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[ScrambledGregs]

(Forgive me if this thread has been done before)

Just curious where everybody else gets their music from. Local independent record stores?? Big corporate stores like Best Buy?? From online stores like InSound or Amazon?? From digital music download stores like iTunes or eMusic??

I love my local independent record store. Allied Records in Toledo, Ohio. They're typically $2 or $3 more than corporate stores, but naturally the selection is better, and they have a decent vinyl selection (used and new).

For online stores, I have used Amazon for years and had no problems. However I recently ordered some stuff off InSound (to get the bonus stuff with Pavement's Wowee Zowee re-issue) and they're--forgive this description--like an indie Amazon. Some of their selection is wanting, but they've got reasonable prices and a healthy vinyl selection.

[Dimmukane]

Record and Tape Traders.  It ain't the best, but it serves its purpose.

[negative creep]

i mostly buy at amazon. i live in such a rural area that i'd have to drive an hour or something to find a decent store.

[schimmy]

I used to buy stuff off of iTunes, but the lack of having a physical CD case with cover art etc. made me feel like I should just download it illegally, since there was no discernable difference. Now, I generally get my music either over amazon, or from Virgin or HMV. My excuse? I'm 15, and have yet to learn where there are any indie stores in Crewe or Manchester, and I go into the cities so rarely, I doubt I will any time soon.

[KharBevNor]

buy...music...?

[ScrambledGregs]

I wondered how long it would take for somebody to reply with something along the lines of "why would you buy music when you can get it for free??" So OK, that's out of the way now.

[Kai]

There were two really really great record stores down in Westport Kansas that I went to (Music Exchange, Recycled Sounds) but both of them closed down, and the owner of the former died a couple months ago when he choked on his food. So the only decent place to get stuff is way out in Lawrence, which is like a 40 minute drive and it's not worth it. So I order from labels or steal it mostly.

[valley_parade]

iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy, the little used record shop in Williamstown, some random store in town, interpunk.com, record labels...

[thepugs]

Amazon.com, or an individual band's website or related merch distributor.

But usually I just steals it.

[camelpimp]

Hm. Lots of stealing, although I can't ever get I WANT this way, so I end up buying a lot anyway. Mostly big corporate stores, but I have bought from iTunes and I think I'll do so again in the future. Not much buying online, but I have gotten stuff off of CDbaby before.

[Ernest]

The only "record store" near where I live is in Sam Goody, and they barely sell anything.  They'll go as indie as The Mars Volta, but that's it.  I get most of my stuff off Amazon.

[Joseph]

As far as actual stores, there are three places I tend to go.  Zulu Records, which is an absolutely fantastic independant store which carries pretty much every band I've ever looked for (except Rites Of Spring).  A&B Sounds, a Canadian chain which has the best prices out of any stores in the city, generally, plus the selection at their downtown location is fantastic, and the staff are really friendly.  And then HMV, only because on occasion their silly little two for $25 or $30 deals are actually worth it.  It takes a while to find those.  On occasion I can also find decent deals at Future Shop, another chain store.

Of course, I steal through the tubes a ton as well, but I try to buy.

[Thrillho]

Amazon, Fopp and occasionally Asda. I also once bought a CD in WHSmith's because I got a voucher for it.

[David_Dovey]

JB Hi-Fi serves my purposes pretty well, and cduniverse.com for when I'm ordering CDs off of the intywebs

[Misereatur]

There are like four or five really great indepenent record stores down in Tel Aviv, so every few weeks I take the bus there, choose three of them and blow all of my money on music. I allways go to UFO when I'm there, actually, it's a small shop and somtimes I cant really find what I'm looking for but the staff is really great, I even meet some of them in concerts.

[TheFuriousWombat]

i have an emusic account and occasionally shop at a local new and used record/cd store which has a fairly impressive selection. but usually i ...find...my music in the interwebs.

[camelpimp]

The only "record store" near where I live is in Sam Goody, and they barely sell anything.  They'll go as indie as The Mars Volta, but that's it.  I get most of my stuff off Amazon.

Wait, I thought Sam Goody went out of business.

[Frivial]

From the artist's website. That seems to be best for making sure the artist gets paid.

[Johnny C]

WOOOOO.

[BrittanyMarie]

I go to a local place called Cheapo Discs, but it's franchised from a place in Minneapolis. The guy who runs this one is super nice, and the employees seem pretty knowledgable, though I usually go in there knowing what I'd need to know. They have a pretty big local selection, too and are really involved with the "local scene" or whatever.

