Despite Vinyl Resurgence, the Digital Tide is Threatening Merchandisers

By George Varga

The fireworks at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers' 51st annual convention may have little to do with music and everything to do with business.

The members of NARM, who will meet June 7-9 at the San Diego Marriott & Marina, will likely encounter an increase in both contentiousness and uneasy new alliances as the increasingly dominant world of digital music goes head-to-head with the brick-and-mortar retail shops, whose ranks have been decimated in recent years.

"This is a last gasp by a lot of people who are not admitting self-defeat," charged Gaylord Fields, the senior editor for Spinner.com, the self-billed "tastemaker rock music site" of Internet giant AOL.

Not so, countered Paul Russe, the manager of Off The Record, an independent record store in San Diego.

"I think there will always be record stores," Russe said. "Otherwise, it's like saying there won't be any bookstores because everything in print will be a digital download. Digital is just a convenience. And anyone who loves music will always gravitate toward record stores."

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