Nytimes op-ed april 5th


Spinning Into Oblivion

DESPITE the major record labels’ best efforts to kill it, the single, according to recent reports, is back. Sort of.

You’ll still have a hard time finding vinyl 45s or their modern counterpart, CD singles, in record stores. For that matter, you’ll have a tough time finding record stores. Today’s single is an individual track downloaded online from legal sites like iTunes or eMusic, or the multiple illegal sites that cater to less scrupulous music lovers. The album, or collection of songs — the de facto way to buy pop music for the last 40 years — is suddenly looking old-fashioned. And the record store itself is going the way of the shoehorn.

This is a far cry from the musical landscape that existed when we opened an independent CD shop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 1993. At the time, we figured that as far as business ventures went, ours was relatively safe. People would always go to stores to buy music. Right? Of course, back then there were also only two ringtones to choose from — “riiiiinnng” and “ring-ring.”

Our intention was to offer a haven for all kinds of music lovers and obsessives, a shop that catered not only to the casual record buyer (“Do you have the new Sarah McLachlan and ... uh ... is there a Beatles greatest hits CD?”) but to the fan and oft-maligned serious collector (“Can you get the Japanese pressing of ‘Kinda Kinks’? I believe they used the rare mono mixes”). Fourteen years later, it’s clear just how wrong our assumptions were. Our little shop closed its doors at the end of 2005.

The sad thing is that CDs and downloads could have coexisted peacefully and profitably. The current state of affairs is largely the result of shortsightedness and boneheadedness by the major record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America, who managed to achieve the opposite of everything they wanted in trying to keep the music business prospering. The association is like a gardener who tried to rid his lawn of weeds and wound up killing the trees instead.

In the late ’90s, our business, and the music retail business in general, was booming. Enter Napster, the granddaddy of illegal download sites. How did the major record labels react? By continuing their campaign to eliminate the comparatively unprofitable CD single, raising list prices on album-length CDs to $18 or $19 and promoting artists like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears — whose strength was single songs, not albums. The result was a lot of unhappy customers, who blamed retailers like us for the dearth of singles and the high prices.

The recording industry association saw the threat that illegal downloads would pose to CD sales. But rather than working with Napster, it tried to sue the company out of existence — which was like thinking you’ve killed all the roaches in your apartment because you squashed the one you saw in the kitchen. More illegal download sites cropped up faster than the association’s lawyers could say “cease and desist.”

By 2002, it was clear that downloading was affecting music retail stores like ours. Our regulars weren’t coming in as often, and when they did, they weren’t buying as much. Our impulse-buy weekend customers were staying away altogether. And it wasn’t just the independent stores; even big chains like Tower and Musicland were struggling.

Something had to be done to save the record store, a place where hard-core music fans worked, shopped and kibitzed — and, not incidentally, kept the music business’s engine chugging in good times and in lean. Who but these loyalists was going to buy the umpteenth Elton John hits compilation that the major labels were foisting upon them?

But instead, those labels delivered the death blow to the record store as we know it by getting in bed with soulless chain stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart. These “big boxes” were given exclusive tracks to put on new CDs and, to add insult to injury, they could sell them for less than our wholesale cost. They didn’t care if they didn’t make any money on CD sales. Because, ideally, the person who came in to get the new Eagles release with exclusive bonus material would also decide to pick up a high-speed blender that frappéed.

The jig was up. It didn’t matter that even a store as small as ours carried hundreds of titles you’d never see at Best Buy and was staffed by people who actually knew who Van Morrison was, or that Tower Records had the entire history of recorded music under one roof while Costco didn’t carry much more than the current hits. A year after our shop closed, Tower went out of business — something that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. The customers who had grudgingly come to trust our opinions made the move to online shopping or lost interest in buying music altogether. Some of the most loyal fans had been soured into denying themselves the music they loved.

Meanwhile, the recording industry association continues to give the impression that it’s doing something by occasionally threatening to sue college students who share their record collections online. But apart from scaring the dickens out of a few dozen kids, that’s just an amusing sideshow. They’re not fighting a war any more than the folks who put on Civil War regalia and re-enact the Battle of Gettysburg are.

