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The bummer economy has hit local businesses hard, but popular Chico record shops groove to their own beat.
Record Store Day is April 18, and independent shops across the nation are celebrating. The event is only in its second year, so not every shop is participating. Chico Headz Up! and Melody Records are among the lagging, but that doesn't stop them from jamming through both the recession and the drop in traditional music sales.
Since the advent of legit digital music distribution such as iTunes and Amazon.com, CD sales have been slowly declining but are still on top with 84 percent of physical album sales in 2008, according to a Jan. 1 New York Times article.
Chico Headz Up! owner Sean Roden is hit harder by seasonal flux in cash flow than the increase in digital sales.
"If people don't want to spend money, they won't spend it," he said.
Roden comes to his store every day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to keep the business going. He keeps his store stocked with non-music items, such as body jewelry and adult toys, to bring in a variety of customers.
They come in for one item, discover something else and leave with something new, he said.
Music buyers can spend all day shopping online and never interact with another human. A physical store offers more than simple cash-for-product exchange. This includes a May 2 appearance by pornographic actress Kayden Kross.
"We care about our customers, even the rude ones," Roden said.
The shift from physical to digital music distribution might simply be the next step in the evolution of media technology. Preston Powers has been hosting a blues program on KZFR for 19 years and has seen several technological shifts.
Young people grew up with computers and cell phones, so they aren't freaked out by digital music, Powers said. Buying music online or on a mobile device is easier for this generation, and might be why it's so prolific.
Powers has an MP3 player for podcasts and public domain recordings, but still keeps a deep collection of physical records. Even though he's aware of the digital movement, he's still holding on to his boxes of CDs.
Digital music distribution seems to not affect devoted record store customers. The news media color the economic downturn with doomsaying and cryptic quotes from experts, but Melody Records owner Ray Coppock doesn't see it.
"We're a bastion of normalcy in a swirling time," he said.
Coppock admits his business picked up after Tower Records closed. Record buyers are no longer spread over as many stores as they once were. Yet, he can't come to a solid explanation as to why his business is still self-sustaining.
On a drizzly Thursday afternoon, Coppock had people browsing, buying, selling and picking up special orders.
People make a special effort to come to Melody, as he serves an audience of people who like music and actively seek it out, he said. The digital model serves a different crowd.
One customer, Alex O'Brien, considers vinyl the best method of reproducing music. Despite being out of a job for months, he still manages to scrape together cash for records.
"It's one of the only things worth spending money on," O'Brien said.
Randy Davenport can be reached at rdavenport@theorion.com
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