The 500-Square-Foot Music Store
As I sit here, everything’s being hacked. Whether it’s Microsoft being down today, probably maliciously, just a guess, or, very playfully, Akai announced today that you can now vibe-code your own plugins.
And my question is always, like, why?
I’ve seen friends release their own plugins that look like everybody else’s plugins. And I’ve never been able to tell one plugin EQ from another. And if you can, you’re a dick.
So, here’s how I think it’s gonna go.
I think the world of huge music stores, obviously, is dying. It’s too general. Fender has basically ruined the guitar industry for some amount of time with overproduction and over suing and all kinds of stuff.
And I think the only way you win is by getting small and specific.
Pareto’s principle applies. Roughly 80% of your business will come from 20% of the people.
So, the stores that will be up and running, physical stores, will have to focus on something.
This is all to say, if I had a store, I would track YouTube and get, like, the top 10 electronic things, new and used. What are people interested in?
I’d get hands-on with MPCs. I would not freaking touch any modular outside of Make Noise.
I do that just to…
I saw a friend the other day, and he said, “At all your DJ sets, you like to pick one song that pisses everybody off that you love.”
Which is almost 100% true. But I’m also trying to get one song in that I think will work. And inevitably, someone talks to me about that song.
So I stand by that behavior. But he’s absolutely right.
Same with Make Noise. Still don’t know how to use mine very well, but I keep my little skiff because the stuff is just so… nothing does anything like it.
But you go with Akai, you go with Korg, you go with Roland, and you go with some audio interfaces. And you just try to stay kind of up to date on what I would buy out of the world of Cyclone Analogic 303s.
Because everybody needs to know how to operate one of those.
I do Ableton Push. I do the Bitwig controller.
The other thing I’d do is, my 20%, where all the money’s coming from, I’d get to know them. I’d follow them on Instagram, and I would connect with them.
Because then you could see what they’re, like, bullshit shopping you for and then going on Reverb, right?
I’d also track prices very closely on Reverb and try to stay close to that. Because your data is right there. And you’ve got to stock up on items that people want.
So there’s got to be some new thing happening, a new kind of store.
It would also be small, like 500 square feet.
Always have musicians coming in. Always have events.
Don’t sponsor shit because it’s a waste of money. It’s too broad.
And just get as small and specific as possible, and get to know those 20% of your people.
And it would work.
Could it support a family? Don’t know.
Maybe you have internet sales and stuff like that, but I do think it would work.
Email me, Mr. Torian at Gmail.com, if you think it will/ won’t.
I’m interested to know what you think.