Wax keeps things together: One last plea to save the record store
When you work in music for long enough, you begin to see the same conversations surface, the same arguments made by different people. They might be worded slightly differently and may come from a somewhat different perspective, but the crooks of them are the same. You would think that more voices talking about the same subject is a good thing, but in recent years, we have been subjected to a bed of nails effect, one that sees us as empathetic towards problems but apathetic toward doing anything about them. One of the most talked about things in modern music, and subsequently, one of the biggest victims of this apathy revolution is the death of the record store.
We know that streaming services don’t pay artists fairly, and we have known this for years now. It’s something that artists have spoken about on multiple occasions. In 2023, during his video for Spotify Wrapped, Weird Al Yankovic took aim at the streaming site and the amount it pays. “It’s my understanding that I had over 80 million streams on Spotify this year,” he said, “So if I’m doing the math right, that means I earned… $12.”
Taking a more serious stance on the amount artists are paid via streaming in 2024 was James Blake. He decided to leave the major label he was signed to and went independent to try and change how people consume music, meaning it becomes more viable for artists to make a living and consumers would not have to pay an obscene amount in return. He released a statement when he decided to go independent, outlining the difficult position many musicians find themselves in.
“This is how much artists make out of streaming: Between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream, depending on the platform,” he said, “Which is one million plays equals $3,000, and if you’re assigned to a label, then imagine that number’s cut by at least 50 per cent. And after management cut – which is between 15 and 20 per cent – and taxes and recording overheads, it’s just not sustainable for an artist to focus on just their art.”
The death of the record store is an intrinsic factor when it comes to artists not being paid enough, as musicians make a lot more money off of physical media than they do digital. This is the argument put forward when people talk about how it’s a shame physical media isn’t as much of a pivotal factor in the music industry. People have heard this argument multiple times, and their reaction has become a thing of routine at this point, with a tut, a shake of the head and an “Oh no, that’s terrible,” before steadily moving on and pressing play on whatever playlist they were previously occupied with.
This article is one more attempt at reviving the record store; however, I want to give you a slightly different angle. Times are hard; you don’t need to be a struggling musician to know that. It seems as though the world continues to get more and more expensive, and as a result, the idea of buying every album you listen to in some physical form is a non-starter. The bottom line is we simply can’t afford it, as while music consumption has increased in the face of technology, the creation of music has also increased at an equal rate. There is so much to listen to, and what kind of music fan would deprive themselves of that music purely out of principle? My argument is that the record store offers a sort of middle ground, and it’s one that we should be exploring much more frequently.
Rick Wakeman once spoke about the death of the record shop and why it’s a bad thing. His opening argument was the same one we come across frequently. “It’s all very well having streaming and downloading and Spotify, or Shitify as I call it,” he said, “The artists get paid pittance, you don’t get paid any money.”
I did the same thing we all did when I heard this, “Tut, oh dear, yes, Rick, it is terrible.” This isn’t me dismissing his comments, but there is that bed-of-nails effect in play; it’s why we keep going back to that toxic ex, why we let politicians get away with so much and why we can’t muster up the strength to fight against injustice in the music industry anymore. One bad thing is a tragedy; one hundred becomes a statistic, and we grow numb to them.
Wakeman’s second point offered a new light on this argument I hadn’t considered before, and this is what creates the middle ground where I think we may be able to find peace. “The biggest mistake they made was the word ‘replacement’,” he said, “’You want CDs now, you don’t want vinyl anymore, everyone’s using CDs’. Then it was downloading and streaming, so you don’t need any of that. Wrong!”
Wakeman continued to talk about the difference between a physical album and a digital one. “Music is tactile, you can feel it here [points to chest] and you can hold it there,” he said, “So, if you’ve got an album with great artwork and things, you can look at it, you can read who’s on it and where it was done.”
I’ve been working in music journalism for nearly three years now, and this resonated with me deeply. While I may never have been around when vinyl wasn’t just a commodity but a necessity, I am working in music during the height of the internet, constant communication and, of course, press releases on Word documents. I know many people who work in this profession turn their noses up at a press release, and rightly so; a lot of them are terribly written and contain a lazy comparison to a band the artist being sold sounds nothing like, followed by a link to a website. However, you get some that give you deeper insight into an album, telling you about the writer’s frame of mind when creating the record and how that resulted in the final creation.
I can wholeheartedly say that these kinds of press releases, followed by the album itself, help to create a much deeper listening experience. This is a similar (similar!) feeling that you get when you buy a record and read liner notes. You don’t just experience music anymore; you sit with the artist who made the album and have a more profound understanding of what you’re listening to.
Buying a record isn’t just parting ways with money that’s hard to come by in a bid to help your favourite artist and the industry they operate in; it’s a better experience for you as a listener. Again, this doesn’t mean that every record you listen to should be physical, as that’s impossible, but you should try to do it for some records to support the artist and gain a deeper understanding of the music you already feel attached to.
Wakeman also pointed out how record shops help people discover more music. This is a huge benefit in the age of modern music. As previously mentioned, much more is being made, which means it’s hard to keep up with what is out. not to mention all the music that came before our favourite artists and that subsequently inspired them.
“They’ve taken away the great record shops, you go into a record store, a thousand records and CDs whatever, and somebody next to you goes ‘Oh, have you seen the new… you like that?’ Interaction!” said Wakeman, “It’s what music is all about, and what do you do when you go online? You get what you were looking for. You go into a record store, I guarantee you’ll come out with maybe what you’re looking for, but something else as well. And they’ve taken that away.”
When you visit a record shop, you connect with other music lovers—a unique experience that feels increasingly confined to gigs in the modern age. It’s also an opportunity to discover new music through these connections. Buying a record offers a deeper appreciation of an album, allowing you to engage with it on a more meaningful level. By supporting record shops, you’re not only helping the music industry but also enriching your own music experience.
While technology will always be an integral part of music, record shops provide a valuable middle ground. You don’t need to shun technology, but neither should you dismiss the importance of records. Why not take a stroll around your local record shop and rediscover the joy it brings?
