Indie record stores selling MP3s?

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While perusing my voluminous RSS feed cache, I stumbled upon this article at Coolfer. The gist of it is that Phonopolis, an indie record store in Montreal, is calling for labels and record stores to partner in the sale of “download codes”.

According to Phonopolis:

Stores would stock a larger number of codes than they would CDs (they would of course still stock CDs). They would not immediately pay for these codes, however. The lack of immediate cost, and small amount of space that these codes would take would allow small record stores to carry a wider selection of stock and larger numbers of individual titles. The stores would validate the mp3 codes at the point of sale. During the validation process (which would be on a distributor or label website), the store would pay for the product.

Sure, it sounds all kumbaya and stuff, but it overlooks one very important distinction, in my opinion :

There is a divide in the music marketplace nowadays, and it’s not just between the people who buy music and the people who steal it. It is between the people who will leave their house to get music and the people who won’t.

Phonopolis argues that the allure of a record store lies in “talking with someone who is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about music.” Ostensibly, it is worth my time to get in my car, drive to the record shop, talk to the clerk and see what he’s digging, pay for a code that will allow me to download an album, drive home, get back on my computer, enter the code, and download the album.

I call bullshit.

In a significantly shorter amount of time, I can IM 4 or 5 friends and ask their opinion, read 10 reviews, listen to samples of each song on the album, and buy it.

I also can’t imagine an MP3 download being cheaper at a record store than it is online, as there still needs to be a cut for the physical intermediary (the record store), as there is for the digital intermediary (iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

And, not to be a total stick in the mud, need we really encourage people to drive their gas-guzzlers additional atmosphere-clogging miles just to get something they can get in their living room?

Sorry, Phonopolis, epic FAIL. [ms]