InSound, a well-known online-based independent music store, announced that they are closing on the 31st of March 2015.
Pitchfork reports that InSound was established some 16 years ago, in 1999, and states that the site was “a go-to source for buying independent music, merch, turntables, and more.”
Apart from the buying and selling of music, band merchandise, and musical equipment, InSound was a music fan’s haven. The site would feature “live chats with bands, streaming videos, and even an attempt at a social network,” according to Pitchfork.
Additionally, InSound helped launch the careers of beloved bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, by making the self-released records easily available, before other shops started carrying them en masse. And, Pitchfork reports that, “From 2000-2003, [InSound] released limited edition EPs from artists such as Bright Eyes and the Rapture as part of the Insound Tour Support Series.”
In a Tweet, InSound attributed the impending closure to “corporate cost-cutting measures.”
But, an unnamed male music insider source painted a bit of a different story in an article that appeared on Billboard. The source said: “Three people worked there. At the end of the day, it’s a vinyl and merchandise retailer, and you can surmise from that that those small online destinations that sell music, they aren’t lways commercially viable. It’s an unfortunate thing.”
He added, “It’s one of those things those companies in a certain community brand recognition, but that doesn’t mean people were buying a lot of products from it.”
Following InSound’s Tweet announcing the closure, Warner Music Group, which acquired InSound in 2008, confirmed the closure, according to Billboard. But, Warner Music Group stated that anyone that may have placed an order, or pre-ordered a forthcoming release, will receive his or her shipment.
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