Indie Label Heads Speak Out On Tower Bankruptcy & Retail Woes

Part 1 Of A Series: Our friends at world music publicity firm Rock Paper Scissors polled some heads of indie labels on the recent Tower bankruptcy, other cutbacks in the retail sector, and the future of the CD for their blog DubMC. Here is the first in a series –

Dan Storper, Founder/CEO, Putumayo World Music:

Yes, it’s true that most record stores are cutting back on the depth of catalog titles they stock including world music which also reduces sales. At the same time, we all recognize that there are just too many releases for record stores to stock and that choices are being made, not always based on actual knowledge of potential. No retail buyer buys CDs that they expect to sit on the shelf, but results are often so mixed, oftentimes stores expect to make most of their profit from co-op charges rather than sales.

Though the marketing is shrinking and the top world music CDs are soundscanning about 15% less than a year ago and probably 40% less than five years ago, I think the CD will remain the primary way consumers over the age of 30 listen to music for the next five to ten years. At the same time, the ease and speed of downloading and lack of availability of much world music, means that downloads are going to be more and more significant over the coming decade.