Mom-and-Pop Music Stores Slump in iPod Age

Ten years ago, Jamal Al Naser wouldn’t have thought of selling the life-size, autographed Michael Jackson poster that hung on the wall of his music store. A few weeks ago, however, he sold his “Moonwalker” poster to a collector for $5,000.“I get more profit from collectibles these days,” Mr. Naser, the owner of Village Music World on Bleecker Street, said.As sales of CDs and records slump, independent music stores are turning toward the sale of music memorabilia as a way to stay in business. Such mom-and-pop stores have been a mainstay of the New York City retail scene for generations, often a first stop for college students, audiophiles, and tourists alike. But with advances in technology allowing listeners to download songs on their computers and a general slump in the music industry, the number of shoppers at these stores has dwindled. “There’s only maybe 20% left of what used to be the music industry, and in a few years there will be less than 2%” of what was once a thriving retail sector, Mr. Naser said.Just last year Tower Records shuttered its doors, and Sam Goody closed almost half of its 900 stores nationwide. The Recording Industry Association of America reported a 13% drop in overall retail sales since 2001.CD sales plunged 20% last year, following a seven-year decline, according to figures released by Nielson Soundscan, which has tracked the sale of music since 1991. This trend has been bolstered by increased digital downloads and the growing popularity of Web sites such as MySpace that also provide music platforms. According to the RIAA, digital sales of individual songs and albums increased by 60% and by more than 100%, respectively, in 2006.“Most of my friends just download, either on iTunes or for free” on file sharing sites, a student at New York University, Hannah Pierce, said while poring over used records outside a Greenwich Village shop. “I’m here because I’m a music geek, but what’s the incentive to spend nine bucks or more for an album when I can spend less than a buck for the one song I really want?”Increasing rents are adding to the woes. Retail rents have surged all over Manhattan in recent years, forcing out smaller retailers. Mr. Naser, who has owned Village Music World for 11 years, is concerned. “I have one year left on my lease. If the rent is tripled, I’ll have to leave,” he said.In addition to selling music memorabilia, Mr. Naser is making money through the Internet. His store has a Web site where he can connect shoppers to online retailers such as Amazon.com. “But Amazon is not cheap for small businesses,” he said, explaining that the site adds a surcharge of about 15%.Another source of revenue is tourists looking for rare boxed sets and other hard-to-find merchandise. “We have one of the most comprehensive jazz collections in New York City,” an employee at Village Music World, Sulafa Khalid, said. “And tourists, especially from Europe, are always looking for rare vinyl.”Still, even the novelty of vinyl isn’t a sure bet anymore. Fat Beats on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village historically has made most of its profits from record sales. But a technology known as digital vinyl, which allows DJs to spin record-like objects that are actually digital music files, is hurting its bottom line.“The whole market is changing,” the store’s weekend manager and a professional DJ, Dary Stroup, said. “DJs are moving toward digitized vinyl, so record companies aren’t even pressing [the product] anymore.”One flight up in a small tenement building and barely noticeable from the street, Fat Beats is a mecca of sorts for DJs and hiphop fans. Like Village Music World, it relies largely on tourists for sales. In a few years, Mr. Stroup envisions Fat Beats expanding its business to focus more on collectible DVDs, audio equipment, and hip-hop-inspired clothing.“We’re the last true hip-hop shop left,” he said, referring to the closing of Brooklyn’s famous Beat Street record shop. “It would be a shame if we had to close our doors.”One record company executive said he agrees. “In hip-hop, trends are built at a mom-and-pop store,” a co-founder and vice president of SMC Records, Will Bronson, said. “As much as I love selling records at Best Buy, they’re not the place to break a hop-hop artist.”While Mr. Bronson, whose label includes breakout stars such as Messy Marv, Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and Pastor Troy, said he would love to see small music shops remain open, he is realistic. The stores are “dealing with very small budgets and have to be very selective about what they bring in, so in a lot of cases they’re bringing in way less than what they can sell,” he said. For many like Mr. Bronson, the demise of these smaller retailers marks the end of an era. When he was younger, he said, his “whole week was really all about finding someone to drive out to the mom-and-pop stores so I could just hang out there all day and find out about the newest” records, he said. “Plus, they all had posters and fliers we could take home and put up in our rooms.”Now, if Mr. Naser’s sale of the Michael Jackson poster is any indication, what were once little freebies stores thought nothing of giving away may now be the lifeblood that keeps mom-and-pop shops afloat.

Mom-and-Pop Music Stores Slump in iPod Age

Mom-and-Pop Music Stores Slump in iPod Age

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