Rather than do the usual VSD tie-in and offer up some scans of home video ephemera and related reviews (not to fear \u2013 they\u2019re still in the pipeline), I\u2019ve chosen to write an op-ed piece. No pictures, no video clips, no stills \u2013 just thoughts.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve a feeling that when Record Store Day<\/a> began in 2007, it was initially met with a little skepticism by the mainstream \u2013 \u2018Why bother?\u2019 \u2013 if not cynicism \u2013 \u2018Are you kidding? Vinyl is dead!\u2019 \u2013 but the resurgence of the 12\u201d audio platter among bands and connoisseurs alike helped the LP enjoy its new life as a \u2018hand-crafted\u2019 audiophile format.<\/p>\n Vinyl has many appealing qualities if done right \u2013 beautiful art direction, warm sound, custom coloured LPs that spin attractively on the turntable \u2013 and it\u2019s a physical thing that mandates some interaction instead of an easy click on a player, or the anonymous loading of a digital file that seems to produce music from air rather than a stereo \/ speaker set-up where you have to sit and appreciate within a mood-oriented room.<\/p>\n The infrastructure of LP distribution never went away, in part because music stores, as chains or indie shops, still existed in cities and towns, and the creation of RSD seemed over a short period to assemble music shops as a means to trumpet the viability of the LP, and the enjoyment of physical media. It\u2019s a cross-border, international scale programme that happens on the third Saturday in April in which music is feted with live performances and unique LP pressings exclusive to participating shops.<\/p>\n Since its inception in 2011, Video Store Day<\/a> has similarly grown into a movement that celebrates the enjoyment gleaned from physical media and entering the environment of a classic bricks & mortar shop where customers can rent or buy films that few major chains bother to stock.<\/p>\n Part of VSD\u2019s mantra is to reinforce the viability of the home video business\u2019 physical end, which indie labels recognize as still being the most attractive product for genre connoisseurs. To have, to hold, to display a product that contains a movie you can watch whenever you want, wherever you want.<\/p>\n The movie could be a classic 40s screwball comedy, a forgotten noir, a rare foreign flick, a martial arts cult classic, or for Canadian fans, a rare CanCon exploitation film that neither domestic nor foreign labels have managed to touch, and exists only on videotape. Essentially titles which often don\u2019t appear on TV or digital venues because of licensing issues, market demands as perceived by the vendors, and rights holders not really knowing what unusual titles lie buried in their vaults.<\/p>\n If you were to assemble all of the video stores in Canada, you\u2019d probably have an outstanding archive of film history which, while regional, would still constitute a massive trove of entertainment that doesn\u2019t exist online, or because of rights, is trapped on the original (and often obsolete) physical media they were released, like Betamax, VHS, laserdisc, and CED.<\/p>\n Add the U.S., and it gets even bigger. Fold in Europe and Asia, and it gets massive, but VSD hasn\u2019t evolved into the phenomenon that\u2019s RSD.<\/p>\n Part of the problem may lie in literally not knowing exactly how many shops are left after major chains like Blockbuster and Canada\u2019s Rogers folded, and once-expansive franchises like Video 99 shuttered.<\/p>\n Some indie shops may not be aware that VSD actually exists. Some non-participating stores may not even have an online presence, and the owners may not feel the need to have one because they\u2019re actually doing fine in their local hoods, owning the building they\u2019ve been occupying for 20 years.<\/p>\n Another major hurdle is the lack of studio support, which itself may stem from an attitude of \u2018Why bother?\u2019 when sales from surviving indie shops pale in comparison to big box stores, which themselves have a limited variety of represented genres. If you fill big box stores with A-list, tent-pole, and Oscar bait titles people easily recognize, you also give the impression that anything older is either no longer relevant, or no longer exists, and \u2018that\u2019s just the way things are.\u2019<\/p>\n Which is of course untrue.<\/p>\n So why isn\u2019t there any studio support? Why aren\u2019t there limited releases by major and indie labels available exclusively on the designated Saturday in October that is VSD?<\/p>\n Why aren\u2019t there signings or live podcasts with local filmmakers, home video historians, culture critics, readings from books, curated short film screenings or tie-in screenings at local cinemas of rare films poised to make their home debut in a loaded special edition that\u2019s de rigueur for indie labels?<\/p>\n Why not plan far ahead, and go big?<\/p>\n It\u2019s perhaps a complex organizational endeavor that mandates coordination among local shops, a central master chef that keeps the information flowing and ensures deadlines are met, and persistently liaising with labels, studios, and venues to ensure events are formulated, appearances are guaranteed, unique product is equally distributed among participating stores, and advertising reflects a unified team of shops in a city to ensure everyone knows where their local video shops are located, and what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n Using Toronto as an example, the media coverage leading up to VSD on Oct. 17th was comprised of a Toronto Star piece<\/a> (published Oct. 12) with brief comments by Scott Worsley, the soon-to-retire owner of The Film Buff West<\/a>; and Bay Street Video<\/a>\u2019s manager Paul Roth, both of whom acknowledged the wealth of film history that disappears whenever a shop closes.<\/p>\n A Globe & Mail piece<\/a> (published Oct. 17) with Eyesore Cinema<\/a> and VSD creator Daniel Hanna championed the indie spirit and value of physical media over streaming, downloading torrents, selling bootlegs, and other venues and illegitimate media that are responsible for eradicating revenues and store sustainability through tough seasons.<\/p>\n A BlogTO piece<\/a> offered a Best-of tally (Oct. 10) that included some new faces \u2013 shops like 2Q Video<\/a> and 2 for 1 Movies<\/a> that have been around for some time, but weren\u2019t as well known as some of the other shops who\u2019ve benefitted from word-of-mouth among genre enthusiasts and tie-ins with special film screenings in rep cinemas or at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.<\/p>\n Collectively the pieces state bricks & mortar shops still exist, are viable, and contain treasure troves of titles that you can\u2019t find on Netflix or other streaming variants. There\u2019s a slightly different stance between the Globe and Star pieces \u2013 one championing a single shop, the other more of a cautionary alert on an industry that\u2019s being neglected by itself (spanning studios, shops, and once-in-a-blue-moon customers) \u2013 but the contrast shows that unlike the LP, home video product (DVD \/ Blu-ray) has an image problem outside of collectors and heavy film connoisseurs.<\/p>\n The music labels realized the LP was a means to resell catalogue titles on high quality vinyl, as well as music to a younger demographic willing to part with hard cash. Like the music industry, the movie studios have focused on building digital infrastructure and licensing back catalogue to digital vendors, so one can argue that to some degree it\u2019s an issue of perception (the \u2018Why bother? They\u2019re all dying\u2019 view), and perhaps not knowing exactly who\u2019s left, because in spite of the international tally on the official VSD website<\/a>, it\u2019s still kind of nebulous, if not dependent on who stands up and gets their name on the list, or is spotlighted in a media piece.<\/p>\n