The following comes from Ethical Consumer this morning. I should mention I write a regular column for Ethical Consumer, but am not paid for it:
One of the UK's leading independent record stores has predicted the death of independent record stores in the UK within three years.
Independent record stores are currently involved in a desperate battle for survival and one of the key issues is that Amazon is able to offer shoppers lower prices because of their aggressive tax avoidance policies.
Within the last nine years more than 60 per cent of the UK's independent record stores have closed and now just under 300 remain.
Doug Anderson from Coda Records in Edinburgh which has been selling Scottish, Irish and English folk CDs and records since 1997, and who predicts the death of the independent record store including his own, said:
“Shoppers compare independent record stores like us us to Amazon on price which is a completely unfair comparison. We make no profit to speak of but we pay tax and VAT on everything we buy.”
Anderson also warns of the consequences when the last independent record stores closes:
“Do people seriously think that Amazon are good guys and will keep their prices cheap when they've no competition? When the last store closes prices will shoot up and people will then have no choice but to shop at Amazon.”
This dire warning comes as Ethical Consumer magazine publishes its latest Amazon-free buyers' guide to shopping for CDs, MP3s and streaming.
With the majority of music now being bought online, the buyers' guide reveals that many online music businesses are now adopting tax avoidance policies similar to those of Amazon.
The two biggest players in the online music business are Amazon and iTunes who each control around 30 per cent of the market. Both companies are aggressive tax avoiders.
Ethical Consumer researcher Tim Hunt said:
“There are obviously many factors which are causing the crisis for independent record stores. However the fact that Amazon is unfairly undercutting the independents on price is the single biggest factor.
"The situation is complicated in that Amazon have now created a culture of dependency as many independent stores now rely on Amazon Marketplace which further entrenches Amazon's market dominance."
"We're now calling on shoppers to think hard about shopping at Amazon and instead support their local record store.”
Pip Piper, the director of Last Shop Standing, the film which chronicles the fortunes of the indy record shop said:
"It is important we support our independent record shops as they are the people who support their own local music scene and champion new music. Without them music will stagnate.”
Ethical Consumer recommends that the ethical alternative to buying music from Amazon is to buy second-hand CDs from Discogs, MusicStack and Oxfam.
For new music Ethical Consumer's recommends that shoppers support their local independent record store.
To find their nearest independent record store Ethical Consumer recommends that shoppers visit:
The following are also recommended for CDs:
Propermusic for buying CDs online; Crochet, MDT and Presto Classical for classical music CDs.
For downloadable MP3s Ethical Consumer recommends Fairshare because of its charitable donations.
For new CDs and MP3s Ethical Consumer also recommends buying directly from the artist or label rather than through Amazon.
Ethical Consumer currently cannot recommend any company for streaming.
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The only bookshops in my local town are now OXFAM (lots of second hand )and Smith’s (mainly current best sellers). The county town ten miles away has a bigger range.
Plus a few shelves in other charity shops, ASDA and the other supermarkets.
I help arrange an annual conference for counsellors. We used to have an independent book seller, who would run a large stall and who had a good range of specialist books. No longer; Amazon has driven him out of business.
I think I’m right in saying the owner of Amazon has just bought the Washington Post.
Soon the web will be almost the only source of independent research and news. How long before it is “discovered” that there is a need to regulate it to protect us from “subversive” news?
Good question
I already find that my McAfee virus protection package seems via its Site Advisor facility to flag up as “iffy” sites which I trust totally, but which could be deemed “subversive” by our neo-liberal/neo-feudal masters!
As yet, this is only anecdotal,m as I’ve not tested it systematically, but it’s happened often enough to impinge on my awareness. A trend? A deliberate policy? We’ll see.
How odd!
Use a Mac….
Yes I know all the ethical issues!
It’s already happening in Jersey, Richard…
Can’t understand why anyone pays for a virus protector when there adequate free ones available, including one from Microsoft.
ON tax avoidance, remember that OXFAM Bookshops (and secondhand Record Shops, of which they have 6) are run from inside a charity tax shelter.
The business rate subsidy alone is almost £2m a year on the bookshops.
Perhaps some tax campaigners should pay attention.
Which is great news
It shows that society thinks it is right to use the tax system to redistribute to poorer people
How could anyone object to such an effective use of the power of tax?
If iTunes is an aggressive tax avoider, it doesn’t really show in the prices. Just how is iTunes aggressively avoiding tax?
VAT abuse
And why cut prices when you’re a monopolist
Do you know anything of economics?
Thanks for the comment on my economics knowledge.
However, it would be good to know just how iTunes are involved in VAT abuse as this is the first time I have heard this.
Or is the author of the article just having an unsubstantiated pop at iTunes because he dislikes iTunes and the concept of downloading?
VAT is charged from Luxembourg at 3%
The EU and UK are moving to stop this abuse in 2014
I’ve stopped buying from Amazon totally -I have to need something desperately before I’d consider approaching them -but it might get harder to maintain this.
Amazon’s presence in the market place are is like that of giant bind weed in the garden!
Does Ethical Consumer make any recommendations regarding bookshops Richard?
Amazon apparently own both AbeBooks and Book.depository as well now. They’re also starting to get a foot-hold on publishing, so at this rate they’ll end up controlling the entire book production cycle.
They do
See their web site
Start on line with Abe Books
It’s not Amazon as such, in my opinion.
We live in a “I want it now” culture, and the internet delivers that. With so many electronic devices being able to download music and video at the touch of a button it’s satisfies this demand.
And I don’t think it has anything to do with price, and Amazon or iTunes being able to undercut because of their tax practices. I think both of these companies could charge more than independents and STILL be as popular as what they are now.
Additionally, when was the last time you went into to a record shop and was able to buy just the one song that you liked from a 22 song album? You can’t.
And you don’t even have to buy CDs, DVDs, or MP3s these days anyway – YouTube has put pay to that.
With the advancement of the internet and technology, there was always going to be High Street casualties.
“Everything changes, everything stays the same”, as I believe the saying goes. As with Amazon in the 21st century, so with Standard Oil and other US corporations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Which is why the US government brought in anti-trust legislation to prevent the formation of cartels and monopolies. Time for the 21st century equivalent?
We’ve been hearing about the impending death of independent record stores for as long as I’ve been conscious.. and probably longer (‘home taping is killing music’ was slightly before my time).
The problem is with what they sell and who’s buying it. They’re a niche. In the olden days they sold music to everyone, but then the chains took over all the mainstream stuff.. those complaining about the internet/supermarkets killing HMV seem to forget that a few years ago HMV were being blamed for killing independent stores.
Whilst mainstream music has, arguably, narrowed itself into an unholy mess which has contributed to falling record sales.. independent music is flourishing. The internet means we can listen to ‘unknown’ artists from all over the world that we discover through social networking and services like LastFM and Spotify. We can then buy their music online – often though downloads directly from the artist or the label. The role that independent shops played before the internet just isn’t really needed anymore. I listen to more music than I ever have before, and I spend just as much money on it as I ever have, and I’ve not bought a CD from Amazon for years.
I’m not unusual in this regard. I was a typical user of independent shops, but now there’s something better. The people who buy everything from Amazon were never the lifeblood of the indie shops. Anyone who thinks they were really doesn’t get it (and if that group includes people running record stores then so be it.. maybe their real problem is a failure to understand their market?) . Amazon isn’t an alternative to ‘Selectadisc’ now, just the way that HMV wasn’t 10 years ago.
The internet is killing independent record stores.. but not because it provides a platform for ‘tax abuse’, but because it’s a window to breadth of music that no bricks’n’mortar establishment could ever hope to rival.