In two weeks we will know who has won the fourth Sarjakuva Finlandia (the yearly award for "best comic book of the year"). M.A. Numminen will choose his favourite from the shortlist of 10. Check out those ten here
Now, I don't know who I am writing this for, since this is probably only interesting for Finnish people and the text will be nonetheless in english. But I just have to get this off my chest before the award is over and this text wouldn't be relevant anymore.
But before I start giving my personal opinions and findings about this comics prize, I have to admit that I am a bit upset with Sarjakuvia Finlandia, so a little negativity certainly plays a role in this post. The main reason for being disappointed is that Huuda Huuda again does not have a single book being shortlisted this year. Look I am not saying we are the greatest publishers of finnish comic books out there, but I dare say if the The Comics Journal says "Finland’s most innovative publisher Huuda Huuda, ... displayed their formidable line of quality art-comics, Finnish and international", it means we are not just some random small press publisher. But no, no Huuda Huuda books this year. Actually, throughout the whole Sarjakuva Finlandia we only have had 1 nominee (Tommi's Samuelin Matkassa).
That being said, I do think the whole Sarjakuva- Finlandia is a great idea. For those people who are not familiar with the Finlandia awards (there's a Finlandia award for general fiction, one for the best youth novel,..), here's the basic idea: a jury makes a selection and then appoints a "dictator" who then reads all the nominated works and decides on his own and according to his own personal standards who will win the prize.
Every year now the organisers of the Sarjakuva-Finlandia have managed to get interesting cultural figures to choose the award winner. This years dictator especially, M.A. Numminen, will bound to pick an interesting winner. The genious idea behind choosing an "outsider" authority is that it undermines all possible criticism on the winning book. Since, you know, it's just one person's opinion. You are basically outsourcing the task, or, to put it more accurately: as the official instute you wave off the responsibility and hand it to an outsider.
In that sense, if there is any criticism to give to the Sarjakuva Finlandia, it should be aimed at the selecting process of the nominated works. Who are the member of the jury, how do they come to their final decisions, what are the criteria to select works,etc? Ever since the beginning there has been criticism especially towards the jury at Kvaak for example. Okay, I am sure for the seasoned pro's in finnish comics I don't have to explain the merits of Kirsi Kinnunen, Ilpo Koskela or Kristiina Kolehmainen for example, but who on earth came up with the idea of putting a teenager on the board each time, even though he or she is an "avid comic consumer"? Is that because comics are still childrens fare? C'mon, I thought we are already way beyond that point.
Also I am pretty confused on the choosing methods: the selection is based on discussions by email. What? There is no money to get all 4 jury members in the same room for a couple of hourse to come to mutual agreements? May I remind you that all publishers pay 30 euros per book they sign up for the award ( small press publishers 10 euros). This year that money adds up to 1550 euros. I would be totally fine if a few hundred euros would go to transport and meeting expenses so that jury members would at least see and discuss face to face for this important matter.
What I find most unfortunate about the whole Sarjakuva Finlandia, are the previous years winners. There has yet to be awarded a really great / genre transcending / ambitious book. No offence Petteri, I do liked "Eero" (last years winner) but you should have won the first year with "Kanerva ja yksi juttu", which is a much rounder and better balanced book. The whole crying shame about this, is that Finland has produced the kind outstanding books the last few years that were needed to kickstart more artistic appeal to finnish comics. But they somehow didn't make it to the official selection or weren't picked as the winner. Especially the 2008 selection was a very good year for finnish comics and in all fairness Ville Ranta should have won with his "Kajaani", which was an ambitious historical fiction comic book the likes of which hadn't yet been made with such great elegance in Finland (or elsewhere for that matter). Instead the price went to "The sands of Sarasvati", a totally bland kind of comic whose only merit was in the rehashing of Ristomäki's genious ideas. I am already now pretty sure that another book from that year, for example Meti (which was translated into French last year and nominated for best comic in Angouleme) will easily outlive Sarasvatin Hiekka.
This lack of masterful winners has really undermined the whole price category already. Publishers are not signing up books anymore and the whole press attention has watered down. The first year there was still some sort of buzz around the Sarjakuva Finlandia: 10 minutes of nationwide morning tv devoted to the selection of the nominees, the complete fronpage of Helsingin Sanomats cultural section,... Now, it has shriveled down to Yle copy pasting the press release to their website. This watering down of the events importance, combined with the dubious jurywork has made the selection of this year a sad sight to behold.
The most important finnish comic book that came out last year, Matti Hagelbergs Silvia Regina wasn't even signed up by the publisher. The reason for this being, I believe, Hagelbergs aversion to this kind of open competitions. As i recall, Matti used the words "perseestä" when I asked his opinion about awards and competitions in general.
Another crucial absentees were Kivi Larmola's "Päällystystakki" (okay, I understand his drawing style might be a bit put-offish at first but story, dialogue and atmosphere are topnotch) or Ville Pirinens "Yhesti Yhes Paikas" booklets (hilarious anecdotal storytelling).
But for Pitkämies, the main let down was Jyrki Nissinens "Viihdealus Dreamzone" absence from this years nominations. Actually if you look at the previous years shortlistings you will not find a single book of Jyrki Nissinen there. If that's not a shocker for you then I don't know what is. Jyrki Nissinen has in the last 4 years produced 2 long graphic novels, 3 collections and 8 comic magazines. Are you telling me that none of these 13 comic books were good enough to be nominated? That's a joke, right? First of all, Jyrki was by far the best selling artist in the Pitkämies (outselling even Pertti Jarla) and secondly, I honest to god don't know anybody who doesn't like Jyrki's comics. (Really, can't come up with a single person) His Borgtron series is hilarious and upholds a steady quality, and his longer Viihdealus Dreamzone is among my personal favourites.
That first year when the Sarjakuva Finlandia was organised Marko Turunen) reviewed all nominated books fairly and argumentatively (reviews in the comment sections). Earlier in his blog he named the nominated books "harrastajien ja fanipoikien kyhäämää kevyttä viihdettä" (fanboy light entertainment), which was lifted verbatim (and out of context) from the blog and put in his mouth in the Helsingin Sanomat page (illustrated by Ville Ranta). Which in its turn provoked Jyrki Jantunen to write this bitter post in Suomen Kuvalehti (with especially an interesting and fierce reader's section). These comments are a good reminder of a: Marko Turunen being a straight up guy and b: the infantile hatred some people seem to grudge against "artistic comics".
