Ha! So it turns out that theft + insurance = free laptop upgrade. Anyway, here's a preachy feature about how the HMV franchise is now reaching scary proportions - but also about the fact that Edinburgh still has a couple of excellent indie record shops run by some very smart and enthusiastic people.
Printed in The Student, January 27th 2009 (notice the reintroduction of the incredibly authoritative definitive article in the paper's title):
Waking up last Friday, Britain was faced with what was possibly the most predictable piece of news to hit headlines and screens in years: the country is officially in a recession. While relatively few of us are able to pin down its exact causes, we’re all familiar with the symptoms – shares plummet, unemployment figures skyrocket and the high street descends into a chaotic scramble for scarce profit. With livelihoods in the balance, the personal cost is great but there’s something else at stake here.
As one business falls, another, larger business almost invariably swoops in to fill the gap; opportunistic expansion strategies may prove a smart choice in today’s climate but when they’re employed in the music retail industry, the element of diversity, essential in a market so tied up in endlessly varying tastes, comes under threat. To remedy this is the challenge faced by every independent record shop in the country today.
Over the past 18 months, what appear to be the beginnings of a music retail monopoly have taken shape. In 2007, long before the term ‘credit crunch’ had so tediously saturated the public vocabulary, it emerged that all 81 branches of Fopp would be closing their doors due financial difficulties. What was unusual for a company of its size was that, whether it was down to a genuine concern for indie credentials or nothing more than clever marketing, the chain that took root in a former Virgin Megastores employee’s Glasgow market stall had retained an air of personality; as such, when Fopp went under, the public reacted with the kind of loyal lamentation usually reserved for a one-off local retailer.
In stepped entertainment goliath HMV Group, reopening a core of eight branches with a takeover bid that was heralded as the crucial factor in preserving Fopp’s celebrated ‘identity and 25-year-history’.
Kevin Buckle, owner of what is probably Edinburgh’s most recognisable independent shop, Avalanche Records, has a slightly less sentimental view of the takeover. ‘HMV are just buying up the opposition where it suits them’, he says, and looking at the company’s recent record, it certainly seems that way. In the past decade, HMV Group has swallowed Waterstones, Fopp, and the bookseller Ottakar’s - and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Earlier this month, Zavvi, having gone into administration on Christmas Eve, sold 14 branches to HMV. In this case, nobody would bemoan the loss of indie integrity. The 269 jobs saved are not to be sniffed at, but with yet another rival so irreparably weakened, the path looks clear for HMV to expand further still. Aside from running almost 700 stores across the world, the HMV Group empire extends into online shopping, MP3 downloads, an entertainment-based social networking site and, as of this month, ticket sales and live venues (London’s iconic Hammersmith Apollo will soon be known as the HMV Apollo, while joint ownership of Edinburgh’s Picture House has also been secured).
So when the market looks set to become so completely dominated by a franchise that not only dedicates a meagre two shelving units to ‘specialist music’ but then fills that section with such cutting-edge artists as Katie Melua, Cliff Richard and Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown, an alternative is much needed. In Edinburgh at least, that alternative is alive and well.
At the centre of it all, bookending Cockburn Street and facing off across the rail tracks from two HMVs, a Fopp and a desolate Princes Street unit formerly occupied by Zavvi, are the celebrated Avalanche and vinyl experts Underground Solush’n. According to the latter, they’re the last two independents in the city primarily selling new music, currently existing as something of a double act; as far as contemporary music goes, what one doesn’t stock, the other usually will.
While Avalanche has built its reputation on an eclectic yet discerning range of largely guitar-driven music, Underground Solush’n specialises in hiphop, jazz, funk and virtually anything electronic – but there’s a common sentiment on which the two appear to be built.
I ask Underground Solush’n’s Gavin Sutherland what the independent record shop stands for today. He replies with vehemence, speaking of a duty “To promote music outside of the mainstream - music which is produced and distributed by people with an all consuming passion for the music over and above profit; to be enjoyed by people who prefer not to be told who they should be listening to this week, or which format they should be listening to it on.”