[pat101]

As far as actual stores, there are three places I tend to go.  Zulu Records, which is an absolutely fantastic independant store which carries pretty much every band I've ever looked for (except Rites Of Spring).  A&B Sounds, a Canadian chain which has the best prices out of any stores in the city, generally, plus the selection at their downtown location is fantastic, and the staff are really friendly.  And then HMV, only because on occasion their silly little two for $25 or $30 deals are actually worth it.  It takes a while to find those.  On occasion I can also find decent deals at Future Shop, another chain store.

Of course, I steal through the tubes a ton as well, but I try to buy.

oh you're lucky BOTH the A and B Sound stores in Winnipeg closed down, and as far as chain stores went they had a great selection and great prices, I was quite sad when that happened

[Cartilage Head]

 The best record store near me is a very nice little shop called Evolution Records.

 They have a very nice atmosphere and you can find pretty much anything you're looking for.

 Also, I prefer buying music over downloading it for free (unless I can't find it in a shop), because if an artist is good, I like to financially support them.

[FireStarter]

My favorite music store is infact online, I'll link it for you.
<a href="thepiratebay.org">TPB[/url]
I'll attend concerts, but purchasing albums doesn't really "support" a band, MOST bands make their money on tour. Albums are just for record companies. And I am ideologically opposed to buying cd's the only cd's I've ever really purchased were mail order from punk catalogues. Why? Because the albums there are around $4 ea. The problem with buying albums in a store, is the conglomerations of Labels deciding to artificially jack the prices of cd's up. THE AVERAGE cd, including studio time distribution, ad, and production costs, comes to somewhere around .50 a piece, including jewel case and all. >now< I know some of you are going "where to you get this ludacris number from?" and I go, easy, to stamp a cd it costs on AVERAGE, including manufacturing overhead, material cost and labor about $.01 per 100 cds, yeah, that's right ONE ONEHUNDRETH OF A CENT (american) Per CD. Shit even the average consumer can get close to this with an at home CD/DVD production kit. (around $3k to get into it) and an average consumer could produce cd's (including printing album art jewel cases etc) of around  $.005 per cd. that's 2 CD's per penny. Now, this is of course assuming you purchase your supplies in bulk from some of the online stores that cater to this type of enterprise. Buying and burning your own CD's from retail stores you are looking at around .05 per CD, if you print on the media itself you are looking at around .20 ea. (the ink for desktop home printers is hella expensive, the average ink cartridge contains maybe 35-100mL ea, yeah you are getting ripped off there too. Laser Toner is cheaper than that even now....anyways I'm getting off topic here. So, now you figure the average CD costs we'll be frugal here $10? and .50 of that is for distribution production and other overhead. that's $9.50 ea STRAIGH PROFIT. ie a 20,000% markup. Yet no antitrust has been brought against them, that's more price gouging than AT&T was doing back when they got broken up by anti-trust laws. Now the band makes ON AVERAGE 10% of gross profit off albums sold. Ok? the record company does some other finagling with numbers so that way gross profit (on our fictional $10 album) is knocked down to $5.00 an album 10% of that is .50, the record label still gets $9 per cd. (the finagling they do is on such intangibles as future marketing, recouping signing bonuses, cost of foriegn production and marketing, etc etc etc) so if you are a million album artist you get what from cd sales? $500,000? And a number one place on the charts? the record label gets what now? Oh, that's fucking right $9,000,000. Yeah, fuck the labels, fuck the lawsuits. So yeah, artists do make >some money< on album sales, but it is by far not enough for the talent that some of them bring to the table, so I choose to pirate, and attend concerts.

gg nore *note this is about major labels, I do buy from smaller labels, Vitamin being my most recent label for an album I purchased*

[Storm Rider]

I too steal most of my music, but I feel guilty and usually buy about a dozen albums a year, from Amazon or Borders or something. Amazon because they've got pretty amazing selection, and there's a Borders right near my work and I'll sometimes browse the CD section while on break and impulsively buy something to lessen my guilt about buying so much.

[ScrambledGregs]

A BIG FUCKING RANT ABOUT RECORD LABELS

Why do all your posts turns into huge rambling paragraphs?? Furthermore, why did you feel the need to post that in here?? I wasn't asking why people buy music or don't. Start another thread if you want to talk about how bad record labels are.

Saying you are "ideologically opposed to buying CDs" is ridiculous. You're ideologically opposed to record labels and their financial practices, if anything, not to buying CDs. Well unless you hate the CD format and only buy vinyl. But I don't get that impression.

[supersheep]

I have never been able to do magic eyes, why must you always rub it in tommy?

Also, a word to the wise. Gross profit is that which comes about BEFORE the finagling, not after.

[FireStarter]

I ramble for amusment, that and I find it difficult to compose easily comprehendable scentences. gg

[ScrambledGregs]

With spelling like that, it's no wonder.