I would like to continue this post with my personal views on the nominated books. I probably won't be able to handle the job as well as Marko, but I will give it my shot. (As further proof of the Sarjakuvafinlandia decreasing importance, nobody has been bothered to do this yet this year)
Amerikka (Heikki Paakkanen)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? I have had the pleasure of meeting Heikki in the flesh only a couple of times so I am not that familiar with him. Nonetheless he struck me as the kind of guy you wish you had as an older uncle, a witty guy who would be your salvation during family parties. His thank you speech would for sure be memorable.
Fingerpori: Heräämisopas ( Pertti Jarla)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? Pertti is a funny guy, he makes funny strips. Probably the only three panel strip comic I read. Pertti has been nominated quite some time, why not give it to him and get it over with
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? Heräämisopas seems more like a commercial "let's squeeze out the money out of Fingerpori while it lasts" collection, then a real book. Still props to colouring lots of these jokes which before were only in black and white
Huomenna on se päivä (Sanna Ala-Ojala)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? It would mean the triumph of the smaller indie publisher and proof that it's not always bigger publishing house that take the prizes home (as in all previous Sarjakuva-Finlandia editions)
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? Pauli, seriously: put some money in the production of your books. It's starting to get on my nerves. Also, again autobiographical comics? Yawn...
Kuka pelkaa Nenian Ahnavia? (Kati Kovács)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? Kati deserves a price for all the outstanding work she has done in the past. Does this mean that her new book is all killer no filler? Can't say...
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? I dunno, I don't think I would feel any negative emotion what so ever if Kati wins with this book.
Mummo (Anni Nykänen)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? Although Mummo seems to be hugely popular, I can't really get into it. The main reason for that being that I just not a fan of the typical three panel joke kind of comics.
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? First of all, is this old lady speaking "dialect"? I am afraid so. Now, if there is one thing I really, genuinely, truely hate from the bottom of my heart it is the use of dialect in humour, more specifically if the fact that somebody speaks with a certain regional accent is funny on itself. Is poetry "funny" because it is written in Turku dialect? No it certainly isn't. Is this joke working? No? Well, let me change it so that the main character speaks Westcoast dialect. Hey, and I 'll make him / her react slower, like a real country bumpkin.:: Aaaarghh On a whole different matter: finnish people delude themselves in thinking they have many dialects. Wake up call: if there's only a handfull words that are strictly locally used but for the rest of the country the vocabulary is the same but spoken with slightly different vowels / accents; well then you live in a pretty standard language country without real dialect.
Nanna (Tuuli Hypen)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? A young and upcoming comic artist who snatches away the main prize out of nowhere? I kind of dig that.
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? I haven't read yet a joke by Nanna that made me laugh. Then again, I am not the target audience, so what do I know. The drawings are sleek and professionally looking, however lacking any character. If Numminen chooses this, I'll personally send him Jarno's Tunteiden Maisteri and Jarno Markuksen Kauneimmat just to balance his view of finnish comics.
Paratiisisarja (Ville Ranta)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? It's an overall great comic book, a personal take on the Adam and Eve story, funnily and insightfully told. Reads like a train, with Ranta's signature watercolouring to feast your eyes over. I would genuinely be happy of Ville wins. Second best book in the competition.
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? Maybe because Kajaani should have won the Finlandia already in 2008, not Paratiisisarja. My only critique to the book is the last scene in the book where Adam and Eve devour the tiger. Without fire. So they eat the meat raw? Urg.
Saniaislehdon Salaisuudet (Kati Närhi)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? This is my personal favourite book. Not in the least because I didn't have any expectations when I read it (being unfamiliar with Kati's earlier work) and I really enjoyed reading it. The book managed to avoid all clichés that 90% of finnish comics seem to plague: it is not autobiographical, it is not a three panel joke collection, it is not overdisplaying Finland as a driving factor of the story. Give me more of this.
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? I guess the only complaint I would have would be that the original intended target audience are teenagers / young adults. So again, kind of, it would mean an underappreciation of comics as a grown up art form
Tour d'Europe (Kaisa and Christoffer Leka)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? Back in the eighties when i was young and even in the nineties still, it was not uncommon to be dragged by your parents to visit family friends or relatives who had just returned from holidays and organised a slide show evening. During that evening the lights were turned off and for the next hour or two you were exposed to an intensive travel report through slides and anecdotes. Kaisa's and Christoffer's book feels a bit like that. They document in their Tour d'Europe their travel experience to bicycle from Finland to the south of France. The good thing with comic books is that you can lay down to book and have a break at your own will (which wasn't possible at slide show evenings). Personally I liked the book since I am belgian and i am interested in all things bicycle related (why oh why finnish tv does not show live broadcasts of the Tour de France or Paris-Roubaix?? Now there's a sport for you...) The book has been nominated for being the most beautifull book of the year. Rightfully so; the bookrelated merchandise such as the yoga postcardset or the map of Europe and bicycle gazette, were amazing and ambitious. Props!
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? I wouldn't, but if I may point to the major flaw in the book? Tour d'Europe lacks drama. It is actually pretty similar to a slideshow: you know all the events that will happen beforehand (tiredness/flat tires/meeting of strangers/..) and there is no real dramatic events. So in that sense a bit boring
Viivi ja Wagner: Sika pussaa (Juba Tuomola)
Why I wouldn't mind this book winning? Viivi and Wagner isn't all bad.
Why I would be pissed if this book wins? Juba's last years nominee (Minerva 2) was a lot better and a really decent childrens comic. The whole Viivi and Wagner joke has now run it's last year I may hope. The Sika Pussaa collection is just what the name suggests: a random collection of recent strips without too much cohesion. People who collect the series would like this. I don't.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Pitkämies is calling it quits
It may come to some people as a surprise that I am closing down my store. To other people, it was already in the air. Pulling the plug on my own baby like this is a decision that I did not take lightly, but in the end, I had no other option. Keeping up a store like Pitkämies is just almost impossible in Helsinki, with it's high rent and relatively small audience for exactly the kind of products i like to sell.
