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Saturday celebration honors neighborhood retailers
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
Published on Friday, Apr 17, 2009
Time and technology move inexorably forward, often leaving in their wake people who simply can't keep up with devices and formats that go from brand new to obsolete in a few years.
By most accounts both expert and amateur, the digital downloading revolution should have put the final nails into the record store coffin. The success of online storefronts such as iTunes and Rhapsody killed several once-mighty record store chains, including Tower Records and Virgin Megastores.
But the little guys — in this case independent record store owners — persevered, surviving where the corporate behemoths failed.
In 2007, a group of music lovers got together and founded Record Store Day, as a celebration of the spirit and ''unique culture'' that has grown out of the more than 700 independent record stores around the U.S. and internationally.
Record Store Day is Saturday, and many well-known bands and independent labels and even one major label are offering special releases in vinyl and CD formats to entice music lovers to check out their neighborhood retailers.
Square Records in Akron's Highland Square, Time Traveler in Cuyahoga Falls, and Kent stores Spin-More and Turnup Records are all official participants. Others include Music Saves and Nikki's Music Complex in Cleveland, and My Mind's Eye in Lakewood. Several stores are also playing host to live music and/or offering giveaways with purchases.
At Square Records, owner Dave Ignizio is having a day of in-store live music. At 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday, Low in the Sky/Poets of Another Breed bassman Joe Minadeo will perform his ambient electronica, and at 8 p.m., mellow boy/girl duo Dinomania will perform.
Ignizio and other participating stores will have the Record Store Day exclusives, including a split 7-inch single featuring Akron's The Black Keys covering Captain Beefheart's Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles, and The Flaming Lips with Stardeath covering Madonna's Borderline. Other specials include singles from Oasis, 180-gram vinyl versions of Green Day and Metallica albums, and a live EP from '90s indie rockers Pavement.
Ignizio says the store expects to have about 30 specials and a ''bag of swag'' filled with stickers and other free stuff for buyers.
Ignizio, who opened his store in 2003 during the meteoric rise of digital downloading, has participated in all three Record Store Days, and 2009 is the first year that a major label, Warner Bros., has offered exclusives. That suggests to him that the buzz is growing.
''I think it's just to spread awareness, so people know there are still places you can get the physical item,'' Ignizio said of the concept.
''Obviously a lot of people are getting music in a lot of different places, but let's not forget where it all came from originally. Different kinds of people can meet up in a record store and just talk music; it's the community idea of what the record store represents rather than just a place where you can click a button and buy a record,'' he said.
Ignizio believes another reason the independent stores survived the advent of the massive retailers in the '90s is that while the racks of the Virgin Megastores and Tower Records were loaded with thousands of CDs, the corporate behemoths chose quantity over quality.
''Pretty much what's left standing around here are the independent record stores, especially the ones who have their niche and didn't overextend themselves like Tower, who had untold thousands of Britney Spears CDs they were never going to sell.''
At Time Traveler, owner Rick Shepard is also planning some live music in the alley behind the store. Beginning around noon, Shepard will host informal appearances from former Unit 5 singer/songwriter Tracey Thomas, singer/songwriter Ryan Humbert and other local musicians.
Shepard, who has been in the business for more than 30 years and opened Time Traveler in 1991, has witnessed the constant turning of the music industry and record store worm, and has found a niche that skews toward older collectors often looking for hard-to-find catalog items. Shepard said he wasn't scared by the corporate stores during the '90s because he knew he had inventory they didn't have, a fact that helps keep him going today.
''Even now, if you go places like Best Buy looking for an Animals CD, they're going to have 20 copies of the Greatest Hits collection and that's it. But you come to my store and I have the entire Animals catalog on CD. That's a big difference that people are looking for,'' he said.
Shepard said the '90s were among his best years financially, and though iTunes has certainly slowed his business, he's maintained a loyal customer base of folks who enjoy owning a physical piece of music.
Shepard will have many of the same exclusive releases but a few seem aimed directly at his primary niche, including a 7-inch single from The Pretenders, another 7-inch of previously unreleased songs by the MC5, a double 200-gram vinyl version of Crosby, Stills & Nash's Deja Vu Live, and a special Springsteen 7-inch featuring What Love Can Do and A Night With the Jersey Devil. Shepard is also offering a deal whereby customers who purchase two DVDs or CDs will get one free.
The next ''best'' new digital audio format is surely around the proverbial corner and in 10 years the iPod might be considered a quaint piece of vintage hardware. But for many, the convenience of tiny digital jukeboxes can never replace the immediate connection of talking with another actual human being about the music that means most to you, and the search for that new band, sound or artist that comes from looking through record store bins.
Happy Record Store Day.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Time and technology move inexorably forward, often leaving in their wake people who simply can't keep up with devices and formats that go from brand new to obsolete in a few years.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 07:36 AM, 04/17/2009
I sure miss Quonset Hut and Digital Days!! Nothing like finding some bootleg album and going home to listen to it. It was like a treasure hunt visiting the old record stores.
Columbus, OH
Posted 07:57 AM, 04/17/2009
Vinyl just has a certain quality about it that relays the heart of the music.
Mogadore, OH
Posted 08:20 AM, 04/17/2009
Lets go back to Record Theater on Tallmadge! I have two crates full of albums, I'm not sure what to do with them...
Akron, OH
Posted 08:24 AM, 04/17/2009
That's OLD SCHOOL Music listening! Agree completely, Mr. King. I used to love the "No Way!" moment of finding THAT record.
I love kicking back to a nice glass of wine and a great album!
Akron, OH
Posted 08:28 AM, 04/17/2009
I'm with you Mr. King...bring back Quonset Hut!
Akron, OH
Posted 08:40 AM, 04/17/2009
@MaD
100 bucks buys you a USB turntable. You can rip your old albums to digital files and listen to them without damaging your vinyl.
Canton, OH
Posted 08:49 AM, 04/17/2009
Checkered Records in Canton is the place to go to for good, quality vinyl. . .
akron, oh
Posted 08:51 AM, 04/17/2009
Square Records is the bomb and Dave has a great place one of the true throw back type places left in Akron. If you have not been there check it out. Time traveler is awsome also..huge selection and quick ordering of anything you want. Turnup is small but i scored a live Dylan 66' 2- disc there for $10.00 last week ....sweet! Please support these places they also suport local music the heart of Akrons arts scene.
Akron, OH
Posted 09:39 AM, 04/17/2009
I agree about Square Records. Dave runs it the right way: open browsing, no insane prices, and always has at least some new things to look at every time I go. I need to go more.
hudson, oh
Posted 11:59 AM, 04/17/2009
Spin-More is a great store.
Time Traveler is too.
Will check out the Highland Sq. store, but Time Traveler has everything one wants (or can get it quickly).
Posted 12:06 PM, 04/17/2009
I think the demographics for Time Traveler & Square Records are quite different. Time Traveler customers are more interested in the Pretenders & Crosby, Stills, & Nash, while Square Records customers are interested in the Black Keys & Flaming Lips.
All generations still enjoy record stores!
Paradise, Oh
Posted 01:08 PM, 04/17/2009
Some of my old Savoy Charlie Parker albums are worth a lot of money. They don't meke 'em like they used to.
