Last week we had HMV complaining they’re on their uppers, now this week we have record clubs trying to re-launch vinyl.
Personally I have no sympathy for HMV. They spent all my record buying youth (so we’re going back anything up to 30 years) trying to shut down the little independent shops and when they’d managed it, in the end with help from the internet, they decided to stop selling records and sell computer games, DVDs and all manner of electronic equipment instead. Well, they don’t sell anything not in current top 40, and even then they place them in some bizarre random order or in a bizarre categorisation that nobody understands, confining the simplicity of an A-Z filing system to history. I just walk in... walk out... go on line these days. Hopeless.
Virgin were never any better of course. Now they expect sympathy. Ha. No chance. Personally, I think there is still a place on the high street for decent record shops, e.g. not HMV, who were just trying to sell to the general public, who weren't interested, rather than people like me. It is now a niche Market and if their absence creates space for someone else then it’s all to the good.
As for vinyl though. I embraced the CD wholeheartedly when it came out but now... I think it’s a product stuck in the middle of two worlds. It is neither something you want to play nor something you want to own. Not when mp3s are easier to play and dare I say it, vinyl is better to own. They will, like tape cassettes before them, probably only survive until they’re no longer required for in-car entertainment. Personally, I would love to go back to buying vinyl. Go back to flipping through racks of the stuff, something that CD’s aren’t good for.
Physically vinyl is the best thing to have, bands used to really bother with the artwork and it was a decent size to do the artwork justice, but these days you also need the digital version. So bands need to start chucking the digital version in free with the vinyl. Crucially that would get me back in record shops because I'm not entrusting the post office to deliver vinyl.
These record clubs though, where groups of music fans sit in silence with the lights dimmed listening to vinyl, not being allowed to talk or text. That sounds a bit weird. Is this really how these artistes intended you to listen to their music? No, of course not. Otherwise why would they bother taking their music out on tour and play it in front of a thousand or more noisy fans in a sweatbox of a venue. If you’re not at a gig, you’re jumping and singing your way around the house to it. Well I am. When no one else is in.
The Storm With No Name
-
The weather continues to be stormy. Although I’m not sure this current one
has a name. It is the storm with no name. We really do need to get the tent
ou...
Nice article!... and yeah, you should say it.... go back to vinyl!
ReplyDeleteI think the BBC article made the clubs sound dull. It's a members club, so the members make the rules.
I have made a site for anyone interested in joining or starting a record club in their area >>
Vinyl Record Clubs Map
To be fair i think your comments are harsh.
ReplyDeletein my local hmv they have great staff and a massive section of vinyl and cd. i found some really unusual stuff i wouldn't expect to have found in there. ok so some hmv's are small and pokey but i guess thats what happens in if you live somewhere small and pokey.
i agree with that your saying about mp3's except the sound quality. overall fair play your entiteled to your views. i just wish someone would spare a thought for the staff - who in my local are excellent knowledgable people.