Alta fidelidade : um roteiro com paragens pelas lojas de discos independentes em Portugal na última década (1998-2010)

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis and understanding of the ambiences and sociabilities present in the independent record stores of Lisbon and Porto in the last decade (1998-2010). We’ve started our work based on the assumption that these places both locate and congregate a lot of the musical offer of alternative rock, since, on a reminiscent level, there is no rock without a nearby record store... This focus finds its pertinency not only as a contextualization basis on the scope of musical offer and reception of the alternative rock in Portugal, but also because today we can witness true ‘revolutions’ regarding the way music gets to people. To the ‘classic’ formats others were added, the media of access also changed and, in the words of many, were democratized, leaving a greater space for legal and illegal downloads (the dematerialization of music). If we attend to the meaning of ‘independent record store’, we can find it divided in three: they embody the resistance against the domination imposed by bigger and more massive commercial surfaces; they are the context for new cultural business trends held by cultural intermediaries on the city, generally participating under the guise of different modalities on plural sectors of the alternative music; and, also, they materialize some of the so called stronghold for the indie rock and other alternative and more specific expressions of the different musical genres.