Patronage: Convenience or Support?

I find myself with a store for everything.

In my city, there are speciality stores which stock my every need. "Play N Trade" for vidja games, "Saar's" for groceries, "Guitar Maniacs" for strings (and, hopefully, a Jet King 2), etc.

I go there, not because their prices are lower (though, they usually are), but because I have made a personal connection with the owners, and wish to support them.

I also find myself buying music (from "Disc Connection" on Garfield and C). Also, not to have the music, but to support good bands.



Do you exibit similar behaviour, or do you just go to Wal*Shit for everything?

If I at least had specialty stores near me. Which I don't.
But i'd be all over them if I did have. That is, if the prices weren't too expensive.

Convenience and support are irrelevant when it comes to survival.

There is only one anime specialty store I know of where I live and while many of the prices are jacked up, I still find myself coming home with a bag full of anime vids and dvds.

Other than that though, I usually buy everything at Target or Walmart

I just buy where it's the cheapest. Speciality stores are just too scurrilously overpriced and shittily stocked.

I never buy music from the big four, no matter how much I like that band in question. You sign with a major (or any other label that's an official member of the RIAA/IFPI), you're out. Self-distributed bands/true indie labels are fair game though.

Depends, some speciality stores have more stock, employees who actually use the products, or lower prices. (example: I went to an import store, they sell dvds for $9/disk. I walked out with a $36 Gurren Lagann box set once......need to see if they're still afloat.)


I am on the torn side with record labels. Smaller bands* are great, and I support them above all else, but I find that I cannot deprive myself of good music, regardless of source.
I download and everything, but I feel obligated to show support for this type of music, above all else. In the very least, it allows them to survey the masses, and then cater. (though, they have been catering, then surveying)


*Small bands are small. e.g. Colonies, The Murder City Devils, Apache Chief, Rademacher, The Henry Clay People, etc.

I can't say I expected that of you. Do you feel that working with such labels detracts from the quality of the product, or is there some other reasoning behind that?

Personally, I'm with Aud1o. I'm willing to pay for good music(or at least music that I find good) regardless of the label/source. EMI signed Emmanual Pahud, who is my favorite flutist, so I buy their stuff fairly often. Call me unenlightened, but I've never seen the light as far as the all independent playlists and the revelation that everyone signed to a major label blows. I suppose it's a matter of taste though.

I generally buy for convenience unless a vendor causes problems for me, in which case I don't go back. A Subway near where I live annoyed me enough that I won't eat there again, though I probably wouldn't have gone often either way, as I have a rather low opinion of Subway's food from a taste standpoint. Plus, there is a superior deli conveniently located near my residence that is not particularly expensive.

One, I boycott the majors because I consider them a death-deserving cancer encroaching on our society as a whole. They have become a terrible, corrupting influence on the civil society in general, what with them purchasing legislation (and I am not even exaggerating; SonyBMG's legal department wrote the net censorship legislation in a European country). Their very existence is a thorn in my side.

Two, they treat their artists badly. Hilariously so; except for the groomed top-shots, they treat them like proverbial shit. My money will not be supporting that practice any longer, either.

The other reasons I'll spare you, because I don't want to go on an "I'm so fucking old and before the war everything was better" rant here.

I used to purchase quite some music from the top-quality classical labels (Orfeo Blau, Wergo, Auvidis, L'Astrée), but the IFPI's continuedly mafia-like behaviour has at long last driven me away.

I'm not generally unwilling to pay for music though. When Jennifer Lane [McGegan's favoured mezzo-soprano] signed with magnatune for her Airs de Cour disc, I bought that on the spot. Why?
a) they're an independent label, which takes only a tiny fraction of the price for its own upkeep and profit; the entire rest of the sum going directly to the artist.
b) they don't criminalize and hound their potential customers, but instead lure them with attractive offers (DRM-free FLAC download; free to share with 3 others on an 'honour'-based system; you decide the price you're willing to pay - I voluntarily paid thrice the suggested sum).
c) She's an artist I want to support.
d) Magnatune, being an independent distribution platform is a business model I want to support.