There are more reasons to it as well, anybody who's a bit aware of what's happening in today's retail world can see that small mortar and brick stores are going to slowly phase out of the urban landscape. Especially stores that sell products such as comics, movies and music.
I had the idea of starting a comic store in Finland the moment i moved away from Belgium. My start up fund was 100 euros, with which i ordered comics from the states and sold them through my first "webstore" (link from the waybackmachine). My first batch contained David Boring, Ripple and issues of Eightball and Black Hole. I kept the books in a cupboard in the hallway, and went to pick up the comics from the airport / customs on my wife's bicycle. If i sold anything, i kept the money to order new books. I sold books mainly on location, meeting up with people around the city (or other cities). I stopped by the first Kuti studio in Neljäs Linja every so often when i had some new comics. I got into the "scene" of finnish comics and slowly but surely my stock of books grew.
It took me about four years to outgrow my available storage space and with a kind loan I was able to open my store in Kallio. There, together with the help of the Finnish comics society, Kuti Kuti and Ifsociety I put together a pretty decent store, if I may say so myself. There were lots of great comics, a wellcatered music selection and a stock of t-shirts. One of the nicest things i heard during the opening party was that there was "finally a comic store where i can breathe". And if that wasn't enough, I started organising free events at the store almost every week. Going through my facebook event page and remembering every single event I organised brings back fond memories. Good times were had by all. I couldn't say myself what would be the best event we did at Pitkämies, ofcourse the Thor gig, the first recordfleamarket, the crazy one minute sale all come to mind immediately, but I personally liked the more intimate gigs as well such as Mother Goose, Muuan Mies, Mauro,...
But then reality started to creep up with me and it became gradually clear to me that financially Pitkämies wasn't going to be a high roller. First the record sales went down the toilet. In april 2009 Spotify became widely available and that same month record sales in Pitkämies dropped 75% (and went further downhill from there). Then, with the record sales almost eliminated, I couldn't balance the loss of sales from there with an increased sales in comics. So my downward spiral started from there and it seemed i never got out of that hole.
There's reasons why Pitkämies (or small indie stores in general) can't cut it anymore: we are growing more and more towards a service based society where actual physical objects are becoming obsolete. I mean, why would you pay more for a shiny cd to watch a movie when you can simply download or rent it from your computer or your tv? Why pay 18 euros for a Sonic Youth lp when you can listen to it for free on Spotify?
As far as comics are concerned, it may sound futuristic for most readers yet, but with the arrival of all sorts of computer tablets, conditions for reading comics in digital form have improved greatly. I see no reason why in, say, 10 years time reading comics digitally won't be the preferred way for the average consumer.
But let's say you still stick to your oldfashioned ways and consume all your entertainment in physical form. Why would you then purchase the object in a store when you can get the same object delivered to your doorstep 30 percent cheaper from Amazon, Bookdelivery or Adlibris? Oh, because you want to support independent stores like mine? Well, I am standing here behind the counter and even though I greatly appreciate you bought stuff from me, I know you are in the vast minority.
It wouldn't be fair to put all the blame on society on why Pitkämies will be no longer. I have done things wrong myself. Did my fair share of mistakes. I may be a good salesperson and i love to sell a great comic book to a customer, but I am not the best businessman and obviously my skills in accounting are limited (if they wouldn't, I should have quit already a year ago). But you know what, all the things i did (good or bad) for the store were straight from the heart. As lame as it sounds, I really put my everything in it. I never really reached my ideal, never quite turned Pitkämies into the perfect, "bestest" comic store in the world (which would be a practical impossibility since it would have to contain every single great comic book ever made) but i gave it my best shot. So naturally it pains me to quit it. But after months and months of struggling by, coming up with excuses why I don't have new books in store (here's a clue: didn't have any money to order new ones), my enthousiasm for the store swindled down. And if there is no joy, or any financial reward that counters the stress and tiredness that comes with keeping a store, then the choice of closing down Pitkämies was plain in sight.
All in all, maybe I will feel even releaved when it is all over. Maybe I will rediscover the pleasure of just being a comic lover again: reading a comic book not for professional reasons but for enjoyment of the medium only.
However, this is not the end of Pitkämies. Although not in physical form as such, Pitkämies will continue as a memory, an inspiration to future lunatics and aspiring comic shopkeepers. Namely as of tomorrow there will be a comic book out called PITKIS, which features 30 finnish comic book authors who have made comics about Pitkämies or about the ideal comic store. It's quite flattering to see the names: Matti Hagelberg, Jyrki Nissinen, Mari Ahokoivu, Ville Ranta, Petteri Tikkanen, Amanda Vähämäki, Aapo Rapi,....
Be sure to come to the release party at Liberté, which is aptly called Pitkäfest, and buy it there.
PITKÄFEST 22.12 at Liberté (Kolmas Linja): live music by Avarus, Jarse, Pitches, Lussu ja Pami, Dj Suohumala
Please come to the event, all profits will go to Pitkämies and it will surely be greatly appreciated and ease the damage that the store has inflicted on me financially.
There is a list of people i would like to thank, who all helped out with Pitkämies
Hanna for coming up with all sorts of great ideas that gave Pitkämies that little extra. Sorry if I haven't been able to execute them all. I hope that putting up with the long workhours will be worth it in the long run. I couldn't have made Pitkämies the way it was without you.
My parents and Hanna's parents for support and babysitting during busy times.
Kalle and everybody from the Finnish Comic Society; I know the Pitkämies spirit will continue at the Comics Centre in Arabia (and not in the least because i will be dropping by often), thanks also to everybody else from the Comics Society who filled in for me behind the counter when i was out on errands.
Tommi and Mikko from Ifsociety: you guys were great, Tommi's relentless efforts to promote the store, spam all over the internet, and hook up with artists; Mikko was great with the bigger events, making donuts and building the recordshelves. Thanks to you two I also discovered lots of great music which i listened to at the store.
Kuti people for buying stuff, promoting my store to everybody and doing all sorts of doodles for me.
My trainees Petja, Kati and Anis. Special mention ofcourse to Stephen, my "store manager" who amazed me with all his great neat little improvements to the general outlook of the store in Kallio and without whom Pitkämies 2 would never have been possible
Thanks to Jan and the crew from Myymälä2: too bad we had such a short sting together. Maybe in a parallel universe our joined forces would have lasted longer.
