What You Can't Get From iTunes

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle turned to the experts to see how to survive as an independent record store. Tower Records may be out, Virgin may have experienced a $493 million loss in the past two years, yet somehow several independent record stores have managed to stay in tune with their customers and pin point exactly what the customers want. Amoeba has remained one of the largest independent record stores in the Bay Area. Joe Goldmark, co-owner of the Haight Street store, has credited this to the store’s focus on customer service. It has survived the plummeting CD sales by offering DVDs, and is now looking towards offering downloads. The idea here seems to be to make a trip to the record store an experience. Amoeba offers free concerts on location and a staff that can “name that tune.” The store also accepts trade-ins, a downfall of digitally downloaded albums. In the event that a customer accidentally chooses the wrong CD, or listens to a CD and decides it is not worth the purchase for one good song, the customer can return the CD and receive store credit.

Other stores focus on rare finds that will never reach iTunes, such as the music at Tweekin’ Records. The store also allows customers to visit its website, and to listen to mp3 clips of all new releases. Here is a store that knows what Generation Y wants. It is catering to this generation’s fascination with the Internet. Now customers do not even have to waste time in a store. They can go online, check out a new release, and then head to the store to buy it. Perhaps leaving the computer may be a waste of time, but in this case, if the music cannot be found on iTunes, at least the customer knows where it can be found.

Recycled Records has moved with the times and used eBay auctions to help offer its customers a wider variety of music. It also has embraced collectibles from movies and posters to books.

What these record stores all have is the personal interaction that the Internet cannot offer. There are still those music fans that love to talk to a record store employee and receive a personal review of a CD. As far as vinyl, vinyl sales have actually skyrocketed in the Bay Area. Perhaps the independent stores have the key to selling music in these changing times. They understand that Generation Y needs a reason, other than just for the songs, to drive to a record store and purchase a CD or a vinyl record. The question is whether this will be enough to compete with stores like Best Buy, who can slash prices on new releases and consider the loss an advertisement for the latest stereo systems or whatever other technology the store is trying to sell. It seems, however, that the independent record stores interviewed in this article are ahead of the game and already distinguishing themselves from the mega-retailers.