Last Shop Standing: A Tribute to the Independent Music Shop

Last Shop Standing is the new book detailing the recent decline in independent music shops over the country. Written by Graham Jones, a Liverpudlian born music distributor who watched the decline of over 3, 000 independent shops turn into a measly 540 in only the last few years. I caught up with him for the promotion of his book at Rise Records, one of the 'still standing' independent stores in Bristol.

It's a humid Friday afternoon and I'm already sweating from the steep walk up Park Street as I arrive at Rise. Most of the shoppers had already gone home with the days wares and what remained were the few hard-heads and bargain hunters still holding out hope for that perfect listening experience. There's no sign of Jones, though I wouldn't know what to look for anyway. Just someone that stood out from the crowd, possibly glowing like some kind of new messiah.

I grab a seat and soon a man walks to the front and commands silence. He's not the likeness of the messiah I expected. He's a humble man, sporting a tie-dyed, blue t-shirt, with what looks like a yellow submarine on the front. He seems like he's the kind of person you'd want in the pub, and his sermon reads like that of pub stories. His entrance into music came from a near-death experience. I guess there's nothing like careening down a steep hill in an articulated lorry with a suicidal driver to make you evaluate your life. Needless to say he survived the ordeal, and even came out of it with a stack of rare vinyl that his attempted murderer gave to him because they reminded him of his very recent ex-girlfriend.

Jones maintains that the tone of the book doesn't read like an obituary, and that it has in its pages of doom and decline, a feint whiff of optimism. From his 20 years in the business, working from ground roots selling vinyl-pressed fruit bowls on market stalls, to direct distribution to independent retailers, he seems like he's been in, out, and all around the industry. The book was originally designed to be a montage of the top 50 independent shops in the country, combined with many amusing anecdotes, like combining Bill Bryson with Motorhead. However, the book is more of a wake up call to the saturation of the music industry and how the independent shops have been hit worst since atrocities like adding supermarket CD sales to the top 40.

Despite these facts and the outlook seeming bleak, Jones reminds us that 93% of CD sales are still physical, and that the Internet hasn't been a major contributor, especially as the masses of vinyl-heads out there are reluctant to trust their precious wax to the Royal Mail. Independent record shops are still the sole stockists of limited release singles, and are usually the first port of call for promoting new artists, next to myspace.

Maybe the general public has forgotten about this little gem. Bristol alone has seen 5 shops disappear on Park Street in the last year, with many more on the out. Perhaps I was wrong in the beginning, maybe Graham Jones is the new messiah, at least for the withering independent music industry. His Bible, 'The Last Shop Standing' is on the shelves and is a must for all of those afraid of the apocalypse.