[SeanBateman]

buy...music...?

I was going to make this exact same post

[Dimmukane]

I just buy occasionally, from the place I listed above.  Mostly for the stuff I can't find there anyways.  Which tends to be a lot.

[a pack of wolves]

http://www.superfirecords.co.uk/ - Easily the best label and distro in the UK right now. There are also a couple of good shops in Leeds, Jumbo and Out of Step. OOS specialises in punk and hardcore so you can find some interesting stuff in there, and Jumbo's vinyl section is pretty excellent (although the CDs are fairly weak). Otherwise I tend to order direct from labels or buy from touring distros at gigs, some of the European ones that come over with bands are insanely good.

[Will]

I spend quite a lot of money buying cd's used on Amazon, as they have almost everything I'm looking for.  There's a nice little used cd store down in Pittsburgh near Duquesne University that I've enjoyed browsing a time or two.  Quite a few of the bands that I listen to - and the ones I am willing to spend money on - take the approach of treating their entire album as one cohesive work of art, and thusly make the artwork and packaging as much a part of the experience as the music itself.  I'm willing to spend the money to support that ideal; even if the band doesn't make nearly the profit that the label does, it still makes a statement for me that i'm willing to support the idea of treating music as art, and not just a collection of sounds to market.

[!!!CPAOI!!!]

When I'm in Chapel Hill or Raleigh (NC) I buy at Schoolkids Records, a two store record place that caters to the college kids that go to NC State or UNC.  They have an acceptable selection and I like what they're doing for the local music scene.

[KaosPilot]

I'm fortunate to work in Aberdeen, Scotland where there are about four really world class Indie stores in the town centre.

Sometimes I purchase mail-order directly from labels.

hello fellow Aberdonian.

I buy from one of aforementioned Indie stores. Mostly One-Up since they tend to have whatever i'm looking for cheaper that Fopp will. If I'm feeling lazy, I'll buy it from Amazon.

[Spinless]

I buy old music at record and used CD stores.  I buy new music directly from the band, usually after seeing them live.

Earlier up there, Khar posted 'Buy music?'. He may have been joking, I don't know. But I'd like to hear more people who don't pay for music post in this thread about WHY they don't pay for it.

I buy the 'try before you buy' argument, and even the 'I'm too poor to afford music in the first place', because I'm there myself right now. But I DO think it's essential to support talent, the smaller the better. Owning something that's obscure isn't about having credibility, but it's about supporting the artist who need it most. This is why I tend to buy music directly from the band. Then I KNOW they're getting every penny.

Remember folks! Support talent! It's good!

Edit: I just realised Tommydski posted this same opinion in the 'inde music' thread, so there will be a similar discussion going on there.

[Johnny C]

'I'm too poor to afford music in the first place'

[Hat]

I generally only buy music by local artists nowadays. Its a bit of a copout, but there are some spectacular acts here that are probably never going to get the level of recognition American and European artists get, and I'll never be able to afford to buy all the new albums being put out both domestically and overseas, so I almost always choose Australian bands when I'm looking for music.

[Johnny C]

Hat brings up a good point. One of the best purchases I've made in the last year was an EP from a local band. Every copy is just a burned CD in a case with a mass-produced poster that functions as liner notes folded inside. Each disc is decorated differently.

The second best purchase I've made was a great local band's album on vinyl. Not only is the record itself transparent and orange, it's also a really good album.

[eggnog]

I generally only buy music by local artists nowadays. Its a bit of a copout, but there are some spectacular acts here that are probably never going to get the level of recognition American and European artists get, and I'll never be able to afford to buy all the new albums being put out both domestically and overseas, so I almost always choose Australian bands when I'm looking for music.

Yeh I pretty much do the same here in New Zealand. Although, I dont really like doing this any more so Im going to try and even it out a bit in my collection.

[Rocinante]

With spelling like that, it's no wonder.

Hee hee!

I get a lot of my music from say, Sam Goody and BMG (I know, I know, a lot of mainstream stuff, please no hitting!) Also some off of iTunes, but I also like to have a hard copy of the cd in my hands.

[rialisis]

Buy? What is this concept of handing over monies for desired music?

Just kidding. I have this store near where I live called Sounds Perfect. Its a small place and privately run. It used to be great. I know the guys who work there and get on well with them. I used to go in there and find Chris behind the desk, just restacking the library of cd's behind him. He'd wlecome me and I would just say to him;

"What should I buy?"

