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[daveofficer]

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Record stores 'facing extinction'

hardly surprising but good to see some positive action from them instead of sitting around waiting for it to happen. though i'm sure the likes of One Up could do a lot more than they are to increase their business but that's a whole other discussion that i'm not really going to get involved in.

[all_his_engines]

I notice from reading the BBC article that once again all research seems to be based on single sales alone, and that they don't present any hard evidence of a direct correlation between downloads and a decrease in record sales. It's a fundamental logical flaw to assume that an increase in downloading is the only reason for a fall in CD and vinyl sales.

I don't doubt that downloading has an impact on record sales, but there are plenty of reasons why singles might not be selling as well now as they did 30 years ago. All research on the impact of downloading seems to be concentrated on singles released by mainstream artists, and there's an argument to be made that the internet is in fact helping music fans to discover lesser-known acts who don't necessarily release singles. I'd like to see some data on ALBUM sales across the board.

That said, it's undeniable that smaller record stores are being edged out - and not just in this country. Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater (yes, I know everyone here hates them) has been helping to organise a "Record Store Day" in Long Island to draw attention to the plight of "mom & pop" record shops in America.

[Jeanette]

I would never dream of buying a single. There's nothing out there that I would particularly want to buy as a single song. Generally it's full albums and eps that I'm most interested in owning. That means having a physical copy with the art work. Yeah, it's nice to have music to stick on my ipod, but I love being able to go to my shelf and picking out a cd and listening to it. Why buy a single for about £3 when you could have that artists whole album for £6-10? I dunno. I'm sure there's people out there who love owning everything by the artists they adore and that's cool.

[Inkster]

I agree with the person above. I rarely buy singles unless it's coloured vinyl ltd ed. ones and they usually only cost 99p.

I've never bought a digital album and I don't intend to unless it's absolutely necessary.

Hard copies are the way I like it and I'll probably get round to buying more vinyl when I actually have a vinyl player to listen to it on haha! But in the mean time cd's will do for me

[Jan Deal]

Originally Posted by JeanieStar

IWhy buy a single for about £3 when you could have that artists whole album for £6-10? I dunno. I'm sure there's people out there who love owning everything by the artists they adore and that's cool.

Hit the nail right on the head there... There are very few occasions that I buy singles, but it is usually for my favourite bands (anyone care to hazard a guess?) so I can get the bsides and stuff...

[emergency72]

Once upon a time the tracks on singles never appeared on albums.....now the first 5 or 6 tracks from a bands album are released as singles, with the 5 or 6 remaining tracks released as the B side. ANy wonder why no one is interested in singles anymore?

[Jeanette]

Yeah. Or it's the one song remixed 6 times! It gets boring when a band releases so many tracks from an album.

I blame Radio 1. I listened to it most of today (uni work sucks) and each show started with almost the same 3 or 4 songs. If I heard Madonna or Panic at the Disco one more time... Lol.

[all_his_engines]

I can honestly say that I never, ever buy singles. This is partly because pretty much every band or artist I like doesn't bother releasing them, but even if they did I doubt I'd fork out money for a track that's on the album anyway. Even if the single's got a non-album B-side, £3 is a lot of money to pay for one song.

As such, this is where the problem with the music industry's criticism of downloading lies. They are always banging on about SINGLE sales, whereas with most bands/artists worth their salt, it's the ALBUM sales that matter. This leads me to believe that the research is entirely focused on "mainstream" artists, because if the media bothered to do any in-depth research, they'd maybe find that downloading has in fact helped many lesser-known musicians to build a fanbase.

We're getting a bit off-topic, so to bring it back to record stores I should re-iterate that the crux of my argument is that downloading is not the only reason that independent shops are having a hard time.

[la mula]

Originally Posted by all_his_engines

downloading is not the only reason that independent shops are having a hard time.

Yeah, maybe shops like tesco and asda stop a lot of people bothering to go into a record shop.

If singles weren't shit from albums with a couple of filler tracks I would buy them, I actually prefer the idea of a good single to a good album. Albums are too long, imo, I never listen to them all the way through and maintain concentration.

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by Inkster

I agree with the person above. I rarely buy singles unless it's coloured vinyl ltd ed. ones and they usually only cost 99p.

I've never bought a digital album and I don't intend to unless it's absolutely necessary.

Hard copies are the way I like it and I'll probably get round to buying more vinyl when I actually have a vinyl player to listen to it on haha! But in the mean time cd's will do for me

I like your way of thinking. I just don't get people who pay for downloads. I'd rather hear a song I like before buying it, and if I knew I liked it before hand, gimmie a CD copy anyday over a low quality MP3 that can be deleted with a mouse click