Tuesday November 13, 2012
By Gary Smith
You can't help but feel a little bit unloved by major record companies sometimes as an indie retailer, so that's all the more reason to celebrate what must be the most progressive major out there at the moment - I'm talking about you, Sony Music.
Over the past months it's been apparent that Sony has made a clear decision to make it easier for indies to support their key releases. They've realised that while we're never going to be able to deliver the same volume as a Tesco or an Amazon, indie support can make all the difference on some projects.
Suddenly Sony have been positively generous with point-of-sale. Sale-or-return has been offered much more freely. And on certain titles like The Vaccines's second album, consignment has enabled us to really give releases a bit of welly.
As a result, as far as this indie is concerned, Sony right now is streets ahead of the competition. And as ever, if they look after us, we will certainly do our best to look after them.
If only the same could be said of the other three.
Gary Smith is owner of Rapture in Evesham and Witney and Truck Store in Oxford