Record Selling at Pitkämies

In January Pitkämies is having a beyond crazy record sales. We are trying to get rid of ALL records from the store. So it's your chance to pick some cool records for ultracool prices.

We are doing the UFF style discount: every day the discount on ALL records gets higher and higher. However, we have for some items only 1 copy, so it might not always be wise to wait until the last minute.

This means the end of the record selling business of Ifsociety. The label will continue to exist by releasing a couple of select records per year. This also means the end of the co-operation between Pitkämies and Ifsociety. It really pains me that it has gone this way. I personally thought we stocked a pretty neat collection of cool records in the store. We had a really good thing going for a while, a well catered selection of cheapo classics on cd, punk and indie milestones on vinyl and all the latest releases from the finnish quality labels at competitive prices. But the decision to pull the plug on the record pushin business lays in the hands of Tommi and Mikko. And i completely understand them. Lately with music sales dropping everywhere (to give an example, the overall sales in music in Finland has dropped 25% in 2008 compared to the previous year!), it just didn't make anymore sense in pouring money in a loss making business. The profit margin Ifsociety had on selling records at Pitkämies was already quite slim to begin with. In the end why put all this effort in keeping up a record selection if the only people who benefit from it is everybody besides yourself?

I talked to Mikko and Tommi about this and i felt that both of them are just releaved to get rid of the burdon of this extracurrical activity and being finally able to focus again on the things they started Ifsociety in the first place: releasing a few records a year and doing that with all your heart and strength you can muster.


However, this doesn't mean the end of musicrecords at Pitkämies. I stubbornly continue spreading the gospel of fine music. The selection of records will be a lot smaller then what we have but there will still be plenty of reasons to come and check out the the music department at Pitkämies:

1) Pitkämies will have ALL the releases of ALL quality finnish record labels at affordable prices (read: cheaper then äx, stupido or cdon.com). Here's the list of labels so far: Ektro, Helmi, Fonal, Ifsociety, Verdura,...
2)I will get a weekly shipment of hot new vinyls. Beware that i will order only small amounts of each items and that they go fast. It might not be a bad idea to stop by often, say every saturday, and make sure you can get that Dirtbombs lp for dirtcheap. I am not going to restrict myself to a particular niche of records (not that Ifsociety ever did that!), I am just going to order records that i want. Maybe next week i'll want to have the new Field Music on double vinyl but the week after i may go all out and order a great selection of 60s French pop and Yé-Yé from Jacques Dutronc to Serge Gainsbourg
3)As of principle i wholly support all diy and selfpublished releases. Anybody who has released their own record can be assured of a spot in the Pitkämies record shelves. Cd-rs, tapes, 7"s: i dig it all. So you know, the new Dinosauruxia is already here.


I know Pitkämies will never be able to compete with Levykauppa Äx, because that's just a great record store with a huge selection. Instead i want to make the recordselection an exciting addition to the comics i am selling. You will stumble across some weird records maybe but you can be assured that all records will have the personal approval of Pitkämies himself. Also, I am not aware of everything that happens in the music scene, so I am open to all suggestions and I will do my best to provide a good service for my music loving pals (customers). Any music made with heart and soul is welcome at the store!



Lastly, I want to send out a sincere thanks to Tommi and Mikko who have helped me and the store in so many ways i will never be able to express my gratitude fully.


So thanks dudes, it was a fun ride while it lasted!