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‘It’s schmoozing – but that’s nothing new’: how the record shop in-store gig changed touring


In-stores can be beneficial for bands, fans and record shops alike – but do they still hold the same magic, or have they become an obligatory part of an album promotion?

At one end of Banquet Records in Kingston upon Thames the Dutch indie band Personal Trainer are performing a short set next to the album racks. It’s early August and the start of an intensive week for Personal Trainer – as well as Banquet, they will play record shops in London, Brighton, Portsmouth, Totnes, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds and Nottingham. Photograph: Amanda Rose/AlamyBut for Rupert Morrison of Drift Records in Totnes, which staged one of Personal Trainer’s shows, in-stores becoming an institutionalised part of an album campaign risks losing what was once special about them.

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