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Okay, so we don’t think independent record stores in South Florida are
going anywhere — hello, Sweatstock, Record Store Day — but that
doesn’t mean they’re thriving everywhere else in the country. That’s
what I Need That Record: The Death or Possible Survival of the Independent Record Store is out there to prove, anyway.
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The documentary, which was released everywhere on DVD this past Tuesday, chats up
music greats like Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Ian MacKaye, Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Pat Carney (The
Black Keys), and many more about the future of independent record
stores. Noam Chomsky (!) and various rock photographers and critics also appear and opine.
But before you go crying into a box of Kleenex, this doc isn’t all sadness.
Yes, main message touches upon why over 3,000
independent record stores have closed across the U.S. in the past
decade. Of course greedy record labels, homogenized radio, E-commerce, and the
digital revolution are all named as threats, but there are some surprises as well. What’s more, the film details how many have, in the face of all of this, survive.
The film’s director, Brendan Toller, made the movie as a part of his
thesis project when he was a student at Hampshire College. He told Rolling Stone:
“For music fans, going to stores is the center of your social universe.It’s the same community of people that sit in sports bars or bookstores.
We’re social beings but it’s harder and harder to support local
business if prices aren’t affordable.”
If you didn’t catch the film’s limited theatrical release, ask a local store like Sweat to special-order it! Check out the trailer for the film below.
