Saturday, April 9, 2011

Movie Review: I Need That Record [The Death (or Possible Survival)] of the Independent Record Store


I watched this documentary recently (streamed from Netflix) and I found it quite interesting and enjoyable. I don't think it completely answers the subtitle though: The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store. There's a lot about the death, but not much about the survival.

Through interviews with independent store owners (many of them going out of business) and independent artists/labels, the movie charts the decline and splintering apart of the music business. It examines the "pay for play" trend, the consolidation of radio stations leading to narrow playlists, the gouging of consumers with $18.98 CD pricing, the impact of MTV, the rise and fall of Napster, and how the Internet has turned the music industry upside down. Much of this we already know, but the documentary does a good job of providing context and supporting statistics for these developments.

It's a fairly short documentary and well worth watching for those of us interested in music.

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