Criminal Records goes big with expanded locals section

As of this week, Criminal Records has expanded its locals only selection from a crate by the register to an entire in-store display. Self-released artists from the city’s thriving DIY scene will have the opportunity to stand next to local legends such as OutKast, Killer Mike, Deerhunter, and more. The store hopes to set up consignment with artists from all over the Atlanta area, creating a mutually-beneficial relationship that provides access to each community’s fan-base.
Malissa Sole, who handles marketing and promotions for the store, is spearheading the project. While she’s new to Criminal Records, she has extensive experience promoting for venues and managing acts from around the city. Even after she’s landed the job at Criminal, she’s maintaining that connection with the local scene. “I’m constantly reaching out on Facebook and Twitter saying, ‘Hey, ATLiens, let us know what you have going on,’” she says. “What I noticed was that there were bands that were friends with the bands that I worked with that weren’t in the store, and so I thought ‘Okay, how can we get them into the store?’”
The idea followed in the footsteps of a promotional display and in-store show with the Coathangers, which came on the heels of Record Store Day 2016. The whole thing lead to a rise in record sales for the band, even after the initial hype of the event subsided. Sole noted it as a personally gratifying moment, and hoped to find a way to bring that kind of success to other local groups. “I’ve known those girls forever, they work so hard and they’re touring all the time, so it’s nice to see that you can walk into your local record store and see their stuff still in the window,” she says. “We knew that that model could work, but obviously we can’t do that with every band. What we can do is make sure that, in addition to bands who have really been around for a second, that the smaller, independent bands have a link to the independent record store as well.” The relationship between local bands and local fans, and Criminal Records’ role as middleman between the two, lies at the heart of this new promotional effort. “Theoretically, being an independent record store and being an independent band are the same thing. We have the same struggles as they have and vice versa, so there needs to be a stronger relationship between the two,” Sole says. “We’re here and we really want to help, and we want to encourage them to sell physical product.”
Any and all artists who have released an album recently can come into the store to peddle their merch. Sole says that they’re “not music critics,” and that they are open to setting up shop with bands of all genres, sizes, you name it. While they will accept merch from bands from Athens and other towns OTP, they will be giving precedence to Atlanta bands, particularly those with freshly released work.
Artists looking to feature their music and merch in the store can start by coming into the store in person to say hi and hang out — just do shoot them an email at team@criminalatl.com to let them know you’re coming first. After that, the process of getting into the store’s inventory system is simple. “It’s definitely not harder than what touring bands are doing when they’re selling their own merch in the middle of, like, Iowa,” Sole says.
In the end, this new venture not only helps bands. It helps music fans already tapped into the Atlanta scene who are looking for more. “Our customers want to support local, that’s why they come to Criminal instead of ordering from the Internet,” Sole says. “It’s our job to turn them on to new music, and I want to turn them on to Atlanta music because there are so many great bands here. It’s a huge experiment, but we’ll see what happens.”