Thanks to all the bands who came and were willing to play in return for comics and records.
Martin for his incredible work effort to get the bookdisplays and the counter done in time ofr the opening, Olivier Schrauwen for his design of the storewindow, Renato for amazing skills of putting Ikea crap together, Otso and the Oranssi van for moving Huuda Huuda books, Arwi, Jussi L, Sami S, for providing records; Kasper and the Super8 guys (you brought in all your friends), Tapettitalo, Otto for his fine list of recommended manga, Ville for being the last customer in Kallio and YOU, my customer.
Signing off
Jelle
There are more reasons to it as well, anybody who's a bit aware of what's happening in today's retail world can see that small mortar and brick stores are going to slowly phase out of the urban landscape. Especially stores that sell products such as comics, movies and music.
I had the idea of starting a comic store in Finland the moment i moved away from Belgium. My start up fund was 100 euros, with which i ordered comics from the states and sold them through my first "webstore" (link from the waybackmachine). My first batch contained David Boring, Ripple and issues of Eightball and Black Hole. I kept the books in a cupboard in the hallway, and went to pick up the comics from the airport / customs on my wife's bicycle. If i sold anything, i kept the money to order new books. I sold books mainly on location, meeting up with people around the city (or other cities). I stopped by the first Kuti studio in Neljäs Linja every so often when i had some new comics. I got into the "scene" of finnish comics and slowly but surely my stock of books grew.
It took me about four years to outgrow my available storage space and with a kind loan I was able to open my store in Kallio. There, together with the help of the Finnish comics society, Kuti Kuti and Ifsociety I put together a pretty decent store, if I may say so myself. There were lots of great comics, a wellcatered music selection and a stock of t-shirts. One of the nicest things i heard during the opening party was that there was "finally a comic store where i can breathe". And if that wasn't enough, I started organising free events at the store almost every week. Going through my facebook event page and remembering every single event I organised brings back fond memories. Good times were had by all. I couldn't say myself what would be the best event we did at Pitkämies, ofcourse the Thor gig, the first recordfleamarket, the crazy one minute sale all come to mind immediately, but I personally liked the more intimate gigs as well such as Mother Goose, Muuan Mies, Mauro,...
But then reality started to creep up with me and it became gradually clear to me that financially Pitkämies wasn't going to be a high roller. First the record sales went down the toilet. In april 2009 Spotify became widely available and that same month record sales in Pitkämies dropped 75% (and went further downhill from there). Then, with the record sales almost eliminated, I couldn't balance the loss of sales from there with an increased sales in comics. So my downward spiral started from there and it seemed i never got out of that hole.
There's reasons why Pitkämies (or small indie stores in general) can't cut it anymore: we are growing more and more towards a service based society where actual physical objects are becoming obsolete. I mean, why would you pay more for a shiny cd to watch a movie when you can simply download or rent it from your computer or your tv? Why pay 18 euros for a Sonic Youth lp when you can listen to it for free on Spotify?
As far as comics are concerned, it may sound futuristic for most readers yet, but with the arrival of all sorts of computer tablets, conditions for reading comics in digital form have improved greatly. I see no reason why in, say, 10 years time reading comics digitally won't be the preferred way for the average consumer.
But let's say you still stick to your oldfashioned ways and consume all your entertainment in physical form. Why would you then purchase the object in a store when you can get the same object delivered to your doorstep 30 percent cheaper from Amazon, Bookdelivery or Adlibris? Oh, because you want to support independent stores like mine? Well, I am standing here behind the counter and even though I greatly appreciate you bought stuff from me, I know you are in the vast minority.
It wouldn't be fair to put all the blame on society on why Pitkämies will be no longer. I have done things wrong myself. Did my fair share of mistakes. I may be a good salesperson and i love to sell a great comic book to a customer, but I am not the best businessman and obviously my skills in accounting are limited (if they wouldn't, I should have quit already a year ago). But you know what, all the things i did (good or bad) for the store were straight from the heart. As lame as it sounds, I really put my everything in it. I never really reached my ideal, never quite turned Pitkämies into the perfect, "bestest" comic store in the world (which would be a practical impossibility since it would have to contain every single great comic book ever made) but i gave it my best shot. So naturally it pains me to quit it. But after months and months of struggling by, coming up with excuses why I don't have new books in store (here's a clue: didn't have any money to order new ones), my enthousiasm for the store swindled down. And if there is no joy, or any financial reward that counters the stress and tiredness that comes with keeping a store, then the choice of closing down Pitkämies was plain in sight.
All in all, maybe I will feel even releaved when it is all over. Maybe I will rediscover the pleasure of just being a comic lover again: reading a comic book not for professional reasons but for enjoyment of the medium only.
However, this is not the end of Pitkämies. Although not in physical form as such, Pitkämies will continue as a memory, an inspiration to future lunatics and aspiring comic shopkeepers. Namely as of tomorrow there will be a comic book out called PITKIS, which features 30 finnish comic book authors who have made comics about Pitkämies or about the ideal comic store. It's quite flattering to see the names: Matti Hagelberg, Jyrki Nissinen, Mari Ahokoivu, Ville Ranta, Petteri Tikkanen, Amanda Vähämäki, Aapo Rapi,....
Be sure to come to the release party at Liberté, which is aptly called Pitkäfest, and buy it there.
PITKÄFEST 22.12 at Liberté (Kolmas Linja): live music by Avarus, Jarse, Pitches, Lussu ja Pami, Dj Suohumala
Please come to the event, all profits will go to Pitkämies and it will surely be greatly appreciated and ease the damage that the store has inflicted on me financially.
There is a list of people i would like to thank, who all helped out with Pitkämies
Hanna for coming up with all sorts of great ideas that gave Pitkämies that little extra. Sorry if I haven't been able to execute them all. I hope that putting up with the long workhours will be worth it in the long run. I couldn't have made Pitkämies the way it was without you.
My parents and Hanna's parents for support and babysitting during busy times.
Kalle and everybody from the Finnish Comic Society; I know the Pitkämies spirit will continue at the Comics Centre in Arabia (and not in the least because i will be dropping by often), thanks also to everybody else from the Comics Society who filled in for me behind the counter when i was out on errands.
