*NEWSBITES
PARIS - French record shops wanted to remind music-mad customers that they are not dead. Not yet, at least. So last year, they imported the concept of Record Shop Day, which had started up in recent years in the United States. The second edition is aiming at wooing the crowds into the shops again.
Hundreds of shops take part in the event, in partnership with independent record labels, releasing exclusive discs and hosting concerts of Coldplay, Deep Purple as well as local bands. In the age of the Internet, local records shops are fighting for survival. Last year, shopkeepers doubled sales on the special day.
Still, with the French Culture Ministry's brand-new National Music Center, shop owners complain of the disparity in public funding: the shops will receive two million euros of subsidies to diversify their music offering, but digital music platforms are set to receive 10 million euros. Nevermind, the shop is where that cool band you heard is set to play...just around the corner.
Read the full story in French by Grégoire Poussielgue
Photo - Dustin and Jenae
*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations
