Pick out the jams
Curation and independent record shops
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.39663Keywords:
independent record shops, curation, vinyl, music retailAbstract
Characterizing independent record shops as ‘curated’ is a recent trend in scholarship on the topic of music consumption. The processes that contribute to this description, however, are often not interrogated and ‘curated’ is taken as given, though this adjective is in actuality a representation of a rich and varied skill set that is essential to the running of a shop. This article draws on in-depth interviews with independent record shop owners and staff members to examine the processes involved in selecting and displaying stock in shops that predominantly carry used LPs and CDs, and argues that these processes are complex and underpinned by particular areas of expertise and acquired experience.
References
Bartmanski, Dominik, and Ian Woodward. 2015. Vinyl: The Analogue Record in the Digital Age. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2013. Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Du Gay, Paul, and Keith Negus. 1994. “The changing sites of sound: Music retailing and the composition of customers.” Media, Culture & Society 16/3: 395-413.
Hracs, Brian. J., and Johan Jansson. 2017. “Death by Streaming or Vinyl Revival? Exploring the Spatial Dynamics and Value-Creating Strategies of Independent Record Shops in Stockholm.” Journal of Consumer Culture, https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540517745703
Jansson, Johan, and Brian. J. Hracs. 2018. “Conceptualizing Curation in the Age of Abundance: The Case of Recorded Music.” Environment and Planning A, 50/8, 1602-1625.
Leonard, Marion. 2007. “Constructing Histories Through Material Culture: Popular Music, Museums and Collecting. Popular Music History 2/2: 147-67.
Maalsen, Sophia. 2016. Reissuing Alternative Music Heritages: The Materiality of the Niche Reissued Record and Challenging What Music Matters. Popular Music and Society 39/5: 516-531.
Pettit, Emma. 2008. Old Rare New: The Independent Record Shop. London: Black Dog Publishing.
Proctor, Nancy. 2010. “Digital: Museum as Platform, Curator as Champion, in the Age of Social Media.” Curator, 53/1, 35-43.
Record Store Day. n.d. “About Us.” Record Store Day. Accessed August 7, 2019. http://recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/614
Sonnichsen, Tyler. 2016. “Emotional Landscapes and the Evolution of Vinyl Record Retail.” In The Production and Consumption of Music in the Digital Age., edited by Brian J. Hracs, Michael Seman, and Tarek E. Virani, 190-205. New York: Routledge.
Straw, Will. 2000. “Exhausted Commodities: The Material Culture of Music.” Canadian Journal of Communication, 25/1. Accessed July 1, 2019. https://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1148/1067
Wang, Oliver. 2012. “Vinyl Restorations: The Wane and Wax of LA's Record Stores.” KCET Artbound. December 12, 2012. https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/vinyl-restorations-the-wane-and-wax-of-las-record-stores
