Vinyl Ventures - WSJ Guide

Subject: Vinyl Ventures - WSJ Guide
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 20 Apr 06 - 11:46 PM

Only that recent, pathetic thread plug for a forkmusic page with a single mp3 "Stormalong" (and durge of version it was) has purged the bilge of papers back two weeks to these excerpts from the Wall Street Journal.

THE JOURNAL REPORT: TECHNOLOGY E-Commerce

Record Time

Finding rare music on the Web just keeps getting easier and easier

By JESSE DRUCKER
April 3, 2006; Page R9

It's easier than ever to locate hard-to-find music on the Web -- and I don't mean with iTunes.

Nearly three years ago, I wrote about how the Web made it possible to satisfy my quest for rare -- or used -- vinyl and compact-disc recordings. At the time, file-sharing services such as Napster and Kazaa had received all the attention for making it possible to download millions of songs free -- and often illegally. But more important for those of us who have never downloaded a song, the Internet opened up a treasure trove of collectible albums.

Since then, legal music downloads have taken off, thanks in large part to Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes music service. At the same time, a much quieter revolution has taken place for collectors. A handful of new online developments have made record hunting simpler by leaps and bounds.

Before, I browsed through scores of individual online stores, repeating my search each time. But now I can rely on a handful of clearinghouse sites where thousands of sellers advertise their wares. More important, shopping has become increasingly passive: Instead of regularly visiting the sites to see what's available, the e-tailers come to me -- in the form of email alerts letting me know if an item I want is available.

To be sure, all of these advances have one negative impact: on my wallet. It's so much easier to find rare, and in some cases expensive, music that I'm probably buying more than ever.

On the other hand, the fact that so much stuff is available online allows me to be choosy. I've been looking for an obscure album, "Nobody's Fool," by the great songwriter Dan Penn, author of many famous soul tunes, like "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and "Dark End of the Street."

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD

A roster of sites for tracking down hard-to-find music:

• Ebay.com: At any given moment, roughly 460,000 music items are on sale on the auction site.

• Gemm.com: Offers more than 26 million CDs, records and 45s from sellers around the world.

• Amazon.com: A good source for new and used CDs; not great for vinyl.

• RootsandRhythm.com: A California-based record store, best for new reissues; no used material.

I've gotten several email alerts about the album since then, offering it for steep prices. But I haven't jumped at them. Now that I know the record is out there, I'm holding out for a deal -- and I'm confident I'll find one.

The ease of finding virtually any rare record demonstrates the volume of Internet commerce taking place daily. Online sales of music alone -- not downloads, but plain old CDs, records and cassettes -- reached nearly $1 billion last year, according to JupiterResearch. That's up 38% in three years.

At a given moment, there are roughly 460,000 music items for sale or auction on eBay. And, according to Jupiter, online sales as a percentage of all music shopping will more than double in the next four years, to 31%. (Internet sales as a percentage of all retail remain fairly low, projected to be only 6% by 2010.)

Even with all that activity, it never ceases to amaze me that nearly anything I am looking for I find eventually. For instance, I have been on a kick recently of searching for music recorded in and around Muscle Shoals, Ala., site of FAME Records and a legendary country-meets-soul rhythm section that backed such artists as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett, the Rolling Stones, Clarence Carter and the Staple Singers. I was interested in getting three vinyl-only releases by perhaps my favorite female soul singer, Candi Staton, possessor of an incredible, pleading voice.

I first went to Gemm.com, where thousands of vendors from around the world post their wares. I used to avoid this site because I felt it was too expensive, but have since found that the selection is truly incredible. It is hard to look for something and not find it at Gemm, which is operated by Global Electronic Music Marketplace Inc. of Palm Springs, Calif.

I found two of Candi Staton's three albums here. One I ordered, but the seller sent me the wrong one and a long argument ensued. The third, I found rather quickly through email alerts.

In fact, alerts are my most important tool for online hunting these days. Online auctioneer eBay Inc. lets me type in a search request for a particular item; if it isn't available, I automatically receive an email notice when the item finally shows up -- whether it's a day later or a year later.

Recently, for example, I was eager to get my hands on an extremely rare album by one of my favorite classic soul singers, Chicago R&B great Otis Clay. A live concert album from Japan made in the early 1980s had long been a favorite, but I knew that he had recorded another Japanese concert album in the late 1970s. This one, however, had never been officially reissued on compact disc, so it remained very hard to find.

I typed "Otis Clay" and "Japan" into eBay Alerts, and waited. I received occasional emails from the service -- but they were always telling me about the album I already owned. Then, after a few months, to my astonishment I received an email telling me someone was selling the one I wanted. A few days later I had it for a mere $30, with shipping, from a seller in Japan. (I have since seen it on collector sites for more than $100.)

Amazon.com Inc. has used similar email alerts for years, covering both Amazon items and used items that individual sellers sell through the Amazon site. If the CD or record isn't available at the time you do your search, you can preorder it, typing in a maximum price you're willing to pay (and minimum condition you'll accept). Amazon will automatically purchase it for you if it becomes available.

Search giant Google Inc., meanwhile, will send me an alert if the terms I requested appear anywhere on the Web. This service came in handy when I was searching for an album by Sandra Rhodes -- one of the faceless backup singers on nearly all of Al Green's greatest recordings. I found that typing in her name into a Google alert brought me to a record store selling it for $10 just a few days after I first created the search.

The Elusive Mr. Fritts

Useful as alerts are, less than 5% of consumers say they use them for shopping, according to Jupiter. Part of the reason is that more than half of people don't know precisely what they're looking for when they first set out to buy something, says Patti Freeman Evans, senior analyst for retail at Jupiter.

"Alerts work particularly well for things you collect, like music," she says. But "if I want a present for Dad, an alert isn't going to help, because I don't even know what I want to get."

And the services aren't perfect, even for collectors. I have been trying to track down an album called "Prone to Lean" by blue-eyed-soul singer Donnie Fritts. I typed the terms into Google, and a few weeks later got an alert telling me the record had appeared on eBay.

But when I finally clicked through about 10 hours after receiving the email, I discovered that the auction had already ended. This was because, oddly, the email hadn't been sent until the auction had already been going on for six days -- a glitch Google couldn't entirely explain. Stupidly, I hadn't typed the search into eBay as well.

Best wishes in your vinyl ventures,
MP3, WAV, FREE, LOC-PDFs are good enough for me - I believe I now have 90% of Jimmy Rogers and Mr. Ives....Hmmmm....in a listening booth at the LOC a microphone on the headphones?

Sincerely,
Gargoyle