Five Reasons to Support Your Local Record Shop
Local independent record shops are so much more than just a place to buy music – here’s why you should support your nearest:
1. Supporting the Local Music Scene
New bands can take a chance, upload their music to a variety of websites: MySpace, Soundcloud, Spotify, Facebook etc, etc.. but nothing beats a nice “local music” rack, their tracks being played in-store and ticket sales for gigs around town.
2. Recommendations
Amazon may offer a list of recommendations, but they can never provide you with an interesting chat at the counter, background information on the artist and the passion of someone who has listened to it. They might even play it in the shop for you.
One Up, Aberdeen
3. Second-hand Music
You are far more likely to find a gem or two by riffling through the second-hand racks at your local independent record shop than browsing through eBay. Beats auto-generated recommendations any day!
4. They directly contribute to the local and UK economy
The closure of Brighton’s Rounder Records brings into focus the VAT avoidance of the likes of Amazon who do not pay tax in the UK because their European arm is based in Luxembourg, thereby avoiding UK tax. Rounder Records blamed their closure as a result of Amazon’s business practice.
5. Use It or Lose It!
In seven years the number of independent record stores in the UK has fallen from 900 to around 300, at this rate there will be none left!
Please shamelessly plug your local independent record shop in the comments!
