HipHopSite.com, a leading online retailer for independent and mainstream HipHop vinyl and cds, has apparently come to the conclusion that although vinyl is where ya from, mp3s is where ya at. Mike Pizzo and fam have decided to close their retail operations to take their stab at the digital marketplace. Three months after long time adversary and fellow hiphop e-tailer, SandBoxAutomatic.com, decided to stop selling vinyl, it appears the Nevada based company has seen the light. Those HHS promo only 7inches will be missed. Good luck to them on their future endeavors. I think they will need it. Why you ask? Well, apparently, there’s this interweb or internet thing going on that diminishes the barriers to entry for digital distribution so greatly that almost anyone can do it, even the artists themselves. These damn kids and their internets. Who knew? Link

With the lease for HipHopSite’s retail store ending next month, we were at a crossroads. Do we renew the lease for another 5 years and continue to face the steady decline of the music retail industry? Or do we take things in a bold new direction?

The decision we have come to is this. HipHopSite will be re-launched in the coming weeks as a 100% exclusive DIGITIAL DOWNLOAD site (yeah, download stuff for your MP3 player). In the meantime, you can still come here to get your usual news, reviews, and interviews like always, but we are phasing out the mail order retail end of it completely.

But in order to do that, we’ve got to clean this place out – and we need your help! So, starting NOW, all orders placed online and all walk-in customers to our Maryland Parkway store, will receive 30% off their entire order (before shipping).

We will not be bringing any new stock in or restocking old items, however in the coming weeks we will be adding plenty of used vinyl to the online store catalog (that is, the stuff that doesn’t sell out locally in this huge sale). Any backordered items, TBA’d items, or out of stocks will be credited back (including all orders for J. Dilla’s “Jay Love Japan”). Please note, when checking out, your order total on your HipHopSite invoice will appear as normal, but the 30% will be taken off the total before shipping when your credit card is charged.

Thanks for your support all of these years, and we look forward to serving you DIGITIALLY in the next movement. Peace.

– HipHopSite Crew

see also:
Sandbox Automatic Bids Farewell To Vinyl