The Future Of Indy Music Stores
Across the music industry we almost seem to enjoy talking about the inevitble demise of music retail. But while it’s true that digitial distribution may make music retaiL obsolete and too many music stores are so out of touch with their customers they don’t deserve to stay in business, you have to admit it would be sad if you could never look forward to a rainy Sunday shifting through the CD bins at a cool store around the corner from your apartment.
Well fortunately there is still hope thanks to a few indy retailers that work at being in touch with their customers. The Coalition Of Independent Music Stores is one of several groups of retailers banding together to share info and build collective clout. CIMS founder Don VanCleave publishes a weekly chart from the stores and often offers unique insights into the changing world of indy music retail. In his last newsleetr of the hear Don offers a surprisingly optimnistic view of the futrue and answers a pesimistic assemement in this week’s Rolling Stone:
"In the current Rolling Stone (12-30), there is an article by Steve Knopper entitled "CD Sales Collapse" in huge letters. I talked to Steve for this article but my news was not reported. Our stores are killing it this Christmas. When I reported that a few weeks ago, one major distribution President asked me how that is happening when Soundscan is telling him that the indie sector is way down.
Well, first of all, we have been ultra aggressive this year about finding things that bands own themselves and sell on the road. We bring in big quantity on those titles and do enough marketing so that the customer thinks it is a giant new release. For us, it IS a giant new release. And, we don’t bother getting these titles Soundscanned because who cares? We are not playing radio games or getting people paid by the scans so why bother. Some recent pieces we bought directly from bands that are selling like hotcakes are Daniel Lanois’ release "Rockets" and the Radiohead DVD "The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time". We are also recording and releasing instore performances with great success. Our most recent, "Rilo Kiley Live at Fingerprints" is doing amazing business. Stores feature titles like these (non-distributed and out of the mainstream) in all of their email marketing and in the stores. Our thinking is that it sure helps to have something cool and generally unavailable to compete with $7.99 U2 CDs at the Beast.
Secondly, Mike Dreese at Newbury Comics caused wide panic in the indie store community over five years ago by telling us we would be out of business by now if we didn’t diversify our offerings. Most good indie stores took that advice to heart. Many of our members spend as much time at lifestyle trade shows buying cool things that music fans want as they do at SXSW or NARM. Many indies also share success trends with each other on a regular basis. The biggest diversification item is obviously the DVD, musical and theatrical. Many of our owners are aggressively buying DVDs that are not in the mainstream in addition to the big releases that are everywhere."
CIMS LETTER CONTINUED…
"Another reason that indie might be doing so good is the incredible advantage that email blasts offer to our marketing options. You should go right now to www.cimsmusic.com. Down the left column, you will see all of our stores listed. If you have the time, click on Park Avenue, Twist and Shout, Waterloo, Record Exchange, Vintage Vinyl and earX-tacy. Sign up for these stores newsletters. Most of our accounts have email blasts, but these guys in particular are taking customer interaction to a whole new level.
Then again, our guys could be doing so well this year because many chain stores have just closed leaving fewer players in the marketplace. The remaining stores are pathetically understocked and as boring as ever. Whatever the answer is, indie retail is working very hard through coalitions to come up with smarter survival tactics. The amount of direct communications between indie stores and the various coalitions are at an all time high. Expect the indie store community to make even bigger and bolder moves in the coming year to remain not only relevant to their customers and the bands that want to reach their customers, but to make sure the sick side of the business does not hold us back."
Coalition of Independent Music Stores’ Top 200 For Week Ending 12-19-04
Label Pos Artist|Title
INT 1 U2|HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC
HEIN 2 PINK MARTINI|HANG ON LITTLE TO
WAR 3 GREEN DAY|AMERICAN IDIOT
CNCO 4 CHARLES*RAY|GENIUS LOVES COMPA
WAR 5 YOUNG*NEIL|GREATEST HITS
ROUN 6 KRAUSS*ALISON &|LONELY RUNS BO
INT 6 TUPAC|LOYAL TO THE GAME
INT 8 EMINEM|ENCORE
WAR 9 JAY-Z/LINKIN PA|COLLISION COUR
NWLR 10 WATERS*JOHN|JOHN WATERS CHRIST
INT 11 STEFANI*GWEN|LOVE.ANGEL.MUSIC.