Tommi and Mikko from Ifsociety: you guys were great, Tommi's relentless efforts to promote the store, spam all over the internet, and hook up with artists; Mikko was great with the bigger events, making donuts and building the recordshelves. Thanks to you two I also discovered lots of great music which i listened to at the store.
Kuti people for buying stuff, promoting my store to everybody and doing all sorts of doodles for me.
My trainees Petja, Kati and Anis. Special mention ofcourse to Stephen, my "store manager" who amazed me with all his great neat little improvements to the general outlook of the store in Kallio and without whom Pitkämies 2 would never have been possible
Thanks to Jan and the crew from Myymälä2: too bad we had such a short sting together. Maybe in a parallel universe our joined forces would have lasted longer.
Thanks to all the bands who came and were willing to play in return for comics and records.
Martin for his incredible work effort to get the bookdisplays and the counter done in time ofr the opening, Olivier Schrauwen for his design of the storewindow, Renato for amazing skills of putting Ikea crap together, Otso and the Oranssi van for moving Huuda Huuda books, Arwi, Jussi L, Sami S, for providing records; Kasper and the Super8 guys (you brought in all your friends), Tapettitalo, Otto for his fine list of recommended manga, Ville for being the last customer in Kallio and YOU, my customer.
Signing off
Jelle
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Finnish publishing companies
For some strange reason last week there were 4 mails in my inbox from people solliciting their work to be published by Huuda Huuda. Usually we only get maybe 1 of those mails per month.
I don't mind that people send us their stuff, on the contrary; even though I'm immersed in comics all day long, I always think what we receive might be something really special. Alas, we have yet to publish a single comic book / pamphlet that was sent to us through mail by an unknown artist.
It's not that we look down on everything we receive or that all stuff we get in is crap. On the contrary, mostly it's pretty ok, good for a few laughs now and then or some admirable art. But the truth of the matter is, Huuda Huuda is a really small publishing company with an empty bank account and we don't have the time or resources to publish everything that comes in our way. Tommi and me have to really carefully consider what we publish. Money is never the issue for us, far from it! What drives us is to see great comic books being published in finnish. Books that hopefully will serve as eyeopeners for some, that will be admired by others or that simply will be read in the library to fill up an idle 15 minutes. That we annoy the hell out of some people who hate art comics (cough kvaak cough), comes as an extra bonus for me.
Anyway, the fact that we got all of a sudden all these sollicitations reminded me of that time i was teaching the second year students in Muurla a couple of years ago. 4 or 5 students if i am not mistaking and all were hard working on a longer comic. That was their big poject for the year. I asked them, "ok, so you are devoting all your energy to your comic. But then what? What are you going to do with it? Do you think somebody will publish it, or are you putting it on your blog?"
They didn't have a clue. Also, they had no idea what kind of comic publishers were still existing in Finland and what kind of stuff they were publishing. So naturally that was the topic for the day, spilling out the harsh realities of the finnish comics industry. Great fun. "The chances of Egmont publishing your work are about 0%", that kind of stuff.
In this blog entry I'd like to for once and for all give an answer to all aspiring finnish comic artists on where to get your works published and what chances you have.
Let's make a list of all bigger finnish publishers and what they are about
WSOY
Part of one of the biggest media multinationals in Europe (Sanoma). Somehow seems to translate mostly french comics: Larcenet, Blain, Delisle, Dupuy&Berberian, Trondheim. Surprised me with publishing Kati Närhi's book. They publish sporadically finnish names but I guess if you are not already an inhouse illustrator like Kati or a wellknown finnish artist like Ville Ranta you won't end up on their roster.
Chances of an young artists being published by wsoy: 0%
Egmont
The biggest comic publisher in finland, gets their publications in the newstands throughtout finland. Apart from Asterix, Lucky Luke and other commercial crap they have a big line of manga and DC/Marvel stuff. But I'll be darned if they publish Finnish artist. They haven't in recent years. But Egmont does some surprisingly good books now and then: Death Note, Rocky, Pellonreuna.
Chances of a young artists being published by Egmont: 0%
Arktinen Banaani
A very successfull company that has found the golden formula for selling comics: newspaper strips! Fingerpori, Viivi ja Wagner, Jere all are published by Arktinen Banaani. They also publish a couple of comic graphic novels each year and are willing to throw a bunch of money once per year to a bit more experimental comics. (last years example: Kiki, montparnassin kuningatar) However, I don't really see them publish a full length comic book by a young artist. Doesn't mean you shouldn't send your stuff. Arktinen Banaani publishes comic magazines in which they feature new artists.
Chances of a young artists being published by Arktinen Banaani: 2%
Tammi
One of the big boys in the finnish bookworld. Published comics in the nineties and noughties because i suppose they felt they had to. Then they noticed how manga was selling like hotcakes and bought two small but flourishing mangapublishers (Sangatsu and Punainen Jättiläinen) and let them continue the work independently. Because of the crazy popularity of manga and the fact that about 70% of all young people "studying" comics are into manga, the market for homegrown, finnish manga is pretty big and if you are really talented you might get a shot at it.
Chances of a young artists being published by Tammi: 3%
Like
No longer an independent bookpubisher (bought by Otava in 2006) and really, i don't get what they are going for with their line of comics. Which is maybe a good thing, that not everything always has to be such easily branded. Big respect for publishing Tommi Musturi's Toivo series. They also are willing to publish totally unknown names from abroad(provided however the comic has some leftist agenda. Case in point: this ) or from finland: check this one out for september. So all in all, pitkämies digs it.
Chances of a young artists being published by Like: 5%
Sammakko
Turku based publishing house that has one huge hit in comics: Kiroileva Siili. So they nowadays publish anything by Milla Paloniemi and are looking for the next hit. Hence they published Baarien Nainen (which i liked, btw) So my advice would be to do the same as the above mentioned examples: start your own comic blog, become hugely popular (as in about 1000 readers a day) and then approach them. Other then that: don't bother
Chances of a young artist starting own comic blog and becoming hugely popular with it: 6%
Jalava
I guess we can be short about Jalava since they don't publish finnish comic artists. they are on automatic pilot kind of with their hugo pratt and sokal books. Which is a shame because they were such a great publisher in the 80s and 90s.
