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Sasha Frere-Jones on Record Stores
New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones rarely comments on the issues of the day, preferring to stick to posting abstract photographs and brief, cryptic references in his blog. But when he does have something to say, damn does he say it. Yesterday he had this on his mind re: certain aspects of the music retail business. I present, without commentary, the nut grafs:
[F]or many, many people, record stores are the worst thing that ever happened to music. The people who work in them, give or take an educating angel, are terrifying. Even if you spend most of your waking hours hanging around and bonding with asshole clerks, your reward for this investment of time is receiving a treatment only slightly less hideous than that given to every other customer, all of them impossibly stupid and retrograde in the eyes of the employees. Working at a record store turns perfectly lovely people into misanthropic turds.[…]
I have had several service sector jobs: waiter, counter-person, telemarketing phoning person, messenger, pizza-making sub-person, a couple of others (one involving the killing of weeds with a fluorescent yellow liquid). Though these jobs often made me, and the people I worked with, tired and angry, none of them made us want to ritually humiliate our customers for trying to buy what we sold.
OK, I guess I do have commentary. In terms of the stores around Seattle, I disagree — we’re lucky to have some great record shops in this town, interesting and well-stocked but also homey and welcoming. (Zion’s Gate and Wall of Sound come immediately to mind, although naturally there are more.)
But then again, I’m writing from the inside of this nasty little business, and some of my best friends are misanthropic turds. Maybe I just lack the perspective of a casual music buyer.
So I’ll ask you, Line Out reader who casually goes to record stores and buys music based on our thoughtful, loving recommendations. Is Sasha Frere-Jones full of shit?
Comments
SFJ is full of shit, but i didn't need this article to tell me that. Record shopping is my number 1 joy in life. I shop for music every single day of the week and have not had a bad experience in a record store since 2003/2004 @ Platinum Records. I don't want to go into the gory details, but thankfully they've got some new staff in there but a few of the old regime still stink up the shop. The most interesting/depressing issue of the day re: record stores are the legendary indie-shops that have to close up due to P2P and webshops. I buy a lot of music online and rarely buy music new in a store. I refuse to pay more than 10 dollars for any single CD and will not buy an import 12" anymore unless every track is good and the cover art is worth having. I can get the tunes for free or for 1 dollar a track elsewhere as opposed to 12 dollars for 1 good song, maybe 2. Unfortunately, attitudes like mine are contributing to the decline of the indie shop. They should also accept some blame and then point the rest of their fingers directly at the music industry for charging extreme prices and delivering a shit product. I don't feel remorse for a single song i've downloaded illegally, especially after seeing the breakdown of what percentage of the CD sales actually goes to the artists. In the new paradigm, artists should be making lots more per sold product and huge labels will be selling off their expensive couches and ....shit, i'm ranting...ok, /end rant.
EveryDay Music has a decent staff who do a great job of leaving me alone. Wall of Sound dudes are the nicest guys in the business and everytime i go in their shop, i learn about music i've never seen or heard of before.
The most intimidating experience i ever had in a shop was in Blackmarket Records in Soho, London back in 94. I used to go in there quite a bit to soak up the atmosphere and listen for tunes i heard at the club the night before. I made the mistake of having an American accent and asking for a cheesy record one day and nearly shit myself when the needle came screeching off the decks and I was verbally tossed out the shop! I did go back to Blackmarket this past spring and can gladly report it's still successful and exactly as I remembered. This time, i didn't ask for anything, just listened.
Here are a few tips to make your record shopping adventures more enjoyable.
1. Always wear headphones and don't ask questions right when you walk in. Scope out the shop and figure out where the new Death Cab (hey hannah!) CD is located or where the Jazz section is on your own, before you go asking for help. Actually look for what you want in a logical, systematical way.
2. Don't go into Zion's Gate and ask for the new Tom Petty album. I.E. Know where you're shopping and what they specialize in.
3. Don't listen to a bunch of records and then write them down in a notebook while telling the clerk you're going to order them online cuz it's cheaper! Trust me on this one, it doesn't go over too well.