ANIT 12 SMITH*ELLIOTT|FROM A BASEMENT
GEFN 13 NIRVANA|WITH THE LIGHTS OUT
AMAA 14 VARIOUS ARTISTS|THIS IS AMERIC
DEF 15 LUDACRIS|RED LIGHT DISTRICT
EPIC 16 LOS LONELY BOYS|LOS LONELY BOY
ROUN 17 PEYROUX*MADELEI|CARELESS LOVE
GEFN 18 SNOOP DOGG|R&G (RHYTHM)
ATLG 19 RAY|SOUNDTRACK
ISL 20 KILLERS|HOT FUSS
ANIT 21 WAITS*TOM|REAL GONE
RCA 22 LAMONTAGNE*RAY|TROUBLE
MERG 23 ARCADE FIRE|FUNERAL
WAR 24 WILSON*BRIAN|SMILE
EPIC 25 MODEST MOUSE|GOOD NEWS FOR PEO
VRGN 26 HARPER*BEN & BL|THERE WILL BE
TVT 27 LIL JON & THE E|CRUNK JUICE
EPIC 28 GARDEN STATE|SOUNDTRACK
WAR 28 BARENAKED LADIE|BARENAKED FOR
RCA 30 VELVET REVOLVER|CONTRABAND
LHWY 31 NELSON*WILLIE|IT ALWAYS WILL B
BNTE 32 JONES*NORAH|FEELS LIKE HOME
EPIC 33 FRANZ FERDINAND|FRANZ FERDINAN
WAR 34 RICE*DAMIEN|O
LAF 34 USHER|CONFESSIONS
EMEO 36 CHAPMAN*BETH NI|HYMNS
CAP 37 LENNON*JOHN|ACOUSTIC
WAR 37 ISAAK*CHRIS|CHRIS ISAAK CHRIST
SUBP 39 POSTAL SERVICE|GIVE UP
FAN 40 GUARALDI*VINCE |CHARLIE BROWN
WAR 41 CLAPTON*ERIC|SESSIONS FOR ROBE
EEG 42 HANDSOME BOY MO|WHITE PEOPLE
OCTJ 43 MAROON 5|SONGS ABOUT JANE
COL 44 NAS|STREET’S DISCIPLE
J 45 STEWART*ROD|STARDUST…GRT AME
OLE 45 INTERPOL|ANTICS
COL 47 DESTINY’S CHILD|DESTINY FULFIL
LAVA 48 TRANS-SIBERIAN |LOST CHRISTMAS
ANIT 49 CASE*NEKO|TIGERS HAVE SPOKEN
CAP 50 BEATLES|VOL. 1-CAPITOL ALBUMS
DEF 51 ASHANTI|CONCRETE ROSE
HEIN 52 PINK MARTINI|SYMPATHIQUE
WAR 53 HARRIS*EMMYLOU|LIGHT OF THE ST
UNIV 54 SCISSOR SISTERS|SCISSOR SISTER
ATOR 55 GRIFFIN*PATTY|IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
EPIC 55 PEARL JAM|REARVIEWMIRROR-GREAT
SCRV 57 STONE*JOSS|MIND BODY & SOUL
DRMW 58 JIMMY EAT WORLD|FUTURES
WAR 59 SIMON & GARFUNK|OLD FRIENDS LI
TOU 60 PINBACK|SUMMER IN ABADDON
OLE 61 PAVEMENT|CROOKED RAIN CROOKED
INT 62 KEANE|HOPES & FEARS
RLWD 63 BLIND BOYS OF A|GO TELL IT ON
VAN 64 SMITH*MINDY|ONE MOMENT MORE
ARTR 65 VARIOUS|ENJOY EVERY SANDWICH:
WAR 66 KNOPFLER*MARK|SHANGRI-LA
DEF 67 CAM’RON|PURPLE HAZE
RCA 68 CITIZEN COPE|CLARENCE GREENWOO
UNIV 69 NELLY|SUIT
COL 69 XZIBIT|WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUC
SUBP 71 IRON & WINE|OUR ENDLESS NUMBER
WAR 72 WILCO|GHOST IS BORN
EPI 72 BLACK KEYS|RUBBER FACTORY
J 74 MARIO|TURNING POINT
WAR 74 MY CHEMICAL ROM|THREE CHEERS F
