Tout Ensemble

You’ve probably read about it a number of times in the last couple years. Vinyl is back and back in a big way.

2010 was the largest year of sales of new vinyl since Soundscan began tracking sales of music in 1991. 3 million units last year and Record Store Day was a big reason why.

For the third annual Record Store Day last year, vinyl recorded the biggest single day of sales and 2011′s RSD is poised to break that milestone.

Record Store Day, a celebration of independent record stores is Saturday April 16th and there is a dizzying amount of offerings this year. Too many in my opinion.

How can I say that? Believe me, I love Record Store Day. I had a chance to weigh in on the concept when it was initially discussed. The idea started as a “live music day” and evolved from there incorporating ideas from Comic Book Day. I helped RSD capture some of the first corporate sponsorship money. The first year exceeded everyone’s expectations and has grown from there.

But this year, with over 300 items to choose from, it is a strain on the purchasing budget of indie stores. I think our orders totaled five figures. That’s if we get everything we ordered.

But, that’s good news for music fans.

Remember, with hundreds and hundreds of store participating allocations are likely and some print runs were only 300 units with the average around 2000.

Just about any big name has a piece for RSD this year, from Lady Gaga to the Rolling Stones, from Syd Barrett to Rush.

Highlights include an AC/DC 7 inch, a “test pressing” of Big Star’s “Third,” a pink 10 inch from Kate Bush, a 12 inch of a new Fleet Foxes tune, a Jimi Hendrix 7 inch and a Nirvana 12 inch that reissues tunes of covers previously only released in Australia years ago. Rush has a 7 inch as does Pearl Jam and Ryan Adams has a double 7 inch package. The Decemberists recorded an in store performance at Bull Moose (an indie store in Maine) which is one of only a few CD offerings for April 16th.

The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen both have 7 inch releases and the Flaming Lips collect their first five albums into a LP box set. The Lips LPs are no longer available separately so this should be a big demand albeit expensive item.

Warner Brothers Records has put together 4 very cool colored vinyl split 7 inch singles that feature a different band on each side performing the same tune. So, Green Day records a Husker Du classic with Husker’s version on the other side. The others include Jenny & Johnny with Gram Parsons & Emmy Lou Harris, Mastodon with ZZ Top and the Red Hot Chili Peppers with the Ramones.

For a complete list visit www.recordstoreday.com

As usual, there are no holds and it’s a first come first serve situation. Last year Homers had customers lined up before opening at both locations and we expect the same this year.

Our Orchard Plaza store will open 30 minutes early at 9:30 to provide the hard core buyers a chance to hit both locations before all the goodies are picked over. Orchard Homers will also feature performances from the School of Rock from noon to 4pm while Homers Old Market will host guest deejays from noon to 4pm. Reader Music writer and www.lazy-i.com blogger Tim McMahan, Omaha World Herald music writer Kevin Coffey, club DJ Kobrakyle (Omaha Entertainment & Arts Award winner for two years in a row) and the international winner of the Belle & Sebastian essay contest, John Ficenac (who lives in Omaha) will spin their favorites in store.

Checking in on my recent column about whether the music industry had reached bottom I am happy to report that we now have 6 weeks in a row of sales surpassing last year’s sales for the same time period, something that hasn’t happened since 2003. We’ll check in again on this issue in a few weeks.

So, there is plenty to celebrate in the world of independent music retail. Show your support of local business and stop into Homers, Drastic Plastic or the Antiquarium Saturday April 16th.

Have music sales hit the bottom?

Have we hit bottom?

That’s the question Reader Music scribe Tim McMahan and I have been discussing via email for the last month.

As we followed the first 4 weeks of sales for Bright Eyes’s latest effort, People’s Key, now at 60k after 4 weeks, I discovered overall sales in early February were so strong they actually beat last year.

When was the last time you heard that? We’ve heard plenty about declining sales (relentlessly like a drum circle that never ends) and we’ve recently read loads about the leveling off of growth in digital music.

This is 2011. The music industry is supposed to be toast, all record stores gone and everyone wired, wirelessly.

I was in New York in early March for meetings with the National Association of Recording Merchandisers and the topic of recent strong sales was discussed. The post-Grammy/Valentines week followed by Adele’s impressive first week sales of over 350k the next week caused our trade association to reach out to Soundscan which tracks physical and digital sales at physical and online retailers for more info.

Soundscan replied with the unthinkable. Not only were sales considerable those two weeks but it was the first back-to-back weekly increases vs last year since 2006. Wow.

The music industry has given up a lot of ground since 2000. But 2000 was such an aberration. 1 billion in unit sales seems unbelievable today with sales around 500 million and most articles and examinations point towards the rise of Napster as the turning point. Napster, Ipod, whatever.

There was more at work than evolving technology. Simple economics was also at play and that has nothing to do with the digital revolution.

Let’s take a look at the popular music industry since the advent of the album as consumers music medium of choice, about 1966. From 1966 to 1984, 18 years, total unit sales of albums measures in around 8 billion units. That’s through the album, 8-track and cassette eras.

It’s interesting to note that when each of those three formats were introduced it did not cause consumers to go out and replace their albums with cassettes or 8-tracks. If you wanted your album on tape, you recorded it.

