Record Store Day | April 18th

In the past week we have been able to read about the fact that Sweden now officially is a part of the world-round celebration of the Record Store Day on April 18th.

The past years a lot of Gothenburg's and Sweden's record stores have become victims of internet stores and downloads (legal and illegal). And i understand why, its cheaper and has a better coverage of all the music available for us. And its open 24|7. A colleague of mine said that she buys her music online when the kids are asleep at 11 pm at night. She could never find the time to actually go to a store and "shop around". Its easy to do it online, but shopping for music has lost that mystical feeling that is surrounding a record store. How many of us music nerds haven't dreamed of being slightly more like Rob [in High Fidelity] from time to time? I know i did.

The forecast for Swedish records stores are bleak. The local newspaper made some research and most of the one's that are open today will probably have to close down within the year. A business can't run on passion alone. A few is planning to start selling online too, or create a special nisch that attracts more people. Thought's of creating music cafés has been mentioned. Only the future will know.

Its with a slightly melancholy feeling i will celebrate the Record Store Day this spring. Sales, live acts and celebrations will hopefully attract the crowds too.

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Read more about The Record Store Day on the official website
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Disappointments of a dinosaur

A month with Spotify and the joy of something new and inspiring has worn off a bit. The possibilities are so endless that it feels a bit soulless after a while. At times i felt a bit forced trying to find what i have always missed, music wise, other times im disappointed for not being able to find some of the somewhat underground artist's that i like. No surprise there, its mostly big labels that have connected themselves to the database.

The news surrounding Spotify this week is regarding the fact that the big labels now wants to limit the use of songs and artists depending on where you live etc. What was from the start a great idea will now be limited and slowly fade away. Because we all know that if the customer feels limited and cant find what they are looking for, they will probably go back to illegal downloads again.

With nostalgia i remember the old hunt for cheap records (and im not the only one feeling that way) and im not even one of those people who bought a lot of LP's back in the day. I still love the smell of a great printed cover, like mini pieces of art to bright up my day. These days my record shopping is limited to buying them at gigs, directly from the artist with the memory of a great live experience connected to the little piece of plastic. I know im a relic, a dinosaur, a dying breed, but i still love CD's.

Spotify Press Picture

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Read more about the news at Spotify.com
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