing field.
Biffy Clyro – Opposite of support your local record shop ?
Biffy Clyro are Avalanche’s third biggest selling band of all time after Belle & Sebastian and Mogwai. Sometime in the future Avalanche will cease to be a record shop as customers currently know it. It isn’t simply the loss of new release sales but the loss of people coming into the shop and then buying other things too. Often these “other things” are smaller new releases so those bands suffer lost sales too.
Biffy are doing no more than most bands do now so I’m not trying to attach any blame here. All I’m saying is when people wonder why is it that shops can’t keep going it isn’t because there aren’t enough people buying physical music it is because there aren’t enough people buying physical music in shops. When albums are being sold to fans this far ahead of the release date shops have no chance.
At http://opposites.biffyclyro.com/ you are encouraged to buy the box set from the band’s website and the CD/DVD version at amazon or play.com There is a twist in the tale here at least for a shop like Avalanche. Should we get enough Biffy Clyro posters it would bring in both the revenue and the fans we used to have actually selling the music. A shop taking a 360 approach might see that as a way forward !
New Rob St. John remix album
Exciting news about the Rob St. John album. And yes I’ll have a word about looking after those who have already bought the album.
In case you missed it, ‘Weald’ has been remixed by a bunch of friends and collaborators, in parts doomy, dancey and weird.
The remixes are available to stream here and as a free, limited edition CD when you buy ‘Weald’ on CD from an independent record shop (e.g. Avalanche Records) after its release next week.
http://soundcloud.com/songbytoad/sets/rob-st-john-weald-remixed
Polaris Music Prize 2012 @ Avalanche
With 10 days to go before this year’s winner is announced we now have the mystery 7″s to give away with each purchase from the shortlisted nominees. Each single features two of the artists but as they are all sealed with identical sleeves even we don’t know what you will be getting.
Fucked Up were our biggest selling band before the campaign but at the moment Grimes is leading with Handsome Furs in second. You can find out more about the award and the artists involved at http://www.polarismusicprize.ca/
If you really can’t make it into the shop then our good friends Spillers Records in Cardiff have them all listed and available to buy. http://www.spillersrecords.co.uk/public/shop.cfm?sc_artist=polaris&sc_title=&sc_label=&x=5&y=10&search=true
Alternatively we can take orders over the phone. All orders will receive a 7″ while stocks last.
Last Online Record Shop Standing
The new documentary DVD released in support of independent record shops came out this week. Many will argue about the validity of the rebirth of independent record shops but that is a different blog. The music industry has never let the truth get in the way of publicity. The point is that no matter how blunt the message people seem to have their own take on things. This year more people seemed to think Record Store Day was about vinyl than record shops.
So on twitter today. There is I agree a publicity grabbing conspiracy theory relating to vinyl but I was still surprised to see this tweet
Prescribed Vinyl @PrescribedVinyl
Just got my copy of @LstShopStanding at http://www.propermusic.com/product-details/Last-Shop-Standing-DVD-The-Rise-Fall-And-Rebirth-Of-The-Independent-Record-Shop-137664 … Everyone who enjoys#vinyl should own this film…
So this DVD is about vinyl ? Anyway the buyer is in the US so can be excused from not rushing to his nearest UK record shop. Obviously though he would buy it from a UK record shop website ? Well no. He buys it from the distributor and it is then retweeted by both the twitter account for Last Shop Standing and the distributor Proper.
So the message seems to be clear. Don’t buy it from
Spillers in Cardiff and support the world’s oldest record shop
http://www.spillersrecords.co.uk/merchandise/?sl=L&productid=28649#pt_28649
or from Piccadilly in Manchester
http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/shop/search.php?search=last%20shop%20standing
or from Rough Trade in London
Why not just go the whole hog and buy it from the cheapest seller on Amazon quirksonline
It’s a first. I’m lost for words !
