On Saturday the Coalition of UK indie stores (the grand term “coalition” and “indie” don’t belong together do they?) held their annual Record Store Day. This celebration of all things vinyl and alphabetised has led to a wave of commentators decrying the death of the record store. They don Grim Reaper hoods and spit bile and statistics at teenagers with access to Megaupload; 540 stores have closed for business in the past four years, Zavvi is bust, 95% of music downloads are illegal.

So yes, record stores are on their way out. Something that even a day of in-store performances ‘“ and a new Tom Waits single ‘“ isn’t going to change . But (whisper it) does it really matter?

Sure, there are record stores I love - Rough Trade East is beautiful, Jumbo and Crash in Leeds are fantastic and Liverpool’s Probe another. Problem is, I can count the number of records I have bought in one of those stores on one hand.

I don’t feel my musical upbringing has been impinged on by purchasing in HMV or on Amazon. The simple truth is that if an album is £8.99 online (or indeed, free) and more expensive (as they tend to be) in the ‘credible’ record stores, people will take their custom to the cheapest vendor. You may get more satisfaction knowing you’ve helped out the independent trader but when you’re unemployed and scratching money together to pay the rent an ethical copy of It’s Blitz! is going to be little more than a kick in the teeth.

One of the points brought up during nostalgic memory wanks ‘“ by the likes of Paul Morley and Stuart Maconie ‘“ is how the guys working in record shops are running taps of musical recommendations. Go to them and all of your 7″ desires will be met. However with Myspace, Spotify and Metacritic, you no longer need a man looming over a counter to tell you if something is good ‘“ you have an instant insight at your fingertips. This wealth of information and access to literally every genre of music can only be a good thing for musicians with an open mind and a willingness to experiment. Think about it, if everyone in a city depends on their music being available from one or two independent record stores then the owners of those shops are able to subject a generation to their geeky tastes.

That’s unhealthy. The Internet restores power to the fan. It gives them a platform to dictate their own musical upbringing. Who says Fugazi doesn’t sit next to Alphabeat? If you want to mix dubstep with psychadelia in a playlist then do it. In my eyes, every step we take towards financial ruin is a step towards an enlightened musical youth. It might be nihilistic but surely the ride will be more interesting than every young kid in Liverpool being handed a La’s record and their buddy in Manchester getting The Stone Roses debut.

I don’t want to see people passionate about music unable to make a living from it (as a freelance journalist, I feel their pain) but we must step away from seeing the internet as a big scary monster; the wolf coming along to blow the piggy’s small shop down. I’m sure when the gramophone was replaced by the record player somebody with a monocle and a pipe said it would spell the end of music, the same way people feared for society when Elvis started shaking his hips. The way music is distributed, consumed and listened to has changed. If history has taught us anything it is that you have to roll with the punches and evolve at every opportunity.

WORDS: DAVID RENSHAW - from IT’S GETTING BORING BY THE SEA