Suuri Kurpitsa
Moving on to the truely indepedent "support your scene" publishers, here's Suuri Kurpitsa, a one man army from Tampere that's been going on for like almost 30 years. As Pauli himself explains on his site: "I am willing to take in new artists if they please me and are commercially viable to sell a few hundred copies" Most known artists from Suuri Kurpitsa are Tiitu, Ville Pirinen and Jaokim Pirinen.
Chances of a young artists being published by Suuri Kurpitsa: 2%
Asema
Asema is run by Villa Ranta and Mika Lietzen mainly to publish their own books. But they are open to others as well. As a matter of fact, in 2009 the then unknown Aino Sutinen send in her work to Ville who immediately said:" I'll publish you. You are the first person to have ever send in good enough material to warrant a good book." It's also the first time I have ever heard of such a thing happening, to be honest. Still, good news. And as Asema is celebrating it's tenth anniversary in september this year, they are publishing a series of smallpress comics. So who knows, go for Asema!
Chances of a young artists being published by Asema: 2%
Zum Teufel
Petteri Ojas imprint, publishes finnish artists only. Now that he has struck a deal with Arktinen Banaani, the books published by Zum Teufel are really well distributed. And in the beginning of this year Petteri published three books by totally unknown finnish artists. Well, unknown to the big audience. Most of these artists had been doing small press for years. If you ask me, a young artist will have the best shot at being published at Zum Teufel. Now that Petteri is starting a nationwide distributed comic magazine especially devoted to Finnish comics (Zum Teufel Zeitung), chances of getting published are even bigger!
Chances of a young artists being published by Zum Teufel: 7%
Daada
I guess the cat will be out of the bag soon, so i might as well make it public that Marko Turunens small art house Daada is going to start publishing books again. Starting from september. It will be smallscale in the beginning but nonetheless. Great news for all of us. Marko is starting by publishing the works of 4 of his students. So my advice to a young artist would be to apply to Lahti art school and listen to Marko carefully
Chances of a young comic artist getting into Lahti artschool: about 70%
Kreegah Bundolo
I am only including Kreegah Bundolo in here because Hans will publish Matti Hagelberg's new book in september and that deserves mentioning. Also, with Hans you never know: maybe he will publish you, most likely not though.
Kuti
This quarterly tabloid already has 16 issues under it's belt. Bet you didn't see that coming, did you! The content of Kuti varies dramatically and they are on the lookout for finnish talent all the time. You don't have to have skills in technical drawing or anything: be yourself, be original and draw up a story as some sort of stream of consciousness.
Chances of a young artists being published by Kuti: 7%
Huuda Huuda
I explained our situation already. Truthfully, we only publish works of people we know and whom we have seen developing. We are willing to try out stuff with our pamphlet series though. But my advice would be to do first your own thing in smallpress / self publishing and we will have a chat in my store a few years later. Ok?
Phew. That's it, i suppose. Yes i know, there are other publishers still out there but i decided they were too small press to be included here or they have stopped publishing comics or maybe simply because i overlooked them. Feel free to comment on all things i left out! Finnish or english. And here is some similar reading
I don't mind that people send us their stuff, on the contrary; even though I'm immersed in comics all day long, I always think what we receive might be something really special. Alas, we have yet to publish a single comic book / pamphlet that was sent to us through mail by an unknown artist.
It's not that we look down on everything we receive or that all stuff we get in is crap. On the contrary, mostly it's pretty ok, good for a few laughs now and then or some admirable art. But the truth of the matter is, Huuda Huuda is a really small publishing company with an empty bank account and we don't have the time or resources to publish everything that comes in our way. Tommi and me have to really carefully consider what we publish. Money is never the issue for us, far from it! What drives us is to see great comic books being published in finnish. Books that hopefully will serve as eyeopeners for some, that will be admired by others or that simply will be read in the library to fill up an idle 15 minutes. That we annoy the hell out of some people who hate art comics (cough kvaak cough), comes as an extra bonus for me.
Anyway, the fact that we got all of a sudden all these sollicitations reminded me of that time i was teaching the second year students in Muurla a couple of years ago. 4 or 5 students if i am not mistaking and all were hard working on a longer comic. That was their big poject for the year. I asked them, "ok, so you are devoting all your energy to your comic. But then what? What are you going to do with it? Do you think somebody will publish it, or are you putting it on your blog?"
They didn't have a clue. Also, they had no idea what kind of comic publishers were still existing in Finland and what kind of stuff they were publishing. So naturally that was the topic for the day, spilling out the harsh realities of the finnish comics industry. Great fun. "The chances of Egmont publishing your work are about 0%", that kind of stuff.
In this blog entry I'd like to for once and for all give an answer to all aspiring finnish comic artists on where to get your works published and what chances you have.
Let's make a list of all bigger finnish publishers and what they are about
WSOY
Part of one of the biggest media multinationals in Europe (Sanoma). Somehow seems to translate mostly french comics: Larcenet, Blain, Delisle, Dupuy&Berberian, Trondheim. Surprised me with publishing Kati Närhi's book. They publish sporadically finnish names but I guess if you are not already an inhouse illustrator like Kati or a wellknown finnish artist like Ville Ranta you won't end up on their roster.
Chances of an young artists being published by wsoy: 0%
Egmont
The biggest comic publisher in finland, gets their publications in the newstands throughtout finland. Apart from Asterix, Lucky Luke and other commercial crap they have a big line of manga and DC/Marvel stuff. But I'll be darned if they publish Finnish artist. They haven't in recent years. But Egmont does some surprisingly good books now and then: Death Note, Rocky, Pellonreuna.
Chances of a young artists being published by Egmont: 0%
Arktinen Banaani
A very successfull company that has found the golden formula for selling comics: newspaper strips! Fingerpori, Viivi ja Wagner, Jere all are published by Arktinen Banaani. They also publish a couple of comic graphic novels each year and are willing to throw a bunch of money once per year to a bit more experimental comics. (last years example: Kiki, montparnassin kuningatar) However, I don't really see them publish a full length comic book by a young artist. Doesn't mean you shouldn't send your stuff. Arktinen Banaani publishes comic magazines in which they feature new artists.