But the compact disc was different. Suddenly, consumers wanted to own their music on CD and so a buying binge of replacing albums with CDs began in 1985, just like the conversion from VHS to DVD in the last fifteen years.

This replacement phenomenon is unique and skews all sales data after introduction of the new format.

So, when you look at unit sales from 1985 to 2003 the number adds up to around 13 billion. That’s a big number, not quite double from the preceding period.

How much of that jump in sales was consumers replacing their albums on CD?

I would argue it’s around 4 billion units, equal to half of all sales from 1966 to 1984. Did half of the boomers replace their albums with shiny plastic discs? From my inside perspective, I would say yes.

Subtract that 4 billion units out and that drops sales for 1985 to 2003 to 9 billion. A 1 billion increase from the previous period. A lot of units but it puts unit sales in proper perspective.

So, sales have been declining since 2000, eleven years now, but in retrospect that decline appears inevitable. The replacement buying binge wasn’t going to last forever. And the decline only became a topic once the mass merchants grew frustrated. They had been riding that horse to overall increasing store sales for a few years and now the mare was tired and coming up lame. Someone had to be to blame, darnit. Wall Street needed an explanation.

Where does that leave us now. So, we had two weeks in a row of good business. So what.

Well, it’s now been 4 weeks in a row. And the 13% down-for-the-year number from early February has been pulled back to 7%. With strong releases coming from Radiohead (March 29th) and Record Store day April 16th, things are feeling optimistic. Late March kicks off the best new release season of each year as key artists work to release new albums right before the summer touring season.

The 4th quarter release schedule gets a lot of press, but this time period is when the biggest albums of the year drop. Look back to last year. Eminem, Black Keys, Jack Johnson, She & Him, Deftones. In 2009, Eminem (again), Green Day, Phoenix, Dave Matthews, Black Eyed Peas. You get the idea.

I’ll report back in June on whether we maintained any momentum or if these windmills tilted out.

Artist Ethics

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

Whether you’re a fan of the music business or a music fan you’re likely to have seen this famous quote from author/writer/journalist Hunter S Thompson.

I couldn’t help but think of it following the recent Wikileaks story featured in the New York Times and Rolling Stone about Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Carey and others performing for members of the Qaddafi family.

Private gigs are nothing new. Artists are likely to collect big paychecks for these small but lucrative performances whether for a sweet sixteen party on Long Island, a corporate shindig in Las Vegas or a Wall Street bankster blowout.

And after all the stories of corruption, pay-for-play indictments, insider-trading scandals, underage girls dead in rock star bedrooms and numerous overdoses what’s so surprising about some empty-headed pop stars performing for sadistic despots and tyrannical dictators?

Ethics in the music business? Check, please.

But, you gotta love Wikileaks. Right after the story broke Mariah Carey tweeted she didn’t realize who she was performing for and planned to donate her 1 million paycheck to charity. Do you think any of her followers on Twitter have even heard of Libya?

Beyonce stated that she had already donated her million to Haiti a year ago after realizing who her performance was for. Really? You mean these stars had absolutely no idea they were performing for a Qaddafi son at a posh Caribbean resort? Even though her supposedly astute business boyfriend Jay-Z attended with her? I call bullshit.

Even though agents book these shows and not the artist, private gigs, or any gigs, contain lots of “riders” or specific instructions about conditions at event, food, drink, accommodations and more, so claiming ignorance doesn’t hold water. Who do these artists think they are claiming ignorance, politicians?

Even human rights advocate Sting has taken blood money when he performed in Uzbekistan for the daughter of that country’s evil dictator. Sting has refused to give the money back or donate it after receiving pressure in the press. Same with Usher who performed with Beyonce last year.

Let’s not leave out Lionel Richie, a popular artist in the Middle East, who collected a paycheck when he appeared at Libya’s 2005 “Peace” Concert to celebrate Libya’s resistance to the U.S.

Nelly Furtado, however, announced she would be donating her performance fee after the Wikileaks story broke.

Compare that to Eric Clapton who has been asked to perform in North Korea and has so far ignored the request. Or the Beatles who were almost torn to shreds in the Philippines in 1966 for refusing to have breakfast with Imelda Marcos.

But, Bob Marley left a stain on his heritage when he chose to perform for Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe (who is still in charge there) in 1980.

And then there is Michael Jackson, who escaped to Bahrain to perform for Prince Abdullah following indictments on pedophilia. He was eventually sued by the Prince after failing to fulfill that obligation.

Remember Sun City in South Africa during apartheid? Artists were taken to task by their peers and the press for performing there.

Are these artists any different from Sean Penn and Danny Glover breaking bread with Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez?

Frankly, none of this surprises me because it’s always about the money. Money vs ethics. I know which one Jay-Z will choose every time.

Even though these artists supposedly have “foundations” that contribute to charities and do philanthropic work, I believe these organizations are set up for tax purposes first and good deeds second.

Where should artists draw the line ethically? Dictators, bad. Corporations, good? What about product endorsements? Should the artist fully vet the brand before agreeing to make sure there are no twenty-cents-a-day jobs making the brand? Or what countries the brands are made in? What about the brands track record of donations to political affiliations?

Whichever side you come down on, one thing is certain, with the increasing transparency of the internet (thank you Wikileaks) the truth will come out about everything. Do you manage it on the front end and try to do the right thing or plead ignorance on the back end or hope no one finds out?