avalanche records

Archive for December, 2014

1.  Withered Hand – New Gods 

2.  Mogwai – Rave Tapes

3.  King Creosote – From Scotland With Love

4.  Owl John – Owl John

5.  PAWS – Youth Culture Forever

6.  James Yorkston – Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society

7.  The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave

8.   We Were Promised Jetpacks – Unravelling

9.   Hamish James Hawk – Aznavour

10. Broken Records – Weights and Pulleys

11. Jack White – Lazaretto

12. The Phantom Band – Strange Friend

13. The Last Battle – Lay Your Burden Down

14. Young Fathers – Dead

15. Swans – To Be Kind

16. Remember Remember – Forgetting The Present 

17. Bwani Junction – Tongue Of Bombie

18. Pixies – Indie Cindy

19. Sun Kil Moon – Benji

20. Aphex Twin – Syro

21. Temples – Sun Structures

22. Warpaint – Warpaint

23. The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

24. Bruce Springsteen – High Hopes

25. Shellac – Dude Incredible

26. Morrissey – World Peace Is none Of Your Business

27. Conor Oberst – Upside Down Mountain

28. Leonard Cohen – Popular Problems

29. Beck – Morning Phase

30. Goat – Commune

Congratulations to Dan and good to see Avalanche customers weren’t the only people to rate “New Gods” so highly. A top ten entirely made up of Scottish bands was not solely a result of a Scottish shop selling Scottish bands. Just as important in the equation was whether there was an indies only version available and how much effort the bands and their labels put into selling directly to their fans. We sold 100+ of the “New Gods” gold vinyl with Dan’s support but even that did not go completely smoothly. For a short time Dan’s label Fortuna POP! decided to sell the gold vinyl at a stupidly low price and a week later were complaining they couldn’t cope with their mail order and were handing it over to their distributor Cargo. Exactly the same situation occurred with the Owl John vinyl. Great support from Scott but when his label put it on sale at what was cost price to a shop several customers asked for a refund.

The Mogwai album was  an even odder situation. As also happened with Nick Cave independents were given a bonus 7″ with their vinyl not available from the artists’ own website. After selling all their own box sets Mogwai’s label Rock Action tweeted the Avalanche link to buy which again was a great help. King Creosote had an indies only double vinyl albeit also available from Kenny’s label Domino and PAWS had a limited green vinyl available to everybody but  sold mostly by indies. James Yorkston’s vinyl had an indies only die cut sleeve and James is always very good at promoting Avalanche’s buying links. There was talk of an indies only or Scottish only Twilight Sad vinyl but in the end neither materialised and sales consequently suffered. Virtually every day fans were encouraged on social media to buy directly from their label Fat Cat. Another Fat Cat band We Were Promised Jetpacks did benefit from having an indies only limited yellow vinyl which undoubtedly helped them make the Top 10. Hamish James Hawk was the one self distributed local artist making the Top 10 with his debut album. 

The Avalanche philosophy is simple. We want to give the customer the best deal we can. We don’t want them to pay more or receive less than they can elsewhere. We don’t want them missing out because they want to support Avalanche and we don’t want to to sell to customers because they don’t realise there is a far better deal elsewhere.  If bands and labels want to go head to head with shops who have supported them sometimes for decades and take away their business so be it but make it a level playing field.

This has been going on for some time now and Avalanche’s sales aren’t always what they seem. When the previous Twilight Sad album was our best seller of the year people would rightfully point to the album launch they held in the shop week of release as certainly helping. Actually we sold 35 copies while 155 people attended. Many customers had either already bought online or at the Dunfermline gig the previous Friday. Initial sales were disappointing but we would recommend the album regularly and it was a great album so slowly the sales built up until it topped our chart at the end of the year.

As documented before when HMV and FOPP were in trouble and didn’t stock either Rick Redbeard or Conquering Animal Sound it showed how things might be. Avalanche has always been central just not as central as HMV or FOPP for the many “indie” office workers. Most also bought other things they would never find elsewhere and vowed to return but of course didn’t once things returned to normal. The situation is now exasperated as before HMV/FOPP would often run out of stock but now they are consigned the releases they can sit on as much stock as they want. In a final twist vinyl already on the way up was deemed not important enough by HMV to be stocked at all when in administration and Avalanche sold loads of copies of releases by Frightened Rabbit, Biffy Clyro etc. Now their racks are full of vinyl they don’t have to pay for until sold.