The major labels wanted to kill the single. Instead they killed the album. The association wanted to kill Napster. Instead it killed the compact disc. And today it’s not just record stores that are in trouble, but the labels themselves, now belatedly embracing the Internet revolution without having quite figured out how to make it pay.

At this point, it may be too late to win back disgruntled music lovers no matter what they do. As one music industry lawyer, Ken Hertz, said recently, “The consumer’s conscience, which is all we had left, that’s gone, too.”

It’s tempting for us to gloat. By worrying more about quarterly profits than the bigger picture, by protecting their short-term interests without thinking about how to survive and prosper in the long run, record-industry bigwigs have got what was coming to them. It’s a disaster they brought upon themselves.

We would be gloating, but for the fact that the occupation we planned on spending our working lives at is rapidly becoming obsolete. And that loss hits us hard — not just as music retailers, but as music fans.

Tony Sachs and Sal Nunziato own an online music retail business.
[Edited 4/5/07 9:19am]
[Edited 4/5/07 15:08pm]

...And, sadly, plenty of people saw it coming.

Great read.. I saw all this coming back in the mid-90's when I worked at a local record store, then Virgin Megastore...I was the single specialist back then and if anyone came in and hummed a tune...I would usually know what it was by the humming, or just even a lyric...if the single was available..I would sell them that...if it wasnt..I would show them the album which at the time was about $12.00 maybe lower if it was on sale. No big deal.....but it was one huge song in 1996 that I felt a shift coming in the world of singles...that song..

'KILLING ME SOFTLY' - The Fuggees

When that song took off we were told a single would follow...the song blasted to the top and we could not keep THE SCORE in stock...but people kept asking for the single and the record company decided to not release the single because of the insane album sales. Thankfully THE SCORE was an amazing album but after that Sony was really the first to stop releasing singles then the others followed...then came the $18.99 list price...then came Napster....8 years later here we are....it saddens me to not be able to find a record store and talk to someone who knows their shit as much as i do. Here in LA we have Amoeba and it's great to go to and spend hours discovering. But they are too busy to be able to hang out and talk music.

sad...so sad

peace

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

Well here in NYC once Tower left the Village that was the end of Music for MUSIC LOVERS. Though i worked as a Inventory/Product/Buyer Manager with Sam Goody from 1988-2006 when we closed I always respected Towers Catalog, especially after 2000 when Sam Goody was acquired by BEST BUY this was the death of Sam Goody, basically Best Buy took out "Music" from the sam goody stores, catalog artists were cut all the way down, now you could only find an artists most popular record, good luck if you are looking for a selection. Well after that Best Buy cut Sam Goody loose and it twisted around for about 2 years with no real owner and then in late 2005 they started to close 500-700 stores. But dont think the "big box" retailers are safe, Best Buy is raising music prices and cutting even more floor space, FYE, is shutting down many stores this year. But as i said before cutting out the single was DUMB, the truth is in NYC here there are two "small" stores, one is RECORD RUNNER and the other is REBEL REBEL , these stores survive on Cd Singles, mainly imports,vinyl 12", etc..from an array of artists from Bon Jovi to Kylie to Depeche mode to new club stuff too. SO SINGLES SELL! But you have to target MUSIC LOVERS, not 12 year olds, no one knows how to market anymore, that is the real problem, everyone is looking for the next big thing and they've alienated the true music lovers.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

I think 1996 was the big year for that..in 1995, I'm pretty sure Alanis "You Ougtha Know" never got a single release, which I'm sure didn't hurt the album. Evantually, Billboard had to change the way singles charted becuase it got so bad by 1998.

VinnyM27 said:

You are right! The first time 'You Oughta Know' surfaced on a single was as a b-side to 'Ironic' and I believe it was the Orchestral Grammy Version.

'95 - '96...thats when it really began to take shape.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

Back then songs like "Lovefool" and "Don't Speak" were hard to find.

