Video Store Day

Today is the second annual Record Store Day, a grassroots celebration of the independent record store, which—guessing by the last time you actually walked into a mom-and-pop shop to buy a new CD or *gasp* some vinyl, instead of downloading an MP3 or listening to Pandora—has more economic anxieties than the rest of us. Over a thousand indie retailers in 17 different countries are participating, with a slew of in-store performances (Franz Ferdinand, Bill Callahan, The Breeders, Regina Spektor, Erykah Badu, and hundreds more), special-edition CDs, DVDs and 7" samplers, and freebies being offered. Will it help boost up the little guys, trying to stay afloat in a sea of gargantuan chains and media pirates, or is it little more than a pat on the head to those who have managed to keep their dreams alive? (Timothy Finn at the Kansas City Star even postulates that the event is potentially detrimental and pricier than it's worth.)

Now, at the risk of conflicting interests—since, like some hair club for men, I don't just write for GreenCine, I'm also a proud member—I fear that the indie video-rental stores, also flagging, won't ever get their own event like this. When I ran one such store in Brooklyn a few years back, I always delighted at the over-the-counter question "What's good this week?" and felt the same way being on the other side of that question in similar establishments. So while some might make the argument about physical media's one foot in the grave to explain why we no longer value the personability found in a cool lil' video shop (also, as vice-president of a distribution label, I take umbrage that people don't still want to collect tangible, artfully packaged media), I think it would be worth the time, effort and inspiration to begin an event for the indie record shop's cinematic brethren. Maybe it wouldn't have single-handedly saved the rental department of Kim's Video, but in an age where we communicate as frequently on Facebook and Twitter as we do in real life, it would at least be refreshing to get face-to-face recommendations from passionate tastemakers instead of whatever Amazon.com keywords and algorithms dictate we consume.

Posted by ahillis at April 18, 2009 12:35 PM