Venice, the last record store closes: “Streaming has won but so the music is only in the background”
He signed the latest compact disc like a star from another time, at Christmassaying goodbye to one of his most loyal customers. The shutter has remained down ever sinceexcept to clear spaces from unsold discs. Simone Gabbia, 57, was the owner of the last record shop in the historic centre, «Il Tempio della musica», the showcase in the Fontego dei Tedeschi branch. «The business was 83 years oldthe first to open had been my grandfather during the warhe sold radios – says Gabbia – Then, my father, just 16 years old, started next to the record store, one of the first in the historic center. He immediately became a point of reference for classical music: he imported Mahler from America, he had the whole collection of Maria Callas ».
The third generation
In the nineties
instead, the «third» Gabbia generation, Simone, opens the store near the Rialtomost prominent: the father closes the historic one, working with his son until 2010, the year of his death. “Own Since 2010, I’ve seen people’s interest in the physical drive waning. They stopped coming into the shop to ask me for advice, that exchange was completely lost: I even spent twenty minutes discussing one thing or the other – reflects Gabbia – After Covid, when we raised the shutter again, it was like restarting from scratch the activity: they forgot about us». From the earthquake of the iPod to the destruction of streaming platforms from Spotify to Apple Music and Tidal, music has changed the way it is enjoyed. Recently, however, the vinyl record market has returned to being “hot”., creating new files of Hi-Fi enthusiasts. «The new vinyl user is young – says Gabbia – in Venice, from there are few young people. The vinyl market is taking off in big cities. I stopped buying from 2021, in the last month of opening I sold what I had left. Of course, I kept something for myself.’
Streaming and uncomfortable
Beatles, Pink Floyd, some opera CDs: Gabbia didn’t want to part with them
. «They were records that I never brought home because I always listened to them in the shop, I didn’t think it was necessary – she adds – It is undeniable, music streaming offers practical and unlimited usability: Goes against the need to buy a record. But so the music has become background: you don’t even think about what you want to hear, you don’t choose. Maybe from an album, we play a song on repeat, missing what the author wanted to say». Taking up those records from which Gabbia didn’t want to separate himself, it would be like listening to the song of the same name from “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd on a loop, missing out on “Have a Cigar”, “Welcome to the Machine” and the first parts of “Shine crazy diamond”. “The risk is trivialization,” concludes Gabbia. After closing the shop, he now dedicates himself to teaching Querini Venetian rowing: «I help them not spend too much time in front of the computer» he says, still trying to keep alive that need for «analog» that today’s society risks, otherwise, to forget.
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January 10, 2023 (change January 10, 2023 | 19:21)
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