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

I remember being one of those people looking for "Killing Me Softly" on cd single, and buying The Score instead because there wasn't a single for it (although a single did appear WAY LATER).

And that worked because The Score was an excellent album. But as the article points out, the industry started to promote SINGLES artists (BSB, Spears) the same way.

sextonseven said:

Hard to find? I'm pretty sure "Lovefool" was one of those songs I read about that didn't have a proper single release, thus is become a huge radio hit. Same with "DOn't Speak" (and I'm sure that helped the album to sell).

So where is this all headed in say the next 10 years?

will CDs cease to exist and go the way of the casettes and VHS tapes?

Will everything be digital ?

How will we be buing music and how much will we be paying for it?


Just throwing out questions to get your thoughts

VinnyM27 said:

According to Wikipedia, the following songs were all #1 on the airplay chart (where "Lovefool" peaked at #2) without having a single available:

The Rembrandts - "I'll Be There for You"
No Doubt - "Don't Speak"
Sugar Ray - "Fly"
Natalie Imbruglia - "Torn"
Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris"

newpower99 said:

The thing is Digital sales are not a big % of the overall picture yet, thats where the problem is, most of what is happening is still illegal downloading, the digital technology though it may have seemed great in the long run it will be the demise of labels. Though we may say this is good, in the long run what will happen is more of what happens now, artists just being signed that will make a million quick for a label, and as labels downsize you will see many of our favorite artists cut loose and it will all be the domino effect. I see the end of Soundscan and Charts coming too, there really not accurate at this point, so many things are not tracked, there are artists selling direct from their sites that are doing more business than top debuts. I think the labels will try some experiments in the next few years to try to get people in stores again (if you can find one since they made them close) but if every source of Music is only found at Best Buy and Walmart, its all over folks, this might be the generation that ends the availabilty of catalogs.

Well, what they fail to realize is that there are still a lot of people who don't have a computer because they are still too damn expensive. I don't have a computer myself. Even when I had one (which was given to me), it didn't have a CD burner and it took about two or three hours to download one song (I had dial-up because high speed internet costed too damn much).

If they are wanting to make music available only through computers, then they need to come down on the price of computers. I'm not talking about $300 or $400. I'm talking about making them around $100. Even then, they need to come down on the price of high speed internet to around maybe $15 or $20.

2 say that this is sad would be a major understatement. I predicted this 10 plus years ago. I don't see any way 2 turn this around when every other song u hear is produced by a handful of the same people.

It may be 2 late 2 fix. When someone like me, who LIVES and LOVES music is down on it, there is real trouble ahead for the music business.

Graycap23 said:

Agreed!

VANITYSprisonBYTCH said:

not to sound like a broken record but this has really just been going in this direction for so long. The thing is industry wants to make money, bottom line, like a corporation would, they arent concerned whether its talent or not or if its really an artist that wants to do music, or is just looking for a quick buck. The industry has alienated the MUSIC LOVER its that simple, i can remember back in the early to mid 80's and going every saturday with the few bucks i had in allowance and buying a couple of 45's. I remember the chart would be on the counter and you would say to the guy give me number 67 give me number 83 things like that, but i was surrounded by music always, my mom would listen to Mathis and SInatra and things like that, my brothers would listen to everything from Queen to Abba to Harry Chapin to Donna Summer and Stevie Wonder so i got hit with everything, there was consolidation and thats how i became a music lover and varied listening. But i look at kids today and where as Music was my life, my day, my imagination to kids today its not really on their list, todays its their cell phone or blackberry or computer, whatever it may be. The technology creations are good but as always they ruin things too. Will music survive? Well the question should be will the MUSIC LOVER SURVIVE? music will go on and grow into different things as it always has, but the hope is that somehow a breakdown in the industry will cause some things to change. There are many on my list of things that would have to happen or else the hole will get deeper.

lastdecember said:

Your avatar says it ALL. As far as I'm concerned, we are in the LAST December, as far as music goes.

Graycap23 said:

Shes just the avatar because shes hot i have never heard her but yeah thats the industry way, makes us some $$ and then next and so on and so on