I'd probably buy a lot *less* music if it wasn't for how much I enjoy visiting Easy Street Records.
geez - i didn't know i needed a strategy of coolness in order to be able to spend money at an independent business.
hannah - right, most service industry jobs are thankless, pay crap and breed resentment, but on the other hand people don't work at fast food restaurants because they're super passionate about fast food and want to spend all day around it. i've never met a record store employee who doesn't like music.
i think the points sasha is making would be more as if there were fast food employees who pride themselves on knowing way more than you do about fast food, look down their noses at you for ordering the jumbo jack rather than the chicken chipotle wrap (or whatever), and resent customers because of their inferior taste in deep fried grease products.
that said, they do deserve a bit of slack due to low pay and whatnot. but still - it's good business for them to be helping people buy more stuff, and being nice and helpful sorta helps with that.
hank - good points, but let me play devil's advocate for a second. let's pretend my toilet is broken and i need to hit the hardware store for a replacement doohickey or whatever. all i know about toilets is what they're used for.
with my cluelessness and lack of passion for toilet parts, i can still walk into about any hardware store and find helpful, knowledgeable people who will find me what i want and send me on my way. i shouldn't need to know how to behave to get that kind of service. (but to your point i also shouldn't walk into the QFC and expect them to help me with my toilet problems, either.)
I've shopped at a lot of shops, and yes most of the time the employees are music snobs, so usually I dont ask for they're help. I may pay attention to short reviews on record sleeves, but most of the time I either pick up music I've heard is good from friends or I have a particular mission for going into the store. I do like to browse and I would rather not have an employee help me out, if they offer some ideas on whats good, well fine. But, I really would rather discover new bands and tunes by myself. Also its understandable that there is a certain amount of disdain for the number of customers that come in and ask for that "one song" they dont even have an artist, or title just that above statement. So, if I were in there shoes and I did not know if you were going to ask me some braindead question about random unknown titles, then I would treat most customers like the complete morons that most of them are. Sure there are many people who are well informed, but how can you tell.
God forbid you actually spend money in a record store. Maybe the snobbery is why we no longer have places like Fallout.
Can you imagine walking into a hardware store and asking for a screwdriver and the clerk telling you to get lost cause you did not know the difference between a flathead and a phillips?
For my money Easy Street on QA rules. Great staff, always friendly and enthusiastic about music and a huge variety of new and used music.
Visiting Easy Street in Lower Queen Anne is like seeing the best people in your family on a really happy holiday. So much great music; so many great people to talk with about it.
Anybody notice how sweet the dudes at Sonic Boom in Ballard are too?
Visiting Easy Street in Lower Queen Anne is like seeing the best people in your family on a really happy holiday. So much great music; so many great people to talk with about it.
Anybody notice how sweet the dudes at Sonic Boom in Ballard are too?
Wow, I should have really only posted once.
Hey, it was my first time. XO.
The kids at Sonic Boom are sweethearts. What's more, I know that Jason and Nabil make sure to hire and train people to be helpful, particularly when customers say "I like this record, what should I buy next?" Really, I think that's the measure of a good record store employee.
I live in the San Juans and one of my favorite things to do when I'm in Seattle is visit a Sonic Boom store. I love shopping at any of the Sonic Boom locations, especially Ballard. The clerks there have always been nice, helpful, funny and courteous. And, when I need a record fix, I order something from them online, and the web order clerk is quick and efficient when it comes to sending me my vinyl.
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Yes, they can be grouchy or snobby, but I view it in the same way I view rudeness I might encounter at a fast food restaurant. Much like record store employees, they are paid very little and forced to deal with assholes much of the time. I figure they have the right to be rude. What I hate more than rudeness is when you realize you're being summed up as a particular type of customer (i.e. "she's obviously here to by the new Death Cab For Cutie Record") when you haven't even opened your mouth. I rather have someone be a dick than assume I'm some indie dork lemming.