Call me old fashion but I would buy the CD, I guess. My local Used Record store got shut down from strong arm tactics of RIAA lawyers, the owner closed up shop on his own to avoid legal action. I knew the owner, he had an amazing knowledge of music. In defense of my friend, he never made a copy of regular albums, but only provided hard-to-find & unreleasable material. He was dimed out by a stool pigeon who was busted by RIAA landsharks, he squealed like a pig "why me?" and then proceeded to give them a list of other stores around the city that sold bootlegs too. :(

The way I see it bands will soon use albums exclusively as promotion vehicles for their tours. You might start seeing more and more independently released albums, or just albums available as streams or free downloads via band websites. The blogosphere will explode, the pay-per-download market will diminish (it hasn't shown signs yet) and the music retailer will fade out of public awareness.

It's not an attractive prospect but I really think we are closing down on the last days of physical media for indie retailers. And it's well past closing time for the FYEs of this universe, too.

As bad as this sounds, this wanton destruction might be somewhat advantageous for indie retailers. It might be the incentive the RIAA needs to pull their heads out of their respective asses and renegotiate contracts with big-box retailers.

I will miss the days when the indie retailers are gone because nothing is more fun than going into a record store and talking about music and albums to the employees that work there. It gives the same level of satisfaction that a music forum provides, yet it allows you to actually talk to people in real life.

The recent insurgence of vinyl may give indie retailers a few more years, but it will not be the savior. Sam puts it perfectly, it's just going to really suck for all those kids in small towns where the only place to buy CD's is Wal-Mart or Best Buy where their selection is limited and their employees don't know anything about music other than where it's located (and even that's questionable).

I actually did a semester's worth of presentations for a public speaking class about my local indie record store last year on this same subject. And what do you know, less than nine months later they close their doors.

I advocated for something that my classmates weren't willing to do (visit the store instead of iTunes once in a while), but it's obvious public awareness isn't going to change a thing. The RIAA really needs to do something about this or the retail music industry is going to end up the same way it was eighty years ago.

I.e. nonexistent.

It really is upsetting to see the world as we use to know change right before our eyes. It is especially painful when it changes as to not allow an industry to flourish and instead result in the lose of thousands of jobs. In other industries it is a very similar story. Physical video stores are going out of business because of Netflix and bookstores are being replaced by Amazon

Technology was suppose to help, not hurt us!

I would absolutely love to do this but unfortunetly we only have massive chain stores where I live and they don't need any more support.

last year i unfortunately didn't get to go to a record store but i won blog contest and got a free Iron & Wine - Live @ Norfolk cd. this year i'm definitely going into town, i need to buy something for my friends' baby shower anyway, get a new mic and a bunch of other things

To be honest I think this kind of practice is kinda outdated. Most people I know buy their music digitally, and are still supporting the music scene by legally purchasing digital downloads. Physical copies are becoming less of a demand because like Pete said, they are generally more expensive than digital downloads (as you're also paying for the packaging, cover art, and distribution), less convenient, and not as efficient in terms of sustainability. And I don't have a problem with this at all, I buy most of my music digitally. It is just the way society is going.

As far as supporting record stores, over here there aren't really many independent record stores that specialise in purely music. There are mostly chain stores that sell music (CDs) as well as DVDs and other audio/visual devices and items. They are in no threat. All of the smaller, independent record stores I know of make their money by selling obscure stuff that you can't get online, concert tickets, and other merch.

I haven't purchased a CD in about 2 years now (from what I can recall). Yet, I have spent hundreds of dollars on attending concerts and shows in just the past year. I don't feel one ounce of guilt for downloading...I show my support where it is needed.

Though, I will be attending Record Store Day. My brother's band is playing outside the old indie shop at my old college campus, so I gotta go show my support. I do love strolling around those stores, though, and looking at all the albums and deciding to buy something purely based on cool album artwork. I miss doing that.

How can you justify this statement when 90% of what gets sold through indie retailers belongs to independent labels? Who's going to pick up those albums once indie retailers are gone -- big box retailers and chain stores? It's not just about the music retail industry getting smaller and smaller. Indie retailers are a major artery for those independent labels to distribute their music. Without their support those labels will undoubtedly fail -- just look at Def Jux.

And I don't know if you're aware of this but record labels themselves receive about 8-12 cents on the dollar per online download. The artists themselves: much, much less. With almost 90% of that money funneling directly into iTunes and Amazon's pockets, how can you justify spending egregious amounts of money there and still call it "supporting the musicians"?