On Record Store Day, "Pop-Up Leeches," and the Point

or Every Day is Record Store Day, or Save Thyself, or Call Me Jeffersonian, or All You Need Is Love and $20.

Last year, I was quite pissed when I heard about Numero Group's successful Record Store Day (RSD) pop-up store in Wicker Park. My thoughts were, "Wow! What a cool concept!" quickly followed by, "Why in the FUCK are they doing it on RSD?" I heard no feedback or uproar on it from other quarters, and so I figured I was the only one who cared about it. Last April, my mother had just passed away after a long fight with cancer, and I was busy figuring out how to deal with not having parents and simultaneously trying to dig myself out of the deep work hole I had dug for myself while I was in Texas helping to care for her. A RSD pop-up store was not first on my list. But it did stick with me.





In early November, I wrote up an open letter to Numero, and anybody else who was not a record store but was thinking about opening a pop-up store on RSD to take advantage of the day for themselves. I had every intention of posting it on our blog, but because of my deep respect for Numero and what they have managed to pull off, how well we sell their stuff as a distributor, and how much I and we love their label just as fans, I decided to take the issue up with them via email. On November 10, I sent the following letter over to them and waited (edited only for typos).

Hi guys. 

First, we love you.  

Second, I write to implore you to NOT do another label specific pop up store on Record Store Day. Why? Because it's Record Store Day, not record label day, or music distributor day, or anything else. Please do it any other day of the year, just not that day.
I think it was awesome that you had a huge success with the last one, and I am certain that you would meet with equal, if not greater, success doing the same thing on a weekend that wasn't RSD. If you, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, etc., all did your own stores, imagine how much that would hurt the stores who are supposed to be benefitting from this whole concept? Most of our shared customers who still choose to purchase music only have a limited amount of disposable income, especially week to week. By opening your pop up on that day, you directly siphon bucks out of their pockets that would likely be spent in an every day record store, one with every day employees and every day expenses to cover.  

I run a label and have employees. I understand the impulse to do something, anything, to bring in additional cash flow. I do. And I support it. Just please, not on RSD. Start Chicago Label Pop Up Store Day. I'd be behind it 100%. 

Heck, work out a RSD deal with a local store/stores to take a corner of the shop and make it all Numero and work out a percentage. We'd do that in a second, and I'll bet other shops would as well. At least people would be drawn into the store that way.
Every week it seems that we find another store going down. Some new ones are also opening, but the trend is still down. We in Chicago are fortunate to have the strongest market in the US supporting brick and mortar retail stores. If there's another city in the country with more, I've not found it. I'd love to see that continue, and if giving them a couple of days to themselves to prosper is what it takes, then I think all of us are better off if we help that process instead of doing anything that could possibly hurt. I think there are quite a few possibilities to do what you've done in a way that won't suck cash, or as much cash, directly out of the wavering stores' pockets.  

I was gonna put this up on the blog the day that I found out about the last one. Now some time has passed, and while I feel less upset than I was in the spring, I still feel just as strongly about this now, just with the rough edges sanded off. It seems better to at least send y'all a direct email before a public appeal. 

Yes, saki stands to gain from this, but I would feel absolutely the same if we were still distro only, label only, or if I was sitting at home as a fan and music biz watcher. It just makes sense. It just feels right. 

Again, this is said out of love for our shared music business niche, the stores that support both of our businesses, and the music we love. I am still in awe of your label in general, and of what y'all were able to pull off. I hope that you'll continue to do fun and profitable stuff like that. I just hope that Numero will pick a different day to show itself off. 

Very best,
Patrick

And so I waited patiently for a response. Eventually, I just assumed it had been read and trashed. I had moved on.

The reply I got two months later surprised me a bit. Since I don't have Numero Ken's permission to print the email, I will paraphrase. It largely mirrors what he said to Peter Margasak in this week's Chicago Reader, which we'll get to in a bit.

Ken states that RSD has moved from its original intent of celebrating record shops to a shopping frenzy only about the limited edition swag that it made for this day. Curiously, he also pointed out that it was full of people who are rarely found in record stores.

Well, damn man, that's the freaking point, innit? Get people off of their couches and into the shops to monetarily support them. In fact, for most stores that we talk to, RSD has turned into their busiest shopping day of the year. From that aspect, I would say that it has not failed. I would say that it is a tremendous success!

