As Norman Isaacs rummaged through a shipment of vinyl that recently arrived at his shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he mused about why old-fashioned record shops like his still exist.
“I think most of us are staying open out of stubbornness,” he said.
Norman’s Sound & Vision was once a seminal part of the record shop Mecca that was the East Village. But he was forced to close the grate on that shop in response to fizzling foot traffic, as his customers increasingly chose instant methods of streaming or downloading to get their music. But when one door closes, another opens – this time, in Williamsburg.
Now located on the outskirts of this burgeoning neighborhood of hipsters and artsy opportunists, Norman’s may have lost some loyal customers from the old neighborhood through his move – and the move from physical music to a digital market – but amazingly, Norman’s is going strong.
The effects of his decision are resounding. Instead of struggling in a neighborhood rapidly replacing Isaac’s loyal customers with businessmen and other professionals, Isaacs is reporting earnings that, although not as influenced by walk-in customers as he would have hoped, are still showing promise.
“It was either going to be a music store or a restaurant,” Isaacs said with a smile. “And I wasn’t feeling the food.”
Norman’s isn’t the only shop in town that is holding on to its unusual niche. Turntable Lab, a music store with a Manhattan location on East 7th Street, opened its doors as a retailer of disc jockey (DJ) equipment and necessities – and the business’ founders saw promise in branching out into the sale of music itself.
“As advanced as digital technology gets as far as recreating sound and quality, there’s an intangible element that you can’t recreate through science that you get through physical media,” said David Azzoni, General Manager of Turntable Lab’s New York City store. “If a DJ rips audio from something like vinyl, it sounds better than just downloading it, sure, but it’s still not the same.”
Turntable Lab carefully selects its products, working hard to ensure that their company remains an authority on particular products and can give an honest opinion to customers that come in with questions about these products. By having this pervasive model of quality throughout the facets of their business, they have managed to stay relevant in a booming scene supported by fading retailers.
“We thrive and have been able to thrive because we do this physical medium and we also sell DJ equipment,” Azzoni said. “Because we have this mix of stuff, if something in the business shifts suddenly, like it falls out of trend or something, we don’t have everything riding on this one thing.”
It is resourcefulness such as this that has allowed certain companies to stay out of the red. However, there are still those that cling to the models of the past.
Although new publication resources like The Orchard make it possible for even the most obscure material to break into the online market, there is still a small, yet dogged demand for physical CD’s on the side of the most basic seller – the musicians themselves.
Walter Finley, a professional musician from Long Island, hasn’t given online sales much sincere thought. Finley plays a mix of covers and blues-y originals five to seven nights a week – often frequenting venues in the Big Apple – and has long made his money from the stack of CDs he sets up beside him. Although he has begun to adapt to the changes in his business, he admits there’s a long way to go before he catches up completely.
“I’ve been performing for almost 20 years, and it’s the only thing I do,” Finley said. “It keeps me at a low level of existence, but it’s still a very rewarding career.”
Finley’s CD producer, Elite 1 Media, has found its own ways to maintain a presence as a producer and distributor of physical media.
“I do very little entertainment now,” said Roy Pfleger, founder of Elite 1 Media. “I do more corporate work now, towards the educational and marketing ends of the business.”
Pfleger once worked in New York City as part of a distribution company that would replicate millions of hit CD’s a day, just blocks north of the hard-copy music graveyard that St. Marks is slowly becoming. He now runs Elite 1 Media out of a warehouse in Port Jefferson, Long Island – but despite the distance, he has held a keen eye on the changes the industry has undergone.
“The new delivery methods are convenient, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about convenience,” Pfleger said. “I think that’s what it’s geared toward now; people will take the little bit of lesser quality of the medium for the convenience as a trade-off.”
Even though some stores are staying alive despite the trends facing the industry, those who look back on the golden age of physical media do so through a bittersweet lens.
“The transition out of CD’s was kind of sad. Back when I was growing up, people were proud of their collections; nowadays, that’s all gone,” said Pfleger. “We’ve lost a little bit of the connectivity we used to get from things like the liner notes.”
I loved this story. As a music enthusiast I’ve seen things go from vinyl to 8-tracks to cassettes to CDs and now digital. I’ve had CDs for a long time (I’m old enough to remember when they first came out!) but I’m (finally) making the shift to iTunes. I agree with Norman’s statement that albums are meant to be listened to as a whole. His despair over the hyper-selectivity of this era is quite clear. I’m glad that he is figuring out a way to keep his business going despite the current trends. Unfortunately, during the CD age too many artists put out works that had 4 good songs out of a total of 15. I’d listen to those four for the most part while skipping over the others. The rest felt like a ripoff. Oftentimes I’d make my own custom CDs so I could listen to my favorite songs without the garbage filler.Sometimes I wonder what technology is going to supplant iTunes…Stayed tuned.