Then he would just ask what sort of mood I'm in, which would depend on what I've been listening to recently and then he'd recommend some band I never heard of before. It was great because I walked away with something new everytime and you could tell he got a kick out of trying to sell me something. The best thing about having a store that isn't a  market chain around is that the guys who work there are pretty much listening to CD's all day. But the said CD's are their choice and not accomodating a mass population. They're like a 1st line to releases that slip under the radar to me, especially bands I wouldn't usually consider but might end enjoying. Listening to new stuff is pretty much what they're paid to do.

[Gridgm]

i stalk all the independant places (fortunatly i live veryclose to melbourne)
missing link
gas light
metal mayhem
dirtcheap
dragondly
...and jb hi-fi but they're not independant

[greenMonkey]

I've purchased the majority of my music in the last few months from Amazon.com, although with Dischord releases I just go through the label (because they are excellent).  Before this my main source of music was ripping CDs from my local public library, because my county library system has a surprisingly good stock of the music I like.

I refuse to buy from legal online download services, because I would much rather A) have a physical copy of the music, B) be able to rip it at higher quality, and C) not just 'rent' the music.

[Hat]

...and jb hi-fi but they're not independant

I actually felt real guilty about buying my stuff at JB, but they are a pretty big sponsor of 4ZZZ here, and I thought it was pretty awesome, considering they don't even stock most of the bands ZZZ plays.

[The Eyeball Kid]

I generally only buy music by local artists nowadays. Its a bit of a copout, but there are some spectacular acts here that are probably never going to get the level of recognition American and European artists get, and I'll never be able to afford to buy all the new albums being put out both domestically and overseas, so I almost always choose Australian bands when I'm looking for music.

You should buy directly from the bands... i've been to shows where I just buy albums from all the bands on the bill. I feel guilty buying Aussie music second-hand from Ashwoods, but if it keeps the store going then its good, since that place is also an independent Sydney instiution... they'll talk about music and the guy will rant about the lameness of Nick Cave
but yeah- buy Aussie and buy directly from the artists

[The Eyeball Kid]

I buy old music at record and used CD stores.  I buy new music directly from the band, usually after seeing them live.

Earlier up there, Khar posted 'Buy music?'. He may have been joking, I don't know. But I'd like to hear more people who don't pay for music post in this thread about WHY they don't pay for it.

I buy the 'try before you buy' argument, and even the 'I'm too poor to afford music in the first place', because I'm there myself right now. But I DO think it's essential to support talent, the smaller the better. Owning something that's obscure isn't about having credibility, but it's about supporting the artist who need it most. This is why I tend to buy music directly from the band. Then I KNOW they're getting every penny.

Remember folks! Support talent! It's good!

Edit: I just realised Tommydski posted this same opinion in the 'inde music' thread, so there will be a similar discussion going on there.

Why I don't buy the music I don't buy:

a. the band dosen't need the money. My Chemical Romance does not need me to pay $30 because i'm going through an emo phase. Springsteen, Dylan, Stones, whatever... great artists. not hurting for money

b. the band needs the money they'll make when i'll go to their show, which i don't if i don't give their music a try. i've seen the Fiery Furnaces twice, and i paid the first time, and i wouldn't have done that if i didn't pirate their CD

c. the label sends me the album because i'll review it and thus promote them or sends me a copy with a giveaway on my website. this is out of my control

why i buy the music i buy:
a. its easier to pay $10 for 18 Jam or Midnight Oil tracks then track down something online
b. i want to support the artist directly and i don't have a comp copy. this is big for local artists
c. i want to ease the pointlessness of my life by spending money on consumer goods that don't fit either of the above criteria, like paying $8 for a Springsteen album i could pirate

[Hat]

My main problem with buying CDs straight from the bands is that live music venues sell alcohol. I go in long before the merch table is set up, and by the time I notice its even there, I am unbelievably drunk and broke.

And besides, the people who work at Skinnys are pretty decent to have a conversation with, they've gotten me into quite a few awesome bands.

[The Eyeball Kid]

My main problem with buying CDs straight from the bands is that live music venues sell alcohol. I go in long before the merch table is set up, and by the time I notice its even there, I am unbelievably drunk and broke.

And besides, the people who work at Skinnys are pretty decent to have a conversation with, they've gotten me into quite a few awesome bands.

Laura Imbruglia works at our local metal store... too bad i'm not into metal (which is why i'm into Laura Imbruglia). There are a ton of great indie record stores in Sydney... i like hunting through the second-hand bins at Red Eye, our 2 story, cooler then you indie superstore.
But i always come back to Ashwoods
i think various people from various bands work at various vinyl vendors in our fair city, but i can't remember who works where. my friends do though

[robert g]

two local shops called The Bent Crayon and Music Saves. What's great is that they cover opposite ends of the indie spectrum: all the weirder stuff can be gotten at Bent Crayon, while the lighter, poppier Pitchforkian end of it can be found at Music Saves.