Wow... I keep meaning to stop by the store to peruse your stock of shoegaze/dreampop stuff, but it's a little ways out. I think I might have to make a weekend trip, VERY soon.

Sorry to hear about it, but good luck in future endeavors!

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Well said Ryan. I hope your words resonate among those who have the power to take action.
Strangeland will be truly missed, and remembered fondly in many stories told in the future.
We wish you the absolute best of luck in your next endeavor.

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Oh no :(

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I'm sorry to hear this. I've only been in to the shop a couple of times (yes, to buy stuff!) and I'll miss knowing you're out there.

What you say about piracy is correct. Ironic, though, that the internet phenomenon was at once a boon and a bust for indies. It made it possible to self promote and distribute in a way and on a scale that was truly impossible before. It may also lead to the death of purchased music.

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While I hate to see Strangeland go, and I've spent my own fair share of money in the shop on CDs and other interesting stuff I'm going to say boo to you for blaming the advent of digital music and downloading on the decline of independent music.

Online music has enabled more small bands to reach more people without needing the support of a label, or a big company behind them. Music is more readily available to consumers and we have a broader taste and spectrum now then we got previously from word of mouth or the radio. Most of the bands I listen to and I've bought CDs for came from introductions online, these include VNV Nation and Frontline Assembly in the 90's from Napster, and more recently Creature Feature from myspace and Massiv in Mensch from another online music player available to use on MySpace.

Independent labels and artist are declining for the same reason major labels are, they aren't keeping up with consumer wants and adapting their business structure to meet those wants. How people listen to and use their music is changing rapidly. Sure it hurts independent outfits first they have less disposable income, but the big guys are hurting too, the RIAA insanity is proof of that. But independent labels and artists are also at an advantage of usually having strong fan bases who are already using word of mouth to give them free advertising.

New Music will always exist, and people will always find it, if anything the internet is making it easier for the little guy. I'm sorry to see Strangeland go, but don't lay the blame on the internet or people downloading. But hey I'm sure things like this wouldn't be working if the intertubes was killing music and art.

The internet won't kill music or art, it might however and probably will kill independent music stores and its going to hurt the big box stores, a lot. You want to blame something? Blame the total decline in good venues to go and enjoy music played or live, especially in the DC area. Blame the price of gas and people not wanting to drive as much anymore, blame our idiot president and recession, blame the lack of disposable income. Hell blame sunspots because any of those are more accurate then blaming downloading.

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I agree with you that file-sharing has enabled it so that every band can be heard. And thus it's given people a chance to check out all sorts of music that they wouldn't have otherwise heard. However, I want to counter your specific comment about labels. Few people these days give credit to independent labels for the two things they do that few bands can do for themselves.

1) Indie labels help to separate the bands worth listening to from the other hundreds of thousands of bands out there. For every industrial band signed to Metropolis there are 1,000+ out there in the MySpace universe who are mediocre, amateur, poorly recorded, or just plain awful. Now that doesn't mean that every band signed to Metropolis is brilliant. However, it does make it more likely that a music listener will give them a shot.

2) Indie labels do more for marketing that any one band can do for themselves. Again let's use Metropolis as an example. Would industrial fans in this country even know about VNV Nation (let alone Covenant, Project Pitchfork, The Birthday Massacre, etc.) if it wasn't for Metropolis? Some, yes... but not nearly as many as those who know about them now. Metropolis gave VNV Nation access to the U.S. market by making their albums available at domestic prices in many, many outlets. Thus VNV could tour and build upon that foundation to what they are today. Labels can afford to take out ads in magazines. They can take out banner ads on Vampire Freaks, etc. They have a better chance of getting their releases reviewed by the major scene magazines like Side-Line and Orkus. And granted if VNV left Metropolis right now THEY might be able to afford to continue marketing themselves. But the next generation VNV... how do they separate themselves from the MySpace pack? Touring? Unlikely as few people give relative unknown bands a shot when it comes to ticket sales. So what then? Hell, look at some of the great bands in this area... Red This Ever, The Opposite Sex, etc. How many people outside the DC/Baltimore corridor even know about them... let alone support them at shows? Hell, how many people INSIDE the DC area support them on a regular basis. When you become just one band in a million, how DO you separate yourself from the others. Word of mouth won't do it alone.

