Monkey-brained Musings
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Whither the FLGS?
The New York Times has a interesting story today on the status of independent record stores, which are experiencing challenges as more folks, particularly young people, get their music through downloading and other online sources. Similiar to the challenges faced by our Friendly Local Gaming Stores. The article includes this interesting comment suggesting a convergence of the two:
Around the country, [Eric Levin of the Alliance of Independent Media Stores] said, shops like Grimey’s in Nashville, Shake It Records in Cincinnati and Other Music in New York are hanging on to young customers by evolving into one-stop hipster emporiums. Besides selling obscure CD’s and even vinyl records, many have diversified into comic books, Japanese robot toys and clothing. Some have opened adjoining nightclubs or, in Mr. Levin’s case, coffee shops.
“Kids don’t have to go to the record store like earlier generations,” Mr. Levin said. “You have to make them want to. You have to make it an event.”
In Austin, Waterloo Records has pursued a similar strategy but is aligned with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. As has been noted before, the convergence strategy similiar to the one advocated by AIM holds some promise for pop culture retailers. One interesting difference, though, is that CIMS actively reaches out to independent producers and provides them with a distribution network for getting their products into local stores.
Cross-posted
The New York Times has a interesting story today on the status of independent record stores, which are experiencing challenges as more folks, particularly young people, get their music through downloading and other online sources. Similiar to the challenges faced by our Friendly Local Gaming Stores. The article includes this interesting comment suggesting a convergence of the two:
Around the country, [Eric Levin of the Alliance of Independent Media Stores] said, shops like Grimey’s in Nashville, Shake It Records in Cincinnati and Other Music in New York are hanging on to young customers by evolving into one-stop hipster emporiums. Besides selling obscure CD’s and even vinyl records, many have diversified into comic books, Japanese robot toys and clothing. Some have opened adjoining nightclubs or, in Mr. Levin’s case, coffee shops.
“Kids don’t have to go to the record store like earlier generations,” Mr. Levin said. “You have to make them want to. You have to make it an event.”
In Austin, Waterloo Records has pursued a similar strategy but is aligned with the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. As has been noted before, the convergence strategy similiar to the one advocated by AIM holds some promise for pop culture retailers. One interesting difference, though, is that CIMS actively reaches out to independent producers and provides them with a distribution network for getting their products into local stores.
Cross-posted
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