A few minutes’ walk up the hill, it’s a similar story. Avalanche’s Kevin Buckle tells me about his shop’s ethos, a sort of code of honour:
“We try to treat people right. We assume the best in people until we are proved wrong. We won’t take any shit if we are mucked about. We try and give customers what they want rather than con them into buying something just because we can buy it cheaply. We know our customers have a choice and aren’t stupid so we always try to offer good value.”
With the high street currently witnessing one of the most competitive battles for survival in recent memory, both of these attitudes display a refreshing sense of steadfast integrity that some might expect to be the inevitable first casualty of a recession. Such sacrifices are already in full swing elsewhere. Anyone scouring Fopp’s shelves during last month's frenetic Christmas shopping season may have noticed a few departures from the chain’s indie image of old; an entire display dedicated to TV-advertised compilations in one shop, the sudden appearance of Xbox games in another, while newly released music received little more shop space than did accessories for that supposed antithesis of its independent record shop roots, the MP3 player.
It all points to an increasing pressure to maximise profit that has seen the typical philosophy of the discerning specialist retailer (i.e. defining itself by what it doesn’t stock every bit as much as what it does choose to sell) confined exclusively to shops like the Cockburn Street duo. Meanwhile each of the two has retained its own unique speciality: at Underground Solush’n, it’s an unapologetic loyalty to vinyl that, although it’s balanced out with the obligatory selection of CDs and their associated DJ equipment, Sutherland says is fuelled by the fact that “many people, both young and old, still prefer the feel, the look, and above all the warmth of sound which can only be got from good old fashioned wax”; over in Avalanche, it’s the promotion of Scottish, local and upcoming bands that Buckle says will be reflected in a forthcoming stage area, to be fitted next month in order to make in-store performances possible.
While neither appears to be the most obviously profitable choice, this commitment to the niches neglected by high street chains ensures a level of choice and variety that is vital to any city that prides itself on culture. “Artistic culture”, says Sutherland, “is a hugely important aspect of society, and shops like ours - whether they sell music, books, clothes, art - represent a part of the city’s heart and soul.”
However, considering the potentially smothering presence of such an enormous franchise as HMV Group, no one independent will be able to guarantee this diversity alone. While it would be unrealistic to expect independent businesses not to compete among themselves, both Buckle and Sutherland agree that some degree of cooperation is essential.
“We frequently refer our customers to other outlets nearby who might cover areas of music we don’t - we might even shop there ourselves”, says Sutherland. “This goes for all types of independent shops which encourage the creative output of free thinking individuals, not greed driven corporations.”
Buckle, meanwhile, tells me that “There was a time when the ‘big’ indies acted at the expense of the small indies. As Avalanche got bigger we tried not to do that and now I would say that is true of most of the shops most of the time.”
It’s this sort of collaborative sentiment that last summer prompted Buckle to form The Coalition, a UK-wide collective of 26 likeminded independent record shops (including London’s legendary Rough Trade) set up in order to keep them not only afloat but reinforced with a strength in numbers that will hopefully allow them to provide a truly attractive alternative to online and national-level giants. With a mission statement introduced by a quote from High Fidelity, Nick Hornby’s tale of the archetypal indie record shop, The Coalition promises exclusive bonus releases, featured independent labels and a healthy support for the preservation of vinyl.
It’s early days yet but if Buckle’s efforts pay off, The Coalition could play an important part in supporting these shops through some of the most challenging times they’re likely to face. He remains confident that Avalanche and its contemporaries will prevail, insisting that “People are spending less money but some will always need their fix of music and be prepared to pay for it”. Underground Solush’n is putting on a similarly brave face: “We are fairly confident in the future of the record shop, despite what naysayers may say, but ultimately nobody can predict what’s going to happen.”
Photo credit: Bill McIntyre
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