You're right though... music will continue no matter what. However, my fear is that it will be reduced to a low level of MySpace band demos and self-releases (that few outside of the band's own hometown will actually hear) and an upper level of major label pop (which will always survive)... and nothing in between. Hence my statement that this apathetic behavior is killing the independent middle ground.

My hope is that once everything crashes and burns to the ground, that the next generation will build it back up again. But fuck, look how few younger people are involved right now... handing out flyers, promoting clubs, promoting labels, etc. Frustrating, very frustrating.

Ryan

P.S. - Big box stores aren't hurting nearly as much as you think. They're merely cutting back their music inventory (which they weren't making much of a profit on given their low retail mark-ups) and shifting those funds into other areas. Hey, they can afford to... Tower couldn't. Best Buy and Wal-Mart will be around for a LONG time to come.

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1) Indie labels help to separate the bands worth listening to from the other hundreds of thousands of bands out there. For every industrial band signed to Metropolis there are 1,000+ out there in the MySpace universe who are mediocre, amateur, poorly recorded, or just plain awful.

My tastes tend to run counter for most people, no label, or outside group is going to be able to say what I may or may not like. Something that other people think is great I personally can't stand. I like that any two bit hack gets a chance now, I like that sort of empowerment.

Indy labels eventually won't be needed, artists can and will make more going directly to consumers without them. Sure they were great before the internet and before we had a market place on the current global scale, but its not necessary anymore. Equipment is affordable to the everyday Joe, and anyone with initiative and drive can be heard without ever stepping into a real studio. Youtube is a great example of this, even with the sheer number of junk videos there are plenty that truly shine and are recognized as such.

But I personally don't need or want a label hand holding me and telling me who is good and worth my time and who isn't.

2) Indie labels do more for marketing that any one band can do for themselves. Again let's use Metropolis as an example. Would industrial fans in this country even know about VNV Nation (let alone Covenant, Project Pitchfork, The Birthday Massacre, etc.) if it wasn't for Metropolis? ...

...Hell, look at some of the great bands in this area... Red This Ever, The Opposite Sex, etc. How many people outside the DC/Baltimore corridor even know about them... let alone support them at shows?

I don't buy this personally, there are plenty of people who have become a success without a label. It doesn't take that much to set up a successful marketing campaign with blogs, social networking, and viral campaigns.

VNV Nation was out well before the internet boom, in my opinion if they had come out now I think they would do smashingly, perhaps better then they did originally. Websites now like SellABand, StrayForm, Our Stage and Amie Street provide easy, quick, and free methods for artists to raise money, share their music, and get known.

Magazine ads aren't necessary, 20 friends and some time is all it takes to get your name out there. Posting on forums, social networks, and blogs doesn't cost a dime and can be far more effective. Dropping a flyer at local venues, or providing flyers for fans to print and give out costs next to nothing. Being creative and coming up with viral ways for people to find you is also cheap. Good artists, those who want to share their work are already doing so, they're smart, savvy and most either have the business know how, or they hire someone who does.

To be honest I don't see much being done by local bands to promote themselves online, and I'm on more then a few communities, I can't always make shows, but I don't see anything catchy being done to get their names out there. The vehicle is available to them, OurStage does local and regional content, as does facebook. It really isn't hard, expensive or rocket science, it just takes time, patience and drive.

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((I write too much...))

You're right though... music will continue no matter what. However, my fear is that it will be reduced to a low level of MySpace band demos and self-releases ...

...But fuck, look how few younger people are involved right now... handing out flyers, promoting clubs, promoting labels, etc. Frustrating, very frustrating.

I think this is a bit unfair, to be honest even when labels handled everything we were still inundated with crap and horrible music. Many bands who are small town and less polished get a chance to get feedback instead of just a flat rejection.

Music is art, and it will always be in the eye of the beholder, what I may think sounds like crap and is low quality you may enjoy, what you may think sounds like crap and is low quality someone else may love. Its all about perspective.