Ken also said that the people who came to their shop were only the regular record store customers who would not be going to a record store on that day anyway. While I have no doubt that some people would avoid stores on that date, the evidence points to the opposite. It is still a celebration and it is very much anticipated by most consumers who we speak with. I can understand a hardcore, Tuesday afternoon crate digger (or "butt crack" as Jim Nash used to lovingly call them) not bothering to show up. My understanding from people who were at the Numero pop-up is that it was packed with people of all sizes, stripes, nationalities, and home planets.

I sat on this for a while, and then ended up typing a long screed, so long that when it was finished and edited that I could not believe that anyone would actually read it. I pruned it some more and then boiled the main ideas down to a list of bullet points that I thought was a more effective communiqué.

Ken,
No worries on the response time. We all have a lot going on. 

• If you believe that record stores do not further either the continued existence of Numero, do not act to support a more vibrant music scene, nor add anything to the greater societal good, then I guess there's not much that I can say that would matter.
• I do think that record stores serve these purposes and should be supported.
• If you do believe that record stores serve a positive purpose, then we move on to the value of Record Store Day.
• The long term purpose of Record Store Day is consciousness raising: to support music retail by getting distracted people to think about the value of music retail, (re)incorporate it into their shopping routine, and to give stores a chance to show the ways that they can add value to the lives of their  customers. 
• In the short term, RSD acts as a much needed cash infusion into these same retail establishments.
• To me, these are valid goals, and, whatever else happens on RSD, to some extent these goals are met.
• If you believe that music retail is important for some reason, but you think that this import is not being served by RSD, acting in a way that moves RSD further away from that intent and not closer only hinders the cause.
• Microeconomics are zero sum. A person who spends twenty dollars at Establishment A does not have that same twenty dollars to spend at Establishment B.
• In a recession, this effect is amplified.
• If you think I wrote that letter because of business saki may or may not have gotten because of the Numero store, then you don't know me very well. If you'd worked out a deal to do a popup inside of Reckless, Dusty Groove, Permanent, Planet of Sound, Jazz Record Mart, Lily's, or Gramaphone, or all of the above, sure we would have been jealous, but I would not have been upset.
• Like I said, if all of the local indie labels did pop ups on RSD, would you still agree that record stores were not harmed? That simply could not be the case. We would only be talking about a matter of degrees.
• As I stated, I am happy that you did well. I continue to be a big supporter of Numero. I talk abut your awesome label to anyone who will listen, including most recently to a liquor store manager and a marketing expert a few weeks ago in the Virgin Islands. I am unabashedly pro-Numero.
• As a complete aside to my main point, however shocking it may seem to you, we did have RSD customers who came to visit us before and after Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, and Reckless Broadway. A few even took the bus.
• Like I said initially, this is all said out of love for music, for the institution of retail music, and also for Numero. There's no hate here and no snark. I have made a conscious effort to avoid falling prey to the delights of snark. I am sorry that you chose differently.

Take care and best regards,
Patrick

A few days later, Numero Rob wrote back with sentiments that also echoed what Ken said to Margasak. They boil down to this (again, paraphrasing):

• Consumers do not really have a limited budget for music, and if they did, the CHIRP Record Fair one week earlier would be more of an issue than Numero.
• RSD was once cool but has been ruined by major labels putting out stuff that people want to buy in record stores.
• Indie labels get the shaft because major labels put out so much stuff on RSD that nobody can pay attention to indie label releases.
• Most of Numero's catalog is not carried in shops.
• The RSD establishment doesn't really care about indie shops.
• Numero does care about indie shops.
• Record stores are businesses, so even if a RSD pop-up store were competing with stores, which it isn't, it wouldn't matter because indie shops are businesses who should sink or swim on their own merits.

At this point, I was damned busy, and it was obvious to me that they were going to do another one come Hell or high water. Nobody's mind was going to be changed. I also thought I was a long voice in the wilderness, and that if Chicago music retailers didn't care, then I was not going to keep banging my head against the wall for no reason. I guess I also felt like we'd all said what needed to be said.

Let's look at Numero's points one by one and see where they make sense and where they don't.

