So everyone is counting down the days to Sequestration and if your not one of them it’s Tomorrow March 1st. And while many of focused on the impact on the Government and it’s services, there is starting to be a realization that without our Government fully functioning that business in the US are going to have a hard time of this too.
So, stories like this one really got me thinking about what’s the potential impact for our industry.
Automatic federal spending cuts could shut down two out of three security checkpoints at Memphis International Airport and close air traffic control towers at airports in Millington; Olive Branch; Jackson, Tenn.; and Tupelo, Miss. airports.Read here/
Considering come the middle of this month, hence Ides of March, record labels, manufacturing plants and music stores across the country could find themselves in the position of having some tasty vinyl for this now important day, April 20th, and not being able to get it to stores and the fans that will be lining up as they have over the last 4 years. Why is that, Well right now flying across the country and world for that matter are the bits and pieces that make up a record, or any other product for that matter and any delays in shipping of parts and peices will have serious impact on the deliver date of end products.
Come on think about it…..Every single business or services that depends up interstate shipments will be impacted.
There’s not a contingency plan for not having records available for Record Store Day and without airports operating at full function companies like UPS and FexEx will not be able to ship and we’ll not have the full sales potential of that day and others as well. It’s estimated that last years RSD12 had 4 million dollars worth of wholesale activity associated with this one shopping day. Let’s make no mistake about this without Record Store Day US retail sales number will drop in April and the damage to the small companies that have prospered via RSD will be huge on our industry and any other that requires shipments by air ground or sea.
I’m sure law makers when coming up with this plan didn’t think about the Mom & Pop Record Shop, wholesalers, labels and bands, that will be impacted, however, I’m pretty sure that only a very few public officials every stop to think about US MADE MUSIC and it’s role in our economy and it’s something that should have been avoided.
BTW I had to post this in a hurry and I’m thankful for those that pointed out a couple of issues. The point is important so any feed back to make this particular example more poignant are welcome.