Younger kids are more involved then you think, they're driving most of this vast change in how we perceive the global market place for music. They're being more picky about what they listen to and more vocal about what they do and don't like. They're promoting their favorite bands not through flyers but through their Facebook, and Myspace. They're doing exactly what we did only instead of sharing mix tapes they're trading songs on their mp3 players, instead of just suffering with the radio they've turned it off and moved en-masse to other formats. Instead of just listening to whatever is shilled to them by the big corporations they're checking out new and different things online. Sure maybe I think it sounds like whiney emo crap... (-_-') but I'm an old fart and thats my right. The point is they are exercising their say and its not quite as apathetic as it may seem.

P.S. - Big box stores aren't hurting nearly as much as you think. They're merely cutting back their music inventory...

I think short of a zombie apocalypse, the second coming, or nuclear war, big boxes aren't going anywhere, but its like you said, they're not carrying as much music, they're shifting to other inventories. They're responding to the consumer habits. Sure its a insignificant ding to them, smaller outfits are going to feel it more regardless, less disposable income, but its still a change they are being forced to make.

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Hmm totally off topic, are you guys going to continue doing the website even if the store closes?

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You are joking, right? To claim that downloading musick has no bearing on the suffering of independant musick stores is like saying that the night doesn't have stars... It's OBVIOUS that it has a VERY strong bearing on stores... Yes, musick is alot more easier to obtain these days but most artists end up suffering as a result due to pirating and many not even bother to go out and buy the cd... Ryans concerns are very real ones and to accuse him of blaming the wrong side is just wrong...

Hope that you are doing well these days.. Haven't heard from you in ages..

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My point wasn't that it isn't involved, but merely that its not the reason the stores are suffering. The reason stores and labels are suffering is because the habits of consumers has changed. Those habits include downloading music, whether illegally or legitimately. The recently figures regarding record and digital music sales for 2007 show that, while album sales dropped, digital music sales soared. The truth is that most people don't have a need to own the physical CD they'd rather skip that entirely and just put it straight on their portable media player. It saves them from having to rip it.

Independent music stores and labels are going to continue to exist but only if they can and do adapt to the changing consumer. This means less physical stores and more online stores, or it means multi-function stores that do more then just music. Strangeland in part I think had this idea, displaying artwork and selling some shirts. Record and Tape traders and Soundgarden also both get this by selling other items in their stores, whenever I'm in Baltimore I go to R&T just to broad their "stuff".

I still think he's pointing the blame wrongly, truth is there isn't any blame to point, the market is changing, its no different from what happened during the switch from vinyl to cassettes and cassettes to CDs. But blaming people downloading is way to simplistic to really describe what is going on, and a bit of a knee jerk reaction.

Artist pose to reap more benefits if they embrace the new trends, they're empowered now, with more control, freedom and flexibility and access to their fans. Right now they should be embracing it, a band after all is just as much a business as a artistic endeavor. And everyone knows what happens to businesses that can't keep up with or ahead of the pace of the consumer.


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Me? Not bad, some good things, some bad things, generally the flow of life (^_^). I've been offline a lot lately, but I try to pop in every once in awhile and see whats going on. How're things going on your end? I think the last time I saw you was probably Ren Faire in 06.

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To be honest, I agree with you that the RIAA is a piece of shit. In fact, I'd add to that all the major labels... and Metallica. Likewise, I'm glad that you still support the bands you like by going to their shows and buying their merch. That really helps them more than you can imagine.

However, withdrawing your funds from the independent labels does not affect the RIAA in the least. The RIAA doesn't give a shit about Metropolis Records... or Century Media... or Victory, Dischord, etc. Vice versa, most independent labels probably hate the RIAA just as much as you do as their anti-downloading tactics make any independents who speak out against the issue look bad. Fact of the matter is that the RIAA and the major labels will be around long after the independent music scene dies. The can afford to because money lost from CD revenue is money made up through cross promotional marketing opportunities, television/film placement opportunities, cellphone opportunities, etc. Opportunities that most independents largely are in no position to take advantage of.

In the end I understand your anger and I could certainly understand a boycott of the major labels. But to boycott independents hurts independents only. And considering that most independents hope to just make enough to cover their expenses, they're getting killed out there.

Just my two cents.

Ryan

P.S. - Why post anonymous? It's not like I'm going to chase you down for having an opinion.

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