Chances of a young artists being published by Arktinen Banaani: 2%
Tammi
One of the big boys in the finnish bookworld. Published comics in the nineties and noughties because i suppose they felt they had to. Then they noticed how manga was selling like hotcakes and bought two small but flourishing mangapublishers (Sangatsu and Punainen Jättiläinen) and let them continue the work independently. Because of the crazy popularity of manga and the fact that about 70% of all young people "studying" comics are into manga, the market for homegrown, finnish manga is pretty big and if you are really talented you might get a shot at it.
Chances of a young artists being published by Tammi: 3%
Like
No longer an independent bookpubisher (bought by Otava in 2006) and really, i don't get what they are going for with their line of comics. Which is maybe a good thing, that not everything always has to be such easily branded. Big respect for publishing Tommi Musturi's Toivo series. They also are willing to publish totally unknown names from abroad(provided however the comic has some leftist agenda. Case in point: this ) or from finland: check this one out for september. So all in all, pitkämies digs it.
Chances of a young artists being published by Like: 5%
Sammakko
Turku based publishing house that has one huge hit in comics: Kiroileva Siili. So they nowadays publish anything by Milla Paloniemi and are looking for the next hit. Hence they published Baarien Nainen (which i liked, btw) So my advice would be to do the same as the above mentioned examples: start your own comic blog, become hugely popular (as in about 1000 readers a day) and then approach them. Other then that: don't bother
Chances of a young artist starting own comic blog and becoming hugely popular with it: 6%
Jalava
I guess we can be short about Jalava since they don't publish finnish comic artists. they are on automatic pilot kind of with their hugo pratt and sokal books. Which is a shame because they were such a great publisher in the 80s and 90s.
Suuri Kurpitsa
Moving on to the truely indepedent "support your scene" publishers, here's Suuri Kurpitsa, a one man army from Tampere that's been going on for like almost 30 years. As Pauli himself explains on his site: "I am willing to take in new artists if they please me and are commercially viable to sell a few hundred copies" Most known artists from Suuri Kurpitsa are Tiitu, Ville Pirinen and Jaokim Pirinen.
Chances of a young artists being published by Suuri Kurpitsa: 2%
Asema
Asema is run by Villa Ranta and Mika Lietzen mainly to publish their own books. But they are open to others as well. As a matter of fact, in 2009 the then unknown Aino Sutinen send in her work to Ville who immediately said:" I'll publish you. You are the first person to have ever send in good enough material to warrant a good book." It's also the first time I have ever heard of such a thing happening, to be honest. Still, good news. And as Asema is celebrating it's tenth anniversary in september this year, they are publishing a series of smallpress comics. So who knows, go for Asema!
Chances of a young artists being published by Asema: 2%
Zum Teufel
Petteri Ojas imprint, publishes finnish artists only. Now that he has struck a deal with Arktinen Banaani, the books published by Zum Teufel are really well distributed. And in the beginning of this year Petteri published three books by totally unknown finnish artists. Well, unknown to the big audience. Most of these artists had been doing small press for years. If you ask me, a young artist will have the best shot at being published at Zum Teufel. Now that Petteri is starting a nationwide distributed comic magazine especially devoted to Finnish comics (Zum Teufel Zeitung), chances of getting published are even bigger!
Chances of a young artists being published by Zum Teufel: 7%
Daada
I guess the cat will be out of the bag soon, so i might as well make it public that Marko Turunens small art house Daada is going to start publishing books again. Starting from september. It will be smallscale in the beginning but nonetheless. Great news for all of us. Marko is starting by publishing the works of 4 of his students. So my advice to a young artist would be to apply to Lahti art school and listen to Marko carefully
Chances of a young comic artist getting into Lahti artschool: about 70%
Kreegah Bundolo
I am only including Kreegah Bundolo in here because Hans will publish Matti Hagelberg's new book in september and that deserves mentioning. Also, with Hans you never know: maybe he will publish you, most likely not though.
Kuti
This quarterly tabloid already has 16 issues under it's belt. Bet you didn't see that coming, did you! The content of Kuti varies dramatically and they are on the lookout for finnish talent all the time. You don't have to have skills in technical drawing or anything: be yourself, be original and draw up a story as some sort of stream of consciousness.
Chances of a young artists being published by Kuti: 7%
Huuda Huuda
I explained our situation already. Truthfully, we only publish works of people we know and whom we have seen developing. We are willing to try out stuff with our pamphlet series though. But my advice would be to do first your own thing in smallpress / self publishing and we will have a chat in my store a few years later. Ok?
Phew. That's it, i suppose. Yes i know, there are other publishers still out there but i decided they were too small press to be included here or they have stopped publishing comics or maybe simply because i overlooked them. Feel free to comment on all things i left out! Finnish or english. And here is some similar reading
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Pitkämies opens second shop!
Maybe some of you have already heard that the Comics Centre is moving out of it's premises, and if not: Kalle is explaining a bit more about this in the local newspaper (in finnish). The main reason is a looming renovation but it remains still unclear when this will happen or when the move will be made.
In the meantime however, Pitkämies is expanding it's business! That's right, I am opening a second shop in Helsinki. Pitkämies will be taking over the shop in Myymälä2
Myymälä2 is an art gallery in Uudenmaankatu, figuratively and literally the only underground gallery in the whole Helsinki Design District In a sense, the perfect partner for Pitkämies.
I am currently renovating the shop there, so it will have the same look. The name for the shop will, naturally, be Pitkämies2 . The new shop will focus a bit more on artistic comics but will feature also a healthy selection of great graphic novels and a wellcatered harvest of finnish comics. Music and clothing will ofcourse also be available. Events and concerts will be held there as well (for example Ben Butler and Mousepad on 8th of May), so in a sense this is more then just a cosy little extension to Pitkämies but will live a life on it's own as well.
The opening party will be held on 14th of May, but the store will be already operational 5th of May. More news will follow later.
p.s. My Facebookpage is still the best way to keep up to date with all that's happening at Pitkämies
p.p.s. what would Pitkämies2 be without the "pantteri" wallpaper designed by Ritva Kronlund?
In the meantime however, Pitkämies is expanding it's business! That's right, I am opening a second shop in Helsinki. Pitkämies will be taking over the shop in Myymälä2
Myymälä2 is an art gallery in Uudenmaankatu, figuratively and literally the only underground gallery in the whole Helsinki Design District In a sense, the perfect partner for Pitkämies.
