Record Stores Died For Somebody’s Sins (But Not MySpace’s)

Pretty In Pink, 1986
Screencap from Striped Wall

The new millennium has become the Battle of the Social Networking Websites. Which one you prefer depends upon how you utilize each one. As much as Facebook fans may bitch that MySpace is ugly and user-unfriendly, when people want to hear what a band sounds like, they usually go to MySpace.

In the last few months, MySpace Music was launched, in an attempt to capitalize on this as well as get back to the “music and media roots” of the social networking site. (1) In a Wired interview from 2008, then-CEO of MySpace Chris DeWolfe hoped the upcoming music service would become “the central hub where everyone goes to find music.” Within two pages, he uses the word “community” four times. (2)

An article by music critic David Hadju claims such “community” is a figment of MySpace’s imagination. (3) Carl Wilson, an editor and critic with The Globe and Mail, sarcastically renames Hajdu’s piece as “MySpace Is Killing Music” on his blog Zoilus. (4) One of the commenters (named John) waxes nostalgic about hanging out at the independent record stores in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which have all been replaced by a Best Buy. “But that culture is gone. I’m psyched about people being able to post and sell their music on the Internet.” (5) Two minutes later, John adds the following: ” p.s. Didn’t make it clear: I like MySpace, but I miss those record stores like crazy.” (6)

In a blog post on the second annual Record Store Day,” The Progressive‘s culture editor Elizabeth Dinovella confesses to loving the “physicality” of record stores, and quotes Ziggy Marley: “Without the independent record stores the community breaks down with everyone sitting in front of their computers.” (7) (Presumably on MySpace?)

Velvet Goldmine, 1998
Screencap from Screenmusings

Much like Hajdu did in his article, Humbug record label owner Kevin Crace (who himself has a MySpace page) comes across as a cranky old luddite when he accuses MySpace of destroying the very fabric of music fandom, moaning that today’s youth “are not as passionate over music as they were before . . . ” He goes on to claim that, “The ‘danger’ and revolution of music has been banished and replaced by the Internet, and more specifically from social networking sites—like MySpace. . .” (8)

In further musings on Record Store Day, NME writer Luke Lewis echoes these fears, claiming that we’ve “fallen out of love with purchasing music” because people have “grown up expecting music to be free.” (9) Commenter Max Rossell seems to agree: “There’s nothing communal or human about exploiting a loophole that enables you to basically steal a product that you KNOW people want you to pay for.”

So much for the community in the social networking community part of MySpace. Yet, not everyone is so keen on the community aspect of record stores. Blogger David Renshaw mocks Record Store Day and trivializes the record store’s funeral procession. In fact, he seems to resent their influence:

“. . .the owners of those [independent record] shops are essentially able to subject a whole generation to their own taste. That’s unhealthy and in taking the power back and placing it in the hands of the fans you allow them to dictate their own musical upbringing.” (10)

If music is your higher power, do you want a direct relationship with your god, or do you need to be part of a religion, i.e., community? Online fan “communities” are often tragically misnamed, devolving into fights over who is the bigger/more true fan. So then, where do you go to worship? Is the record store your church, dispensing rare 45s instead of communion hosts? Do you prefer to hole up by yourself in your apartment, poring over records . . . or do you stay plugged into your MP3 player all day long? And what do you think about the hated MySpace?

What is your music community?

Tell us. We want to know.

Less Lee Moore, Managing Editor

Sources:

1. Caroline McCarthy, “Catching up with MySpace Music,” CNET News, March 11, 2009.
2. Laura Locke, “MySpace Music Sees Major Money In Free Tunes,” Wired.com, April 17, 2008.
3. David Hajdu, “Instant Gratification,” davidhajdu.com, originally published in The New Republic, March 6, 2006.
4. Zoilus.com, “My Space, His Space, Our Space,” February 8, 2006.
5. Zoilus.com, comment #2194, March 1, 2006.
6. Zoilus.com, comment #2195, March 1, 2006.
7. Elizabeth Dinovella Online, “Record Store Day,” April, 17, 2009.
8. this is kent.co.uk, “World Record Day in Thanet,” April 14, 2009.
9. Luke Lewis, ” ‘Record Store Day’ Masks A Depressing Truth – We’ve Fallen Out Of Love With Buying Music,” NME.com Blog, April 15, 2009.
10. It’s Getting Boring By The Sea, “The Record Store: A genuine loss or rose-tinted nostalgia?” April 21, 2009.