VRGN 74 PERFECT CIRCLE|EMOTIVE
INT 77 LYNN*LORETTA|VAN LEAR ROSE
ANIT 77 CAVE*NICK & THE|ABATTOIR BLUES
WAR 79 LANG*K.D.|HYMNS OF THE 49TH PA
SUBP 80 SHINS|OH INVERTED WORLD
WAMA 81 MULBERRY LANE|VERY MERRY MULBE
WAR 81 SINATRA*FRANK|FRANK SINATRA CH
MCAN 83 STRAIT*GEORGE|50 NUMBER ONES
ARI 84 MCLACHLAN*SARAH|AFTERGLOW LIVE
GEFN 85 MOS DEF|NEW DANGER
MERN 86 TWAIN*SHANIA|GREATEST HITS
SUBP 87 SHINS|CHUTES TOO NARROW
VERV 88 CULLUM*JAMIE|TWENTYSOMETHING
PHIL 89 BOCELLI*ANDREA|ANDREA
ASWE 90 VHS OR BETA|NIGHT ON FIRE
COL 91 CAKE|PRESSURE CHIEF
AAM 91 QUEEN LATIFAH|DANA OWENS ALBUM
RCA 93 CLARKSON*KELLY|BREAKAWAY
WAR 93 GROBAN*JOSH|LIVE AT THE GREEK
BRBU 93 RILO KILEY|MORE ADVENTUROUS
DRMW 96 WAINWRIGHT*RUFU|WANT TWO
NETR 97 OLD CROW MEDICI|O.C.M.S.
TBRE 98 SOCIAL DISTORTI|SEX LOVE & ROC
LAVA 98 TRANS-SIBERIAN |CHRISTMAS EVE
AMG 98 MANNHEIM STEAMR|CHRISTMAS CELE
DUAL 101 ROBISON*CHARLIE|GOOD TIMES
EPIC 101 KORN|VOL. 1-GREATEST HITS
ATLG 103 T.I.|URBAN LEGEND
EEG 103 CURE|THREE IMAGINARY BOYS
RCA 105 LAVIGNE*AVRIL|UNDER MY SKIN
COL 105 MAYER*JOHN|HEAVIER THINGS
BNTE 107 JONES*NORAH|COME AWAY WITH ME
CAP 107 PINK FLOYD|DARK SIDE OF THE MO
EEG 107 BJORK|MEDULLA
NWWT 110 DRIVE BY TRUCKE|DIRTY SOUTH
LHWY 111 COSTELLO*ELVIS|DELIVERY MAN
UNIV 111 LE TIGRE|THIS ISLAND
UNCB 113 LOHAN*LINDSAY|SPEAK
EEG 113 JET|GET BORN
AAM 113 SNOW PATROL|FINAL STRAW
RCA 116 AIKEN*CLAY|MERRY CHRISTMAS WIT
WAR 117 GROBAN*JOSH|CLOSER
ORMU 118 POR VIDA: TRIBU|POR VIDA: TRIB
WAR 118 R.E.M.|AROUND THE SUN
WNDU 120 EVANESCENCE|ANYWHERE BUT HOME
WNDU 121 CREED|GREATEST HITS
WAR 121 MUSE|ABSOLUTION
AAM 121 BLACK EYED PEAS|ELEPHUNK
COL 121 COHEN*LEONARD|DEAR HEATHER
VAN 125 SCHNEIDER*BOB|I’M GOOD NOW
SXDG 126 GILBERTO*BEBEL|BEBEL GILBERTO
LHWY 127 NELSON*WILLIE|OUTLAWS & ANGELS
LAVA 127 SIMPLE PLAN|STILL NOT GETTING
ATOR 129 DOUGHTY*MIKE|SKITTISH/ROCKITY
VRS 129 JETHRO TULL|CHRISTMAS ALBUM
HOL 129 LIFE AQUATIC|SOUNDTRACK
CURB 129 MCGRAW*TIM|LIVE LIKE YOU WERE
UNIV 133 RAMMSTEIN|REISE REISE
VERV 133 KRALL*DIANA|GIRL IN THE OTHER
EPIC 133 WILSON*GRETCHEN|HERE FOR THE P
CAP 133 VA-CHRISTMAS WI|CHRISTMAS WITH
NWWT 137 KEEN*ROBERT EAR|LIVE FROM AUST
COL 137 BOTTI*CHRIS|WHEN I FALL IN LOV
NETR 139 MAYBE THIS CHRI|MAYBE THIS CHR
WAR 139 CHAMBERS*KASEY|WAYWARD ANGEL
