Artists selling direct to customers, a few thoughts.

I made the mistake of looking at my Twitter feed late last night and instead of getting into bed for some much needed beauty sleep I ended up getting involved in a slightly heated debate. It all started out when Billy Bragg posted a tweet about his new album "Tooth & Nail" which will be released on Monday 18th March. If you order directly from his website you can get a free signed print. Someone then replied asking him why he was cutting record shops out of this offer. He answered that not everyone has a local record shop and this was an alternative to "The Big Ugly As". Back came a tweet asking why in that case was there a link to Amazon on his website for all 3 formats of the album. Billy Bragg said that this was on the insistence of his record label but the buttons for the link on his website were far less prominent than the one for people to buy direct. And at that point our friends Spillers Records in Cardiff joined the conversation. They made the point that there are places that have local record shops, so why give a better incentive to people ordering online than those that want to purchase from an independent record shop. It then got slightly heated as Billy Bragg seemed to think that Spillers were attacking him for selling the new release on his website. I don't think they were, but the problem with Twitter is that you have to make short succinct comments with a maximum of 140 characters (which is even more difficult when you are including other Twitter users in the conversation).

Our biggest selling album of the year so far has been "mbv" by My Bloody Valentine and so I joined the debate to point out how artists can sell copies of their own album and include record shops too. I also tried to make the point that independent record shops support independent music 52 weeks a year. When My Bloody Valentine's third album was released at the start of February, a mere 22 years after its predecessor "Loveless" we were bombarded with enquiries. It all looked slightly worrying at first, as there didn't seem to be a release date for shops. The LP and CD formats were only available on the band's own website. Then, just over a week ago  it came to our attention that they were going to put some out to independent retailers, so we contacted the band directly. They supplied us with some stock and we were then able to satisfy the demand that had built up from our customers. My Bloody Valentine from what I understand, have not and will not supply any stock to Amazon. There is certainly no link to their website from the band's home page.

So back we go to Billy Bragg. His new album comes out on the Cooking Vinyl label and on Monday 18th March we will have it in stock on CD, 2CD + DVD and on LP (which includes a download of the full album). I'm fairly certain that Spillers Records in Cardiff will also be stocking it. I have absolutely no problem with Billy Bragg selling his own album on his website and I don't think our Welsh friends do either. It would be lovely to have some of the signed prints (as a long time fan I would like one for myself) but I fully respect the decision that they are only available on his website.

What I would like to see though, is a mention on Billy Bragg's website that the album will also be available from independent record shops in the UK. There could even be a link to a list supplied by the record label embedded in there. I think more than anything else that was the point that Spillers were making, I know that I was. If you go on the website it seems to imply there are only 2 options. direct from the artist or through Amazon. It would be great to see all independent minded artists adopting a policy of supporting record shops on their websites. I realise how easy and convenient it is to give an Amazon link, but why not give us a shout out too.

Anyway, I hope it's all cooled down now with Billy Bragg. He is an artist who I have much admiration for. I recently watched him play an impromptu gig in City Square for the Occupy Leeds protesters and I will definitely be there when he performs at Leeds Town Hall later this year.

"Tooth & Nail" is released on Monday 18th March.