The Jukebox Made In Heaven

From CDs to downloads, vinyl has had a tough time of it lately. But maybe there are enough people like Rahul Verma around...
It's 21 years since I first stumbled on an independent record shop, Beggars' Banquet in Kingston. Even for an 11-year-old, its teeming, vibrant window display, piles of flyers and hundreds of records and tapes with handwritten descriptions stood out against the sterility of Our Price and Woolworths. I've been a devotee ever since, never happier than whiling away a spare few hours trawling through the racks of a quirky record shop tucked away from the identikit high street. I'm a music journalist and I've still never bought a CD: strictly vinyl only. But the last few years have been worrying.

The internet has revolutionised how we access and consume music, what with online purchasing, file-sharing and downloads. The independent scene survives - just. There have been some high-profile casualties: this summer Soho's Berwick Street, which has the highest density of independent record shops per square metre in the country, lost Reckless Records after 24 years and Mister CD also closed. Reckless's closure is particularly sad considering its pivotal role: Coldcut formed after meeting there by chance in 1986, and it was the place to be during the late 80s rare groove and acid jazz scene where DJs Norman Jay and Ashley Beedle could be found waxing lyrical to shop manager Patrick Forge, who would go on to co-found Kiss FM.

Joe Bindley started at Reckless in the 80s before setting up secondhand record shop Vinyl Exchange in Manchester in 1988. It has been hard work and the internet hasn't helped, but Bindley is still there. "People popping in to buy CDs in their lunch hour was our bread and butter; the ability to buy music online has hurt us," explains Bindley. "That's the same for all record shops: you simply don't have as many people coming through the door, because they don't need to go out of the house to do their shopping."

But Bindley has harnessed the beast. "The internet's an opportunity as well: now we sell loads of music online, which means our market is bigger than ever because we sell internationally," he continues. "Previously we did international mail order by phone and it was hit and miss; now people can see exactly what we've got online and it's much more slick."

And while the internet can beat any independent record shop in terms of convenience and choice - it is virtually a celestial jukebox, offering access to almost any song ever recorded - it can't provide face-to-face contact.

"Online, you can read that 'people who bought this record also bought that one', but that's nothing like dealing with counter staff on a regular basis - you get to know people," says Bindley. "Staff will say: 'We've just got this that you might like, or you liked this guy in such-and-such a band and he's now in this other band, so you might want to listen to this.'

There's no substitute for well-informed staff. You can't get that online; interaction there is done in a very crude way."

Stephen Godfroy, the director of Rough Trade shops who oversaw the opening of a flagship store in London's Brick Lane this summer, agrees: "If you're an independent record shop people are going to shop with you rather than online because of the experience you provide, and that is partly down to how much knowledge the staff have and how they share it."

And a correlation of that is the independents' status as trendsetters. "We're all about discovering new releases," says Godfroy. He points out that while of course the Rough Trade shops sell music that reaches the top of the charts, what they excel at is introducing music that doesn't have the benefit of huge marketing campaigns to generate interest. "Thanks to our staff knowledge and 20 years of experience in music, we can help generate a following for an interesting or underrated band. People can discover bands with us at an early stage of their careers."

Looked at this way, the future is anything but bleak for those independent record shops sturdy enough to survive the current corporate and technological revolution. After all, they've been here before.

"With music, there has been a battle between the high street - HMV, Virgin, Our Price, supermarkets - and independent shops for 20 years," says Bindley. "And we're still here." Furthermore, he points out that other areas are catching up: foodies as well as music lovers are down on supermarkets these days. So, with any luck, my Saturday afternoons flicking through the racks are safe for a while yet.