Where did you buy your first records?

The collapse into administration of HMV sparked some nostalgic musings across the media in the UK about record buying. The BBC had an article about where people bought their first records which generated a number of responses. A theme seems to be it was a lot better in the old days before Amazon and iTunes when you could browse the record racks, i'm not too sure about that.

Is there something missing from buying your music online? Does it lack a "thrill"? I'm not sure, its certainly different but to honest i love the fact i can check out a band on Youtube and Soundcloud before i order the CD.

As for me my first records were some Iron Maiden singles i bought in Erdington market during my brief heavy metal phase when i was 12 (had a denim jacket with patches and everything!). The first one i got was "The Trooper" on 7" and followed soon after by a Motorhead 12" EP and Maiden's "Flight of Icarus".

Later on, after a few record-less years, i bought The Four Tops "loco in Alcapulco" 7" single from somewhere like Boots. My first CD was Waylon Jennings' "hangin' tough" which i bought from Our Price in about 1988, and this one unlike all the other early records i still have got...

What was your first record and where did you get it?

How do you turn music into money?

How do you turn your music into money? Of course everyone does it for the sake of the music but that doesn't pay the gas bill. This interesting article shows how an independent artist (Zoe Keating a cellist) makes her money. Basically she makes most of it from iTunes with Bandcamp and Amazon also providing the bulk of her revenue. Streaming sites like Spotify only provide a small amount of income though as with anything the exact mix will depend on the artist and their genre.

The message surely has to be though that by cutting out the middle man (i.e. the major record labels) then artists can be best rewarded for their art. Thats what we indie kids have been saying all along...