Record stores fight off rise of iTunes

Alan’s Records in London is an Aladdin’s Cave for the music fan. Every available space is stacked high with records, CDs and tapes.

Aside from the vinyl and plastic, the two things you immediately notice when you step through the door are the friendly atmosphere and shop dog called Jake.

Alan Dobrin, 50, has owned the East Finchley shop for 19 years. Some of his regular customers visit his shop five times a week but they don’t just come for the music, the store is also a hub of community activity.

“The customers become part of the shop. People come in for a chat or just to see Jake,” says Alan.

Ethan Saunders, 27, one of Alan’s regular customers agrees: “This place is a bit of a community centre. You see familiar faces, you meet people who are into different sorts of music. You talk about music, politics, religion, football….”

Alan jokes: “We’ve solved the world’s problems in this shop – the trouble is no one listens to us!”

Record shops like Alan’s however, have massively diminished in number.

In 2003 there were over 2,000 independent record shops in the UK, but by 2010 there were 250, according to Paul Quirk from the Entertainment Retailers Association, which organises Record Store Day.

Paul puts the drop down to the internet, piracy, the decline of the high street and supermarket pricing.

Despite this, many music fans still love and value going into shops to browse and discover new – and old – music. And according to the Record Store Day organisers, over 60% of albums are still sold on CD and vinyl.

So in this day and age when you can purchase a piece of music at the click of a button, what exactly is the attraction of owning a record?

“It’s about taking time to appreciate and experience a record. You also can’t replicate the art on the covers on a download,” says Ethan. "Music is disposable these days. People download and delete. They have thousands of files on their computers," he adds.

Customers visit Alan’s shop looking specifically for certain records. “People love filling gaps in their collections,” he says. “The record I get asked for most regularly is Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.”

Ian Garrard, 45, is a record enthusiast who’s been collecting since 1976. “For me, it’s about a connection to my childhood so there’s a nostalgic element," he comments.

"I used to save up my pocket money to buy records. They’re also an art object in themselves. There’s something about going into record shops, looking and choosing; the thrill and fun of actually finding things.”

Paul agrees that by entering a record store, you buy into an experience that you don’t get elsewhere.

“Some of the new generation have probably only heard music on download but how do you look at a download? How do you keep it and read the notes on the sleeve? It’s more than just music. It’s a whole concept - the process of buying, touching, cataloguing, collecting,” he says. 

But he insists that digital music and record shops can live side by side and the stores are attracting younger customers: “We’re seeing a lot of teens coming into record shops. Vinyl is new and exciting to them.”

Certainly, 27-year-old Ethan has been visiting Alan’s Records since he was 13. “Lots of the records were made before I was born,” he says. “It’s a time portal – visiting a bygone era.”

Ian says he buys his music digitally and also purchases the physical release. “Being able to have it and hear it on a download doesn’t mean as much as owning the physical object. That’s part of the magic,” he says.

Alan buys around 800 second hand records a week to sell in his shop and can’t tell me how many he actually sells, but it’s a viable business which he hopes will still be around in years to come.

Although he doesn’t go online much, he appreciates the internet might have something to do with the success of his business.

Word of mouth gets people from around the world through the door: “People come from all over – Oslo, Stockholm, Spain, Japan, Russia,” he says.

With this sort of interest, it's undeniable that record shops certainly still have an important place in the lives of many music fans.

Perhaps we should take heed of Paul Weller who said: "There are so few record shops left that we should all treasure those remaining."  
 

Dobell's jazz record shop, stopping point for Muddy Waters, BB King, Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Red Allen and others, is to be recreated in an exhibition at Chelsea College of Art & Design this spring.