ISL 139 MARLEY*BOB & TH|LEGEND
DRMW 139 FOGERTY*JOHN|DEJA VU ALL OVER
UNIV 143 GREEN*PAT|LUCKY ONES
RHI 143 VARIOUS ARTISTS|LEFT OF THE DI
COL 143 DAVIS*MILES|KIND OF BLUE
RHMS 146 MF DOOM|MM..FOOD
DEF 147 CASH*JOHNNY|MAN COMES AROUND
UNSO 147 WILLIAMS*HOLLY|ONES WE NEVER K
CAP 149 BEATLES|BEATLES, THE (LIMITED
EEG 149 DAMAGEPLAN|NEW FOUND POWER
ARTR 149 EARLE*STEVE|REVOLUTION STARTS
LAF 149 CIARA|GOODIES
J 153 KEYS*ALICIA|DIARY OF ALICIA KE
UNJJ 153 JOHNSON*JACK|ON & ON
RHR 153 GILKYSON*ELIZA|LAND OF MILK &
JIVE 153 BOWLING FOR SOU|HANGOVER YOU D
INT 157 MARILYN MANSON|LEST WE FORGET-
RLS 157 MASTODON|LEVIATHAN
VIT 157 TAKING BACK SUN|WHERE YOU WANT
SNYC 160 MA*YO-YO|YO-YO MA PLAYS ENNIO
NWWT 160 EARLE*STEVE|LIVE FROM AUSTIN T
ATOR 162 JEM|FINALLY WOKEN
SCRS 162 FAINT|WET FROM BIRTH
FELL 162 DEMENT*IRIS|LIFE LINE
VERV 162 RONSTADT*LINDA|HUMMIN’ TO MYSE
SHTF 162 SHATNER*WILLIAM|HAS BEEN
J 167 FANTASIA|FREE YOURSELF
DWNV 167 KEITH*TOBY|VOL. 2-GREATEST HIT
JETS 169 LUNA|RENDEZVOUS
OLE 169 VARIOUS|MATADOR AT FIFTEEN
WAR 169 SPONGEBOB SQUAR|SOUNDTRACK
GEFN 169 GUNS N’ROSES|GREATEST HITS
DEF 173 WEST*KANYE|COLLEGE DROP OUT
CAP 173 VARIOUS|NOW 17
NWWT 173 TEDESCHI*SUSAN|LIVE FROM AUSTI
VRGN 176 PERFECT CIRCLE|AMOTION
ISL 177 MELLENCAMP*JOHN|WORDS & MUSIC
EPIC 178 CLASH|LONDON CALLING
BARS 178 DEATH CAB FOR C|TRANSATLANTICI
NWWT 180 AUSTIN CITY LIM|2003 COLLECTIO
VIT 180 STRAYLIGHT RUN|STRAYLIGHT RUN
UNEJ 182 JOHNSON*JACK|BRUSHFIRE FAIRYTA
EPIC 182 MODEST MOUSE|MOON & ANTARCTICA
INT 182 NINE INCH NAILS|DOWNWARD SPIRA
LAVA 185 TRANS-SIBERIAN |CHRISTMAS ATTI
RHI 185 CHARLES*RAY|SPIRIT OF CHRISTMA
CAP 185 BEATLES|ABBEY ROAD
WAR 185 SEAL|SEAL BEST 1991-2004
BAND 189 JONES*GEORGE|50 YEARS OF HITS
EPIC 189 CHEVELLE|THIS TYPE OF THINKING
GEFN 191 SUBLIME|40 OZ. TO FREEDOM
ATLG 191 LED ZEPPELIN|VOL. 1 & 2-EARLY
COL 193 SWITCHFOOT|BEAUTIFUL LETDOWN
WAR 193 LARRY THE CABLE|VERY LARRY CHR
WAR 193 USED|IN LOVE & DEATH
ANG 196 HANDEL*G.F.|MESSIAH-HLTS
WAR 196 LINKIN PARK|METEORA
HOL 196 DUFF*HILARY|HILARY DUFF
HOL 196 BREAKING BENJAM|WE ARE NOT ALO
RHI 200 CHARLES*RAY|VERY BEST OF RAY C
ATLG 200 DONNAS|GOLD MEDAL
COL 200 CONNICK*HARRY J|HARRY FOR THE
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