March 19th: New CURE RSD product addition, Stock Cuts, Industry stats, early KRAFTWERK Live, TONE POETS, new MATT BERNINGER, and NICK CAVE and SUEDE coloured reissues

Posted on by musiczoneadmin

Hi folks

Hope all is well out there.

The aftermath of long weekends are messy so not a whole pile going on this week i think.

Releases in the siopa for this Friday 21st March include…

 

 

Not much more news on the RSD allocations yet….but there is a late edition to the RSD schedule with the announcement of

The Cure –  Alone – Four Tet Remix 12” (https://www.recordstoreday.co.uk/record/Alone%20%28Four%20Tet%20Remix%29)

We had to place our order instantly so the order was placed last Friday … .i hope to get 10 or so copies of it … .just so you know!

Remember RSD is Saturday the 12th of April, trying to organise the music for the day, hit a few dead ends but will update soon!

All of the above i wrote about 9.30 this morning….its now nearly 2pm and a few RSD updates have come in…

Good news or bad news folks?

Good news is Orchard looks good….no real hassle

Bad news from Warner though i’m afraid….just two titles cut…..that sounds like good news…..but two biggies i’m afraid….and one yucky yucky one ( theres always at least one)

So heres the story…i asked for ( wishlisted)  22 copies of the doors release for RSD….14 of ye had wishlisted me for it ( nearly all regular sound heads)….we have been allocated 4 copies and Adam and i were hoping for a copy also….no panic on mine so basically 3 copies for the shelves….disaster i know….now i was straight back to the rep with a begging letter about them….its a massive cut….( backstory, my rep from Warner for the last 15 years,  left there last autumn id say and the new lad has a whole host of shops in the UK as well as now doing the Irish shops….my guess is not only is his plate overflowing, i think he has two plates everyday, he can be slow to respond and doesn’t come back at all some of the time ….just too much going on….the response to my begging letter was “ Hopeful I’ll get more allocation of The Doors Ray, you’ll be the first to know if I do.” I sent a second note to try to get a few more in the hope of covering more regular heads who WILL be in the queue … .fingers crossed big time but for now just 3 on the shelf … .daggers at dawn time….ye have the info.

The second cut from Warner was on the Bowie vinyl….i asked for 25, cut back to 20 ( reasonable) ….17 of ye wishlisted in the end…a few after cut off….so should be ok but just above really….again ye have the info folks ( got cut on Bowie last year also)

Anyhoo sin sin for now…sorry for the news

Releases then in the shop for Friday the 28th of March include

A little bit of boring industry news stats here for ye folks….i find it interesting but could bore the liathroidi off ye…

2024 was the greatest ever year for music consumption …ever….( in the UK and Ireland)….don’t get excited, or more importantly i wasn’t getting excited … .Consumption reached the equivalent of 201.4 million albums sold ( UK and Ireland) in 2024 … .excited … .Streaming alone generated the equivalent of 178 m albums, exceeding the record of 172m physical albums sold in 2004 at the tail-end of the CD boom). Not so exciting!!

So physical sales were at a peak of 172 million albums sold 20 years ago to now 20 odd million albums … .crikey, that’s a hit.

Overall spend on music last year was 2.39 billion ( subscriptions and physical ) with physical being 13.8 % of that pie or 330 million in sales , downloads 2% and the  rest streaming services…..2 billion paid to streaming companies ( Universal and Sony  have shares in Spotify , not sure if the other record companies do) 

The Spotify stuff is murky on all levels … .Here is a piece I pulled from a rolling stone article about ownership in spotify…

“ Speaking of industry incestuousness, I suggest you read more about Tencent’s 9.1 percent stakeholding in Spotify, which is awe-inspiring in its spider’s web of vested interests. The short version: Tencent Holdings is about to own 10 percent of Universal, which in turns owns around 3.5 percent in Spotify, which in turn owns around nine percent in Tencent Music Entertainment, which in turn is part-owned by Universal’s two main rivals (Warner and Sony), but remains majority owned by Tencent Holdings, which in turn owns 9.1 percent of Spotify. “

8 different parties  make up over 70% of Spotify’s shares, Uni and Sony included in them…. Thats without the murkiness.

Universal Music Group is the biggest music rights holder in the world and is valued at 33 billion .

All of the above is way way above my pay grade and smarts to be honest … .our simple goal every year is keep the shop open….the industry going well is a really positive thing …thankfully , i do remember 2012 only to well….thank you Mr Bowie 8th Jan 2013…is that a chink of light i see. 

Lots of good news in there though for shops….2024 was double the figures of the worst case scenario of 2012/2013 where everyone ( me included) thought it was game over….physical increased 6% year on year versus 2023 with the cd showing growth for the first time in 20 years as well as vinyl continuing to grow ( albeit slow growth…thats ok though) so overall its good out there i suppose. Challenges off course been the direct selling from the record companies, all the record company websites out there selling , pricing, brexit …and dont forget the SS….storage and spouses…as i suggested to one person recently you could always ask your better half to move in with another family member….that should create a bit of space i said.
 

Main week this week is for releases for the 4th April ( i shall be ordering these in the next few days)

Coming out that day are

Going to hand ye over to Shane now as he takes ye down the road etc…

Thanks, Ray! Hey everyone, hope ye’re well and ye had a nice Paddy’s Day. That langer McGregor up in the White House was a bit yuck though.
Here’s a Father Ted clip:
https://youtu.be/QS06cLEyowg?si=oRjZ-dyj2Ot8MZDV

Interesting reading alright, Ray, about the industry stats. Morbidly interesting maybe! Shocking how little artists get paid from streaming but yet it’s nearly 90% of how music is consumed nowadays.
Great that we have our little niche though with vinyl and CD and the community. Long may that last.

First one for down the road from me is the new album by MATT BERNINGER of The National. It’s called ‘Get Sunk’ and we will have it on CD, black vinyl or indies cobalt blue vinyl. Release date is 30/5/25.
Here’s a track: https://youtu.be/adtqj7XxvtQ?si=PwfEyVOWDwJEgCCL

ALAN SPARHAWK formerly of Low is releasing his second album in two years also on May 30th. His solo album from last year was very good, vocoder vocals throughout, very different. Great guitarist.
This time he’s helped by the band Trampled By Turtles. The album is called ‘With Trampled by Turtles‘.
Here’s a tune from that, I like it: https://youtu.be/utlroUPxM30?si=Q7RtYCnBDLsLruzi

There’s a deluxe reissue of SUEDE – Sci Fi Lullabies coming out on May 23rd. Formats are 3 CD, 3 LP or limited grey 3 LP vinyl.
Here’s a bit of info about the 3 CD: 

  • Originally released in 1997, Sci-Fi Lullabies remains a stunning collection of Suede’s B-sides, showcasing some of the band’s finest work
  • This expanded edition brings together the original set alongside a newly compiled second volume
  • The artwork and design for this 3CD edition have been created by Suede’s official designer and photographer, Paul Khera
  • The design features a die-cut outer sleeve allowing fans to alternate between the two Sci-Fi Lullabies Volume covers

There’s also an interesting Nick Cave reissue coming at the end of April.
DIE HAUT & NICK CAVE – Burnin’ The Ice on clear vinyl. It’s been out of print for ages on vinyl.

Here’s everything else:

Think that’s everything from me this week.
I’m posting a new bÚkl video up on YouTube over the weekend. I will link it here next week if ye don’t mind.

Back to the Bossman.

Thanks a mill Shane

 

Sine for this week folks

Thanks for listening as always

Ray, Shane, young Adam and Mia