• Limited budget: Dead wrong. Economics 101 here. Guns or butter, not guns and butter. A dollar spent in Numero's pop-up is a dollar that will not, and cannot, be spent in an indie store.
• CHIRP fair: Yes, it probably does siphon some dollars from the following week. We all wish it was at least a week earlier, but this is at least partially offset.
• Some percentage of consumers will receive a new paycheck in the interim
• CHIRP are avid supporters of Chicago indie retail. They pitch our in-stores. They set up booths. They talk about us all the time.
• CHIRP are setting up booths this weekend at stores across the city and will be promoting the shops while also trying to raise awareness of their own music-supporting mission.
• Major labels ruined RSD: From a store's standpoint, they need to offer things that consumers see as having enough value that they want to part with their hard-won money. 
• If consumers see the major label releases as having value, they will purchase them. 
• If they do not, they won't. From a store's standpoint, they just need to sell something. If people are spending money on t-shirts, buttons, or deep catalog, then all of that helps the shops survive another year.
• Approximately half of the RSD releases are coming from indie labels, including Numero.
• The point of RSD is to get people into the shops, get them to spend money, and hopefully offer them an experience that will raise consciousness and turn them into repeat customers who see added value in shopping at a store over on-line, digitally, or pirating.
• Indie labels get the shaft: I really don't get this one. Indies release RSD titles, too. 
• For shops, RSD is not just about selling limited RSD titles. It pulls in consumers who find all of the recent releases sitting beside the deeper catalog pieces. 
• As a distributor, we can affirm that store buyers purchase stock to fill out their catalog for RSD just as they do during the December holidays. 
• Some people will undoubtedly make surgical strikes to purchase a single limited edition item, but the cold facts are that there simply are not enough copies of limited RSD releases to make RSD the single biggest sales day of the year. What else might consumers be buying  then? The same things they always buy: new releases, recent releases, hot catalog, and deep catalog in that order.
• Most of Numero's catalog not carried: As an indie label owner, I can say that this is undoubtedly true. Unless it's on consignment, most stores cannot afford to carry extensive deep catalog from most labels. There are simply too many releases. Instead, they have to pick and choose, and deep catalog pieces are often rotated from month to month. Sure, I wish everyone had a copy of The Coctails Popcorn Box in stock, but most don't. But I do know that a consumer has a better chance of finding something like that in stock during the holiday season, and in the week before and after RSD, than at any other time of the year. Same holds for Numero's releases.
• RSD don't care: I'm not even sure why this is relevant. While I am thankful that the RSD concept gives a lifeline to record stores, I don't really care whether the RSD admin people like me or not. Stores don't participate in RSD as a favor to RSD administrators. They participate in it to help them stay in business.
• Numero cares: I know that one some level that they do, of course they do, but in this instance, their actions are having a concrete impact on the bottom line of Chicago records stores. If they choose to share their gross income for the day, then perhaps we can figure out a conservative percentage of that income that would likely have ended up in the till at a Chicago indie shop.
• Shops are businesses, not charities: On its face, this is true. What this statement is not is nuanced.

Much like ye olde public house, record stores at their best provide a valuable asset to their surrounding, music-loving community. They provide a gathering place for like-minded people. They provide a place for consumers to have a face to face discussion about music with a knowledgable person who performs the same tasks for them as a talented reference librarian. Record stores were the initial iTunes Genius function. ("Oh, you like Bowie? You'll love Jobriath!" OK. Bad example.) Most modern record shops have also diversified. They now carry a broader array of physical goods to purchase, often supporting local craftspeople. They schedule copious amounts of free activities to lure people in. At saki, those include: performances, signings, readings, art openings, Girls Rock events, panel discussions, movies, discussion groups, one act plays, parties, wine tastings, and soon maybe even a book club. Most surviving shops, along with recent upstarts, are taking their role as a community center more seriously than ever and work hard to remain relevant. 

That said, it may be that even with all of this value and nimble adaptation that they need a hand up every once in a while. I know that even for the now legendary and successful Lounge Ax, the Lincoln Avenue Street Fair would put enough cash in their coffers to ride out a slower summer and made up for some gigs that didn't do what everyone had hoped, but which, nonetheless, added a large dose of culture–thinking specifically of Sun Ra Arkestra and Kinky Friedman here. It's tough times out there and the RSD idea has caught on. It's strategically placed to give them a boost going into the slower summer months, especially in college towns, after the rush has worn off from the holidays and spring release season.

