Geek Chic

I’m a little sad today.  I tried to buy a copy of the new Dirty Projectors album that I’ve been blabbing about for a few months now, and couldn’t get my hands on a copy.  Partly because the record store I like forgot to order it (I’d mention their name but I’d prefer not to give them any love at the moment).  So fine.  It’s New York City.  I thought it’d be pretty easy to find another shop with a copy.

Nope.

Partly because the 3 remaining shops around Christopher Street mostly seem to cater to vinyl lovers.  Partly because most of the other stores that would’ve carried the record are now gone.  There used to be about 12 of them in that area (and there are still 10 on Google maps) but their numbers seem to have dwindled to about 3.

It remains a question, in my mind at least, as to why this happened.  Was it the economy?  Was it the mega-stores (in which case, thank you Tower and Circuit City for driving these places out of business and then closing yourself)?  Or is it that selling CDs in a digital distribution age is a losing proposition (I feel like I’ve actually heard other people musing over this last one recently, but I can’t remember where)?

I certainly can’t say for sure, but the net result is that I didn’t get a copy of the CD I went out of my way to try to purchase today.

Sad for me. And I guess for all of us.  Because I’m now going to help perpetuate the problem by either buying online or getting it from one of the remaining annoying mega-outlet stores.  Assuming they carry it.  Which is probably about 50/50.

I guess I’m not saying anything profound today.  Just noticing that this might be a dying industry, and that I’ll miss it when it’s gone.