Honestly, all my music is so far away from what's called mainstream, that I have to go to specialty stores to find it (Usually) But most of my bands are on independent labels, such as Listenable Records, Century Media Records, and Nuclear Blast

Though really, I haven't not bought something simply cause of the label. A lot of bands still sound good despite having "sold out" as it's been called.

Well, I'm not much one for animé, or video games, so I can't say about speciality stores for those, here. I don't think there even are animé speciality stores anywhere in this country.

As for food though - they're generally terrible. They just offer piss poor, rebranded Italian dioxin cheese and vinegar at horrible prices. Ridiculous.

The small movie and record stores here are likewise horrible.
The record stores think themselves indie because they sell Tom Waits albums, and generally only cater to those with the same taste as the 50+ish owners (Fred Frith, King Crimson, The Fugs, Gong, Traffic, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, end of list). Terrible, but sits well with the affluent mid-life crisis cadre.
The small movie "speciality" stores just carry whatever hollywood crud is out there, at twice the usual price, and some bollywood sing+dance-routine flimshaw so they can style themselves "underground". I've never seen any of the movies I'd have wanted to purchase in any store, ever.



On several occasions, I've been at gigs, where the artists who signed with subdivisions of the majors expressly asked the audience not to buy any of their records and to pirate them instead, because of how shittily they were being treated by their labels, but did no longer own the rights to their own albums and thus couldn't re-sign somewhere else. I've taken this advice to heart.

I don't put a lot of stuff period, but usually, I go for convenience. I don't really like to become friends with the people working at stores. Just makes me feel weird. You know, it's like you're hanging out with them, laughing it up, and then you have to say, "Well, do your job because I don't want to be here all day." That's my fear, at least. Sort of like how you shouldn't mix friends and money, because there's a good chance there will be trouble.

Of course, sometimes I'll buy stuff from a certain person or group because I want to support them. The Fakku shirt I bought a while back is proof of that. While I also liked the shirt, the main point was to support Fakku and be able to show that I was a member of the community in public. I haven't bought any off of Sanshee because of a lack of money, but if I ever need some more shirts, that's the first place I'll look.

As long as a store serve to be a more convenient place for me to get stuff I want at an agreeable price, I go there. I don't view patronage in stores as support only; mostly of convenience. I rarely buy stuff from places because I only support them.

I actually do make friends with most of the stores I buy stuff from. Start from small talk, to chatting, to full-time conversations at idle hours. Actually proves great and a bit convenient to me as well since I get to have new friends, know who I'm buying from and how high I can trust them.

Some small benefits do come with it as well - get to reserve a few manga books before they put it in the shelves, get some extra freebies, and little discounts, which is very nice to have. It's a common practice in most Asian countries for most store owners to extend discreet advantages to friendly and/or frequent customers.

When I do make friends with the store personnel (most of the time including the owner), priority does shift a little. When I first buy in a store, it's a 100% convenience reason. Then when I make friends with 'em, it goes to 80% convenience and 20% support, with convenience not the sole reason anymore but still the larger reason for buying.

WALMART HAS EVERYTHING

STEAL ALL THAT SHIT USING THE TIN FOIL METHOD TO GET PAST THE DETECTORS NEAR THE ENTRANCE OF THE STORE

GET MONEY GET PAID

More often than not, I find myself supporting the "underdogs". By "underdogs", I am referring to the neighbourhood grocery stores, less frequented figurine shops, etc. I believe the owners of these shops need to make a living and I don't mind purchasing from them, as long as my goods and items are in good condition.

Another reason for supporting them would be to prevent the big businesses and organizations from dominating the market entirely. Examples include supermarkets and chain restaurants.

However, I am not saying I will support them blindly. If prices are much higher than the average, or if my pre-ordered figurines fail to arrive, then I will be looking for alternatives.

Picture perfectly proves that people who do drugs are idiots.

I agree.

I tend to buy music I really like as well. Maybe even too much, since most of my free money seems to go there these days... There are some artists that I just love that much, though. Not necessarily thinking about supporting them, but rather just feeling that I want to actually legally own their CDs.

I also haven't downloaded a game (other than VNs) in such a long time that I don't even remember when I last did it. All I play these days are things I've actually bought. Which isn't that much, but I don't seem to find much time even for these...