Not long ago, Numero announced their RSD pop-up store intentions. They are being joined this year by Metro, the long-standing mid-sized live music venue. I sincerely hope this isn't what I feared: everybody and their cat opening up a shop and making a further dent in the market on a huge day for the little guy retailers.

I was happy to see Peter Margasak tackle the problem in today's Reader. Here's Numero Ken again:

We continue to stand by our feeling that Record Store Day has become more about buying limited edition 'collectibles' and potentially flipping them on eBay than actually supporting your local record store," he told me via e-mail. "And since we're not offering anything limited except our own items (plus the limited opportunity to browse the bins of 15 vinyl historians, some of them world-class), we think the charge that we're taking away dollars from mom and pop stores is unfounded.

What was this True Meaning of Record Store Day that we have supposedly strayed so far away from? What now ignored fundamental truth is it that calls for either a reactionary fall backwards or some sort of Reformation?

Margasak accurately boils my winding dissertation down to two sentences:

As idiotic as I think Record Store Day is, I love record stores, and there's no question that the holiday is lucrative for them. Because Numero schedules its shop for this one particular Saturday—and because customers don't have an unlimited amount of money to spend—it's hard to argue that Numero isn't diverting potential RSD profits from stores open all year.

I will boil it down even further:

Primum non nocere. ("First do no harm.")


If you are taking actions that are not helping record stores on RSD, you are hurting them. If you cannot help, then it is best to not act.

I do not argue that pop ups like these are driving wooden stakes into the hearts of any local shops. Everyone who was open last year still is, so they all survived. Like most things in life, the issue is more nuanced. Like Peter, I do think that there is some harm being done. I also think that it's more a misdemeanor than a felony. And it's a distracting annoyance.

If going to Wrigleyville after a Cubs game, reading the latest Murakami novel, or eating vegetables bum you out, then you should probably not do those things and take a bike ride instead. Being so annoyed by game day Wrigleyville that you open a one day stadium at Roscoe and Sheffield and host a microbrew-sponsored game of barnstorming stunt baseballers instead seems a rather strange way to prove your point about how heinous crowded baseball stadiums full of drunks can be.

Yes, it is a silly analogy, but I'm tired.

Lastly, I am curious why no local retailers but the mighty Jazz Record Mart–it really is the best jazz and blues shop in the world!–would talk on the record to The Reader? We have had our disagreement, but as far as I know, no team of Numero Ninjas has been sent after me nor have flaming bags of dog poop been left on our doorstep. We have largely kept our dialog civil. Good people can disagree over things and still be good, and even still be friends. Heck, I have friends who are Yankee fans and others who like Dave Matthews Band. (I suspect if somebody crossed both lines I would have to reevaluate.) I assume that everybody was gun-shy over the increasingly devo level of discourse all around us. The only way to get out of it is to have conversations, even passionate ones, in a normal tone of voice and without name calling or personal insults. Analyze the problem that they are seeking to solve and offer possible alternative solutions. Do that enough, and before you know it, it becomes habit.

I hope that RSD Santa brings you what you wished for after standing in line at the RSD mall earlier this month. Mostly I hope that you'll visit your local record store a few times a month and find a way to give them some cash, not just on RSD. For that matter, if there is a brick and mortar retailer near you that you value enough that you would miss them when they are gone, then for heaven's sakes support them now. Not later. Now. Do not wait to find out that they are crippled and then go stand in line to view the body and wake their passing.

I will wrap this up and get back to work fixing our mailorder site that has been crippled by the doofus admins at Dreamhost who held us over a barrel for the last ten days by mis- and malfeasance.

*Note: I start with the assumption that music and education are of value. If you can't go with me there, then why did you read this far?

*I have tried my hardest to capture the essence of the Numero arguments as stated in emails to us and in their talk with The Reader. If anyone from Numero thinks I have misrepresented their argument, I would be happy to address that, or if they want me to post their initial email responses in full to give more nuance, I would be happy to do that as well.