he stores that rock America met Sept. 17-21 in Baltimore for the Noise in the Basement Creative Conference.
Officially the 11-chain, 96-store Music Monitor Network's (MMN) annual convention, the confab really serves as a gathering for most of the coolest record stores in the United States, including members of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS) and the Southeast Coalition of Urban Retailers (secUR), as well as J&R Music World of New York; Vintage Vinyl Records of Fords, N.J.; Newbury Comics; and the Value Music Group of Indie Stores. Billboard estimates that about 270 stores with nearly $500 million in annual revenue were represented at the convention.
The Pretenders, the Hold Steady, Nappy Roots, Rachael Yamagata and many others performed at record-label product presentations during the day and club showcases at night. But amid all the great music, Noise in the Basement attendees also wrestled with some hot-button issues.
EXCLUSIVES: MMN president Michael Kurtz said that all retailers need more transparency when labels are giving exclusives to big boxes. For instance, if indie retailers had known ahead of time that Judas Priest's "Nostradamus" was going to be available exclusively at Best Buy, they would have altered their buying and marketing plans, Kurtz said.
Label and distribution executives said they would try to be more sensitive regarding exclusives, but they claimed that sometimes they didn't have prior knowledge of some exclusives because deals are often cut by artists' managers. They also acknowledged that superstar exclusives are probably here to stay.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment executive VP of sales Jennifer Schaldler said that in return for such exclusives, retailers provide "an unbelievable amount of marketing" behind the release, often spending far more than the label itself would if it distributed a record conventionally.
On the other hand, the practice of providing multiple retailers, each with their own exclusive tracks, may soon be winding down. "The one-offbonus track has worn out its welcome," Schaidler said.
DELUXE VERSIONS: Labels and merchants found some common ground when discussing deluxe versions of albums. Putting out such a release with new bonus materials after a regular version has been out for a while can spur the core fan base to buy the album again, but it alienates them too, retailers said. Retailers told labels that regular and deluxe versions of albums should come out on the same date so that consumers can make an informed purchasing decision. "LII Wayne was fair because the fans got to chose which one to buy" because both versions of "Tha Carter III" came out on the officiai street date, says Michele Seawrlght, owner of North Georgia Compact Disc in Norcross, Ga., and head of secUR.
Bryan Burkert, owner of the Sound Garden in Baltimore, suggested that a deluxe version should perhaps come out ahead of the regular version. Sony BMG's Schaidler seemed to find some merit in that idea, pointing out that there could be a window where dedicated fans get a high-end version of the album, with casual listeners getting a regular version later.
VINYL: WEA senior director of configuration development Billy Fields said he is working hard to get vinyl out by the CD street date, "which isn't easy because of production issues" at vinyl plants. Fields said he wants to put out deluxe and regular versions of vinyl too, just like CDs. He added that the company is looking to get catalog records back out in vinyl that should have always remained available in the format.
Retailers complained that labels should do a better job in packaging vinyl so that it doesn't get broken in transit. Also, Newbury Comics CEO Mike Dreese said that when labels decide how to allocate their vinyl dollars, he thinks that it would be wiser for them to improve vinyl packaging than to opt for higher-grade vinyl.
RECORD STORE DAY: The second annual Record Store Day is expected to be held in April 2009 and will be more global than this year's event. Kurtz said he plans to travel to Japan to meet with indie store owners to help them get Record Store Day off the ground, while Bull Moose VP of marketing Chris Brown said he plans to go to the United Kingdom to meet with merchants there.
Kurtz and other indie retail leaders acknowledged that that they had overlooked urban music retailers this year and want to ensure they rectify that next year. WEA VP of urban sales Ray Arceneaux acknowledged that the labels were aware of the issue and assured merchants that labels are committed to making it happen on the urban end as well.
Eric Levin, owner of Criminal Records in Atlanta and AIMS leader, noted that some labels took a wait-and-see approach on Record Store Day this year. But after the media coverage that this year's event generated, "nobody is skeptical anymore," Universal Music Group Distribution president/CEO Jim Urie said. "I can't imagine there is a record label that won't be a part of it next year."