What the chart does show is that despite all of the problems above we still sell a decent amount of Scottish artists based on our reputation. Avalanche sold as much James Yorkston and Owl John vinyl as all the Scottish HMVs and FOPPs put together in the first week. We sold 110 of the 500 copies of Frightened Rabbit’s “Pedestrian Verse” with the free 7″ and could have sold more thanks to support from Scott and the guys. Warners offered a free print with the Owl John album and registered 111 sales ! As for our market share for both PAWS albums you would be very surprised indeed !  

So what does this all mean in 2015 ? Well to a large extent sales are now completely out of our hands. Broken Records who made it to number ten in our chart went down the PledgeMusic route and as you can imagine we would have sold many more if that hadn’t been the case. The guys were very supportive and we benefited from it not being in HMV or FOPP but mostly their fans had already bought it directly. Idle wild are one of Avalanche’s top ten Scottish bands over the last thirty years but again have used PledgeMusic for the new album out in February. For comparison we had Idlewild play in the Cockburn street shop day of release for an album and sold 110 copies to the 100 people there !

What I do find odd is that bands now have no problem charging fans for simple “extras”. As a shop we would maybe get 50 signed copies of an album but would never dream of charging more. Now a £10 CD is often £12 signed but that also includes an access pass so that’s OK. With other platforms from Bandcamp to Spotify all set to encourage bands to sell directly to their hardcore fans it will be an interesting year. What nobody talks about are all the other fans. The ones who enjoy a band’s music but don’t hang on their every word. And then there are the fans just keen to hear new music. These are often the people shops deal with but what incentive is left to support bands when most of the business has been taken away ? And the situation for new bands is even worse than for shops. With a small fan base at best they struggle to ever reach a wider audience.

I’m a big fan of CMU and this is well worth reading  “Trends: The real revolution is direct-to-fan”   http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/trends-the-real-revolution-is-direct-to-fan/?utm_content=buffered848&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I also know Benji Rogers founder of PledgeMusic from his time in an indie band that played in Avalanche and we keep in touch. I know his intentions with the site are good and he wishes shops no harm. However in the same way streaming is not a viable way for bands to be paid for their music picking up the crumbs that are left after bands sell to their fans is not a viable model for a shop supporting current artists. Of course that isn’t to say shops can’t manage in other ways be that selling genres not affected by D2F, selling reissued vinyl, selling second hand or tickets or the many other ways shops are surviving. The shame is that anybody can sell a reissued Led Zeppelin album but what good indies were great at was supporting new music and looking after the fans of bands and labels they had helped get established. I fear that may be lost forever and while shops may have other options the majority of new bands starting out do not.      

Avalanche will be at the record fair in Cafe Camino tomorrow. Lots of well priced new vinyl including two £10 boxes and some great used vinyl £3 (4 for £10) and £5 (5 for £20).
Collectable vinyl too from Pink Floyd, Captain Beefheart, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan etc but not too pricey.

 

 

Christmas party Peel session

Radio 1 Peel Session Christmas Special, 2002

A Christmas video if not a Christmas song

Lots to come of what is wrong and what could be put right to help those established businesses that trade all year and don’t just pop up in the good times but what is the most positive idea to come from all those meetings I had ? For context firstly I discovered I inhabit the world of pop/rock if I’m talking to Edinburgh Council and contemporary music when speaking to Creative Scotland. Not a great start as it became immediately apparent that they don’t differentiate between Ed Sheeran and Withered Hand. Secondly it also became clear early on that commercial pop rock being so “popular” meant it was deemed not to need the help other less popular genres and arts needed. This seemed counter intuitive to me meaning the less popular something was the more chance it had of being supported but those already involved in this world confirmed this was exactly the case. Similarly music in general being more popular than other areas of the arts meant it again often received the short end of the stick.

A little further investigation and the level of imbalance became clear. Rooms the size of a decent shop dedicated to a couple of paintings or a video installation. Buildings the size of an old Virgin Megastore sparsely filled with what some call art and others in one particular case would call “a pile of old records lying on the floor”. Anyway the argument here is not about what is or isn’t art but the support and space given to all the various branches of the arts. I quickly understood what musicians, often artists themselves, saw as a disparity in support for their work. What support there is for music is very focused on the making of music while how that music reaches the public seems to be given little thought at all beyond the fact that it can be put online and then the whole world can listen !

Much of this resonated with my own search as to how the council, given their new found understanding of the problems facing music related businesses, could help. It also became clear that the feeling expressed at the Live Music Matters meeting in the Usher Hall that “pop/rock” lacked a voice compared to others was a very accurate assessment of the situation.

I also came to realise that there was scope for something more than simply a shop that stocked Scottish bands old and new. Many customers were as keen to talk about Josef K, Simple Minds and The Shop Assistants as they were new bands they should be listening to and yet there was nowhere they could visit to find out more. There was no need for fancy laser shows people were interested in artwork and badges and old posters along with the history of the bands and also Scotland’s many famous labels. Olaf Furniss’ ideas about music tourism are not misplaced and as you might imagine I’ve received nothing but enthusiasm for the idea.