I am currently renovating the shop there, so it will have the same look. The name for the shop will, naturally, be Pitkämies2 . The new shop will focus a bit more on artistic comics but will feature also a healthy selection of great graphic novels and a wellcatered harvest of finnish comics. Music and clothing will ofcourse also be available. Events and concerts will be held there as well (for example Ben Butler and Mousepad on 8th of May), so in a sense this is more then just a cosy little extension to Pitkämies but will live a life on it's own as well.
The opening party will be held on 14th of May, but the store will be already operational 5th of May. More news will follow later.
p.s. My Facebookpage is still the best way to keep up to date with all that's happening at Pitkämies
p.p.s. what would Pitkämies2 be without the "pantteri" wallpaper designed by Ritva Kronlund?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tuxdog
I was folding shirts yesterday after i had closed the store and when i was putting the Tuxdog shirts back, i was thinking to myself, "What was i thinking in ordering this shirt?" I decided to try on the small sized shirt and it was a perfect fit for me. But yeah, I'm a skinny guy. And i must say, it looked pretty cool so my thoughts immediately shifted from "what the hell was i thinking" to "how come nobody is buying this shirt?"
But yeah, in case you were wondering, what is the Tux dog? Although the official tuxdog site (www.tuxdog.org) is offline you can get some more information thanks to the crucial web archive site . First of all, what appeals to me the most about the tuxdog is the fact that it is an open source image. "It was created by one of Paper Rad (Ben Jones I suppose, not that it matters) as a ten-year-old. It's now been declared as open-source, meaning that the character and its likeness is free for anyone to use, thus encouraging the development of a bright and wonderful Tux Dog-filled world. If one of Paper Rad hadn't created this character, then someone else would have done; it can be seen as a deeply profound expression of the cultural subconcious, jacked straight into the page from the main vein." So now, everday can take this form and make stencils, buttons, shirts and what not
here's tux dog by Sammy Harkham:
And one by Kevin Huizinga
I assume these doodles were made when the Kramer's Ergot crew was touring to promote that fifth issue in which Tux dog was featured in the Paper Rad contribution
In any case, as said Tux Dog was a cartoon thought up by one of Paper Rad's members when he was 10 years old. Though mildly unbelievable, his father, was an avid fan of Max Beckmann and his love of Beckmann's self portrait mixed with the child's own artistic influences at the time, Bill the Cat and Garfield led to the form, Tux Dog.
As the young artist's lame attempts at self promotion began to take form a host of Tux Dog chalk board drawings at school, and white board/dry erase drawings began to sprout up.
And that's about it, other than a failed tux dog iron-on made in 7th grade art class, Tux's reign as the best character ever was cut very short. Some say the introduction of the Simpsons overshadowed Tux's importance(to the artist, not to society), however, later in life, with the Simpsons in syndication Tux began to make a come back(in the artist's mind).
Tux Dog's comeback is outstanding. Not only can you find him on Paper Rad's website, his presence is spilling over to other Paper Rad projects and stuff. The logical conclusion after Tux's long history was obviously to make him open source.
The following is an essay written by the sister of the Tux Dog inventor.
"Tux Dog was instantaneously a household classic. Thinking back, my first memories of Tux Dog were as a worn stuffed animal propped up on the unmade bed of a 6th grader.
Although I realize that he never existed as such.
What I am in actuality remembering is Opus the penguin, who really was a stuffed animal in that household.
Stuffed Opus and Tux are like transparent screens of memory stuck together - inseparable - like plates left too long in the sink/mind.
Tux was conceived in a notebook in Massachusetts, but he was born with the psychic power of a stuffed animal. What that means is that Tux is a three-dimensional hero in two dimensions!"
Tuxdog is ofcourse also on facebook! Join the group, I just did and you know what, I think I'll wear that shirt tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Top 100 best selling comics at Pitkämies in 2009
A few comments on this one: Fingerpori 2 was by far the best selling book this year. It sold almost three times as much as the runner up, Ville Ranta's Eräänlaisia Rukouksia. One reason for this was the Fingerpori exhibition we had in march just when the book was released. It was probably the most popular exhibition we ever had at the Comics Centre. So yeah. That was nice.
Then there are ofcourse a lot of Huuda Huuda titles in the top 20 also for a ver simple reason: these are the books i always have in the store. With other books it always takes a while between it getting sold out and then me ordering it and receiving it back in the store. On principal though, i always try to keep certain books always in stock. For example Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest kid on earth, is one of my alltime favourite book and it is very easy to reply to customers who ask my opinion about which book i like and then say: Jimmy Corrigan is the best comic book ever made. It makes me feel pretty proud to have sold in 2008 26 copies of Chris Ware's magnus opus.
For the rest, a pretty nice list i would say so. A good mix of finnish and foreign material, all pretty good stuff (ofcourse, otherwise i wouldn't sell it in my store, that goes without saying).
There are a few surprises or perhaps complete unknown comics to some people that end up pretty high. Let's take the Caterer by Jeff Lint at spot 28 (sold 17 copies). This one is a beyond absurd comic reproduction from the seventies, full of excellent one liners and ununderstandable situations. Since Tuukka really likes this one, he practically forced this comic on everybody he knew or on people who came in the store whenever he was filling in behind the counter.
Naturally, Pitkämies has sold plenty of Jyrki Nissinen this year, and will continue to keep selling his top notch exploits as long as we keep on running. He has 14 titles in the top 100. I guess that says pretty much it. Hopefully one day some important comic publisher (cough Alvin Buenaventura cough) will spot Jyrki's genius talent and spread some finnish exhuberant madness around the globe.
All in all, I have no idea how to compare my best selling list with what's officially "in the charts" in normal bookstores or normal comic stores. It's radically different ofcourse. I bet you won't find any Mat Brinkman or Roju's Huonoa Seksia (spot 19, sold 19 copies) , but isn't that why people find their way to Pitkämies? I will try and keep up the selection of the store as it always have been: a carefully curated selection of good quality comics, wether they are mainstream, manga or silkscreened art. And I am hoping you all keep supporting this haven of indie goodness as long as Pitkämies as behind the wheels!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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!
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!
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