Record Store Day In Retrospect
By Veronica Murtagh in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 22, 2009 6:10PM
Photo by Veronica Murtagh/Chicagoist
"I read recently that before a ton of record stores started closing there were 7,000 what would be considered indie stores in the country, but now there are only 2,000. It has been whittled down," iterated Dave Hofer, new-product buyer for Reckless Records in a discussion outside his Milwaukee Avenue storefront Saturday morning. Five minutes with Hofer and it was easy to see why Reckless has thrived and earned its rank amongst the country's 2,000 remaining indie retailers. Hofer took casual breaks from chatting with us to greet a customer entering the store to sell CDs, cue in an employee of an adjacent clothing boutique to the day's live performance times and converse with neighborhood fixture and mixtape-peddler Sharkula.
Amidst long lines and large crowds, community interaction was the resounding theme of the day. An enthusiastic Liz Tooley, co-owner of Permanent Records was all smiles as she explained her goal of getting people "off the couch and in here enjoying the experience with their fellow music lovers".
Creating a memorable Record Store Day experience for customers was at the forefront of staff minds on Saturday, but behind the scenes employees created just as many memories for themselves, often working long hours together in preparation. Reckless staff embraced the media buzz surrounding the day. "We adopted this attitude. If these people are trying to make this the craziest thing possible, let's just make it insane," stated Hofer.
By and large staff efforts on Record Store Day felt nothing short of genuine, adding a personal touch to the experiences of consumers. It often wasn't an easy face to put on as promised shipments did not arrive on time and the indie rock-centric, vinyl-focused exclusive releases left many retailers at a crossroads, enthusiastic to be a part of Record Store Day, but questioning the industry's grasp of the very means by which they've staked their claim in the market and thrived against the odds.
"In this day and age of downloading you've got to be good to your market, you've got to know your market," commented Tooley. Tooley's voice was echoed by retailers across the city who agreed that embracing your niche is the core of every survivor's success model. But what happens when your niche falls outside the realm of Record Store Day's indie rock-centric focus. Rick Wojcik, owner of Dusty Groove explained, "It's one of the problems with independent music retailing. While we are all very unique, the industry tends to view us with this cookie cutter model, like we're all these little outposts for exactly the same thing that they want to do."
Shops with highly specialized niches like Dusty Groove, Gramaphone and the city's oldest independent music retailer, Jazz Record Mart, didn't let the indie-rock focus spoil their enthusiasm for Record Store Day. All three retailers put in the extra effort and pulled together rousing instore performances aligned to their offerings and made the day their own.
No single event will ever be able to save independent retailers and persuade the public to abandon online purchasing en masse. The second annual Record Store Day in Chicago was an exercise in looking past the literal, and finding meaning in shared experiences. In a day designed to change public thinking, the public revealed that the only thinking that needed change was that of the industry itself.
"The industry loses faith and thinks the consumer isn't out there. The consumer is definitely out there and Saturday proved it," summarized Wojcik.