All those meetings and chats haven’t been wasted and both Ian Smith head of music at Creative Scotland and Stewart Henderson of Chemikal Underground and chair of the SMIA have been very supportive. Various members of Edinburgh Council’s Culture and Sport department have also been very helpful and last week I met with the head of museums and galleries about the City Art Centre who promised to consider the idea while understandably having some reservations. I can think of no better location than the ground floor of the City Art Centre. It has all the space needed without disrupting the shop it already has there and the cafe next door is perfect. One reservation was that it was an art gallery and whether that would be compromised but as several people have said already it is an art centre and much of what would be on display would be the artwork used in conjunction with the music.

Another plus is all the new visitors it would attract to the centre as well as providing a visually interesting frontage. What is more I would envisage it as a gateway to all that Edinburgh has to offer in the arts with visitors being offered information on the many other places they might want to visit. I’m well aware these things are not always as simple as they may seem but I’m also aware that they are not always as complicated either ! I’m sure the idea will be given fair consideration.

 

So a Scottish Contemporary Pop Rock Music Centre (only with a far better name obviously) celebrating Scottish artists and labels both old and new as well as providing background on venues and clubs that have come and gone over the years. Scottish music has had a worldwide influence that should be celebrated and this would seem the perfect way to do it.

There might even be enough space to feature a few old record shops ! 

 

Avalanche will be back with a stall in the Grassmarket for the next two Saturdays with a full selection of new and used vinyl as well as CDs and posters. 

Lots of great vinyl now £3 or 4 for £10 and a couple of boxes just in covering most genres. Some great stuff at a fiver too.

I’ll bring the Doctor Who DVDs !

1.  Withered Hand – New Gods 

2.  Mogwai – Rave Tapes

3.  King Creosote – From Scotland With Love

4.  Owl John – Owl John

5.  PAWS – Youth Culture Forever

6.  James Yorkston – Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society

7.  The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave

8.   We Were Promised Jetpacks – Unravelling

9.   Hamish James Hawk – Aznavour

10. Broken Records – Weights and Pulleys

11. Jack White – Lazaretto

12. The Phantom Band – Strange Friend

13. Young Fathers – Dead

14. The Last Battle – Lay Your Burden Down

15. Remember Remember – Forgetting The Present  

16. Swans – To Be Kind

17. Bwani Junction – Tongue Of Bombie

18. Pixies – Indie Cindy

19. Sun Kil Moon – Benji

20. Aphex Twin – Syro

21. Temples – Sun Structures

22. Warpaint – Warpaint

23. The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

24. Bruce Springsteen – High Hopes

25. Shellac – Dude Incredible

26. Morrissey – World Peace Is none Of Your Business

27. Conor Oberst – Upside Down Mountain

28. Leonard Cohen – Popular Problems

29. Beck – Morning Phase

30. Goat – Commune

Apologies for the lengthy silence but there really has been nothing to report. The council given the large number of bids took longer than expected to announce a short list and to be honest given this is a multi million pound deal I was concerned given that bids are confidential what I could and couldn’t say. I will always try to be as open as possible but without compromising the bidding process. I have to say the council have been very understanding and helpful given obviously I have an interest in what is happening while not actually being one of the bidders.

Having said that as I said before the hope was that the ideas in the Evening News opinion piece would be adopted by some of the developers and hopefully would still be in play once the short list was announced. As it transpired one developer in particular embraced the idea of the arts quarter wholeheartedly and has been extremely helpful. Others admitted they would tag on the idea to help win the bid but clearly their heart wasn’t in it. At the same time I brought in Tom Watton who has a lengthy CV when dealing with arts projects. Some of you may know him from Beltane Fire but his latest project was the recently finished St Margaret’s House near Meadowbank now home to 200 studios and 9,000 square feet of gallery space. Tom’s addition meant I was confident we had all bases covered when it came to being a credible part of any bid especially given deliverability is an important part of the process.

I’m now able to report that with the short list announced we are still in the running and an announcement will be made to a preferred bidder early in the new year. I doubt there will be much more to add until a final decision is made. Obviously if the bidder we are aligned with is successful then we will be in a position to consult with everybody as to the specifics of what can be done. Otherwise there will still be a public consultation process as it goes through planning and people will be able to have their say then.

With support from local residents and charities and various arts organisations amongst others and with many of our ideas shared by the Grassmarket BID we can just keep our fingers crossed and hope the bid is successful. I certainly don’t think we could have done any more.