[microsound] is the problem distributors... or record stores?

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

[warning: verbosity ahead]

> I didnt mean to be a downer about this.  Certainly ordering directly is a
> good thing to do, but there are few labels who can depend on direct orders
> for much revenue.  All I was saying was that with distributors unwilling to
> put this stuff on store shelves without relatively massive promotional
> campaigns (ie make sure EVERY college/indie newsrag and website reviews or
> namedrops the new Kid 606 album or whatever), lots of stuff is relegated to
> a lifetime of (retail) obscurity.  Hell even madonna can't sell her crap
> (and it is crap) unless she hijacks Xmas!

your argument is that your favorite record store doesn't carry those
titles.  you put the blame on distributors, & i would think that they
are rarely to blame for actually carrying obscure product (they are
sometimes to blame for other things, namely payment & such, but that's
another story).  record stores _can_ & _should_ order from these
independent distributors, but they often don't for various reasons, most
of which are not valid.

you talk of distributors "unwilling to put that stuff on store shelves"
& that's not very accurate.  to name a few: forced exposure, dutch east
india, verge, staalplaat, métamkine, all those distributors carry many
fairly obscure titles in their catalogue, & to a near extent that's
their raison d'être.

if you're a label, in order for your product to get distributed through
these channels, you do require a certain amount of "hype" ~ but this can
be achieved through a number of means.  obviously, having "big name"
artists (& they don't have to be very big) is always a good incentive. 
wanna start your own label?  get taylor deupree or (hah) kid 606 to
contribute something to a compilation, or even better, make a complete
album, & there you go.  references also help; get a kind word from
someone relatively influential, & that's your way in (or at least that's
a very good start).  my point is that a "promotional" requisite does
exist, but then that's the label's purpose.  the worst case is when an
unknown artist wants to release their own material themself.  then
that's just like going to a bank for the first time & ask for a loan. 
considering the small margins by which everybody in the industry work, i
consider this a rather minimal evil.  after all, most of the music
discussed on this list manages to get some _very_ decent distribution. 
(just a rundown of the new arrivals to forced exposure: 12k/line,
anechoic, beta bodega, digital narcis, force inc., klang, raster/noton,
suppose, touch, traum, v/vm, vertical form...)

but i disgress.  the core of the problem, to me, is the attitude of most
record store owners & buyers.  i've always had the hardest time to grasp
quite what was wrong with their attitude until i had a talk with the
infamous gary worsley of alien8 & cheap thrills fame (hopefully he won't
mind me reprinting it here).

here goes: before he started working at cheap thrills, gary was already
buying a lot of his music from there; one of the things he was awed
about was how much merzbow he could find in the store.  one day, he has
the opportunity to ask the owner, guy, about his musical tastes, like:
"wow, it's pretty cool you listen to merzbow."  then guy answered: "i've
never heard any of those merzbow cds."  gary was baffled: "how did you
get to carry all these titles then?"  (the merzbow rack always has over
20 _different_ cds, & every "classic" noise artist is well
represented.)  then guy replied with the most intelligent answer anyone
could have thought up: "i just read the wire, & all these magazines.  i
know he's big in his own field, so i buy his records."  & they sell.

the outcome?  cheap thrills is by far the most complete record store in
montréal: they carry roots blues, they carry free jazz, they carry world
music, they carry arcane computer noise, they carry _lots_ of
"specialized" material.  but none of it is just whatever they happened
to stumble upon.  it is music which trusted sources (magazines, clients,
internet) have claimed to be good, & which regular clients come back to
purchase.

now, to take an opposite example, let's look at this other record store,
"mélodies" specializing in jazz.  they had been around for a few years. 
when i went there to shop, they carried a few free jazz albums, but
mostly tzadik, ecm, hat hut, basically: decent but obvious stuff you
could find anywhere else.  the deception grew as we heard the store
clerk (who may have been the owner) dissing charles gayle as "just an
overrated street musician".  a few months later, the store was closed. 
coincidence?  if the owner was as bad with standard jazz as he was with
his free jazz, i can only understand that most of his clients had lost
interest in his stock.

this post is dragging on & on (if only to mirror my current drunkenness)
so here's the shocker: like good indie distributors, good record stores
exist, but sometimes they have to be coaxed into carrying what you want
them to.  here's a hint: when you order stuff that they don't have, be
sure to tell them a little more about what it is.  for instance, once, i
asked cheap thrills to order phthalocyanine's cd _navy warship_.  while
i'm at it, i tell them about the artist, the label, their "status"... 
first thing i know, they have ordered not only this album, but also 3
phthalo releases (the first time i had seen _any_ phthalo in montréal!),
& a few months later phthalocyanine's _25 tracks fer 1 track_ was on the
racks as soon as it was out.  your mileage may vary, but the basic truth
remains: record store owners & buyers are sometimes ill-informed, &
usually know _less_ than their best clients.  a good record store will
listen to their clients (particularly those who come back often) & learn
about their personal taste & opinion ~ a beneficial relationship in
every aspect, except perhaps for the local tower records who ends up
losing a sale of madonna's latest record?  (don't forget, kids: losing a
sale is just like HAVING IT STOLEN FROM YOU!!!  remember, napster is
EVIL!!!)

ack, 4:36am already.

~ david

as a closing parenthesis: funny you mention kid 606, but i don't think
he makes "massive promotional campaigns" to sell his records.  the
reason why he is so well known is because in the last 3 years he has
participated to _tons_ of projects, compilations, remixes, etc.  for all
i'm concerned his sheer enthusiasm & visibility is what got him where he
is.  & as the capitalist adage goes, the more you have, the more you
gain, & it's the same for eyeballs: it builds up.  that path may not be
feasible or practical for everyone, but it's not completely unfair.