In a day and age when people are increasingly buying music online, either in physical format or download, and have access to just about every single item ever published, I will still continue to buy my music from Aquarius Records. Why you ask yourself? Well, if nothing else, for the following reasons:
Aquarius Records is like a friend. It is a living breathing organism. It is the kind of friendly face, warm smile and knowledgeable source that Amazon and iTunes never can be. Sites like Last.fm try to emulate this with their social networking component, and do so successfully, but they are not a shop. Because of the ability to humanize the store, through its employees, owners and most importantly its history, it’s possible to feel an attachment to the store.
Aquarius Records provides access to content and distribution channels that few others do. By tapping into the prolific San Francisco music scene and by acting as a valued member of the community they are able to help those musicians by giving them a willing audience and ready market worldwide. The only site that can really come close, currently to this level of access is myspace. Last.fm, Spotify and whomever, are great for the major label back catalogue but they do less well at a grass roots level.
Aquarius Records isn’t just a store, they are also provide some form of editorial content. Every two weeks they put out a new arrivals list with some 100 reviews and probably near 300 audio samples. many of these items are limited edition runs that might barely reach a larger audience, but it’s still cool to be able to read, listen, learn and possibly even be one of those to get your dirty mits on the few copies that they have. They also do in-store editions which are posted online for those unlucky enough not to be able to reach the store for the show.
Last, but not least, I buy from Aquarius because I want to not only help them, but because I prefer to buy CDs and not MP3s. This isn’t a fuddy duddy, old skool, die hard attitude and unwillingness to change old habits, it is a purely practical choice. The practicality of it stems from the fact that once I buy the CD I can do as I wish with it, rip it in whatever format I like and put it wherever I like. If anything ever happens to the files I have made I can always go back to the cd and re-rip. If you buy an MP3 what are the chances you can gain access to it again once your hard drive has crashed, iPod has been stolen, or some other catastrophe?
The 18th April 2009 was Record Store Day, and although I didn’t end up buying anything from aQ or anywhere else on that day, I think that my concerted effort to help, support and promote Aquarius and other indie music stores over the last 6 years, not least with over 100 purchases totalling circa 1500 CDs has been a very real benefit. As @giantlawnmower suggests, Record Store Day should be every day, not just once a year. And although it sucks that we have to get the music industry and consumers out of the woodwork to help support indie retailers once a year, it proves a point that people need to wake up and support their local music community, retailers and all, rather than just take-take-take.
Even if you don’t buy at all, subscribe to their mailing list, and if you feel so inclined, support this worthy 40 year old San Francisco institution by donating via paypal from their home page!
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I am, for want of a better word, a web developer. Practising since '96 and
focused on front and back-end work with a slant for optimisation.
I love music, art, and helping people, traits which I hope are borne out here.
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