Terry Grant started Goldenrod Distribution, the only remaining distributor dedicated to women's music, 35 years ago. The Lansing, Mich.-based business grew with the genre, continuing to develop, support and promote emerging talent as technology shifted from vinyl and tape to CD, and artists like Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang found their voice in the mainstream.
On Saturday, Dec. 4, Grant and her staff will fling open the doors to Goldenrod for the company's last open house. The annual free event features sale specials on CDs, door prizes, food and an auction of archival music. Ellis, Nedra Johnson, Nervous but Excited and Sally Potter will provide entertainment for the bittersweet celebration.
In addition to her distribution business, the entrepreneurial Grant ventured into record production for several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, producing music under the label Goldenrod Records. "It was a partnership between [ national sales manager ] Susan Frazier and I," explained Grant, who is retiring from her role as company president. "It was under the Goldenrod Records label; we had Trete Fure, Chris Williamson and Nedra Johnson, but we haven't continued that aspect."
Although women's music fans know Goldenrod best through face-to-face contact at festivals such as MichFest and National Women's Music Festival or direct purchase from their catalog, Goldenrod's primary revenue stream has always been through wholesale distribution.
From large customers such as Borders to small independent enterprises such as the still-surviving Val's Halla in Oak Park or the now-defunct Atomic Records in Milwaukee, Goldenrod has been the distributor for a music catalog of about 2,000 titles representing between 700 and 800 artists.
That's the part of the business that has been steadily dwindling and "is probably not going to happen anymore," said Grant. "Wholesale for us has a really small margin; on a good sale we might make 30 percent. And, so many of our bread-and-butter stores, hundreds of independent stores, have closed. We don't have a single independent record store left in Lansing."
It's the digital revolution that has primarily done in the wholesale base for Goldenrod. "Demographically, you buy more music in your 20s and 30s than you buy at any other time in your life," said Grant. "They move into their 40s and they're not buying music like we used to, and they're downloading the songs they want. Therefore, stores aren't selling, so we're not selling. Even I buy music online now.
"Our plans at the moment, which are still fluid, are to continue our web sales of CDs to end users and to continue our retail representation at concerts, arts festivals and music festival coverage." They do not plan to get into online sales of digital music. "We'd make five to 10 cents each, and it's just not worth it for the volume of music we sell of any one song," said Grant.
She added, "We have about four different things in process and we are not sure which ones are going to happen. Hopefully, we'll have everything worked out by the end of the year."
"For five years we've been struggling intensely as a business and I just haven't wanted to leave some of these artists without distribution," Grant said. "Now so many artists have their own websites."
Grant explained that one of the functions of Goldenrod's website has been as a resource where fans could visit; learn about new releases and emerging artists; sample the music; and decide what they wanted to buy. She then said, "The problem is going to be you'll be able to get Ellis' music, but will you know anything about Ellis?"
Grant simply does not know if that level of resource will continue to be available on the Goldenrod site: "We plan to keep a portal of some sort and some sales on it, but whether we will be able to do the same level of representation on our site, I don't know."
The jury is still out as to the level of catalog offerings, but they most likely will be reduced, and the big question is who's in and who's out. "We have two 'versions' of the new catalog," Grant said. "One version is that you can get the Indigo Girls anywhere you want to, so we don't feel so bad if we don't have that. On the other hand, it's one that really sells. There's a lot of decision making here. It's a daily struggle, balancing what's feasible economically and the commitment to emerging artists."
New space is another decision that looms. The existing, and soon-to -be-too-big, warehouse, listening room and office in the gentrifying old town district of Lansing is owned by Grant and she's looking to rent it out after the first of the year, while retaining office space there for her tax-accounting business—a venture that has helped sustain Goldenrod over the decades.
The realities of the economy, the folding of their brick and mortar customer base and the digital downloads have combined to force this decision. "When I started Goldenrod, I was a member of the National Association of Independent Record Distributors," Grant said. "There were hundreds of members. We would get together annually for a conference—it was huge. There'd be panels and teachings and discussions. Now I would say there might be three or four or five distribution companies left across the board—not just women's music. Women's music was just a very small segment. Now that organization no longer even exists. The only reason we are still in business is that we have a niche market and we've been very focused."
While Grant is retiring from her leadership role at Goldenrod and Frazier will take over the scaled-down business, Grant will continue to work with the company "at festivals and things I love to do like work the Sweet Honey [ In The Rock ] shows. I just won't be tearing my hair out over the budgets." Transition, business and legal paperwork is in process.
( Incidentally, Frazier is doing well, continuing to undergo follow-up after her successful bone-marrow transplant. She is back to work part-time and looks forward to continuing her work with Goldenrod after the business transition. Windy City Times' profile of Frazier, who is battling cancer, is at www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php. )
Grant will also maintain her 800-client tax practice. In her spare time, she does have big travel plans with Sue Emmert, her partner of 34 years. "She's 65 and a retired nurse and nursing professor and she said if I don't start traveling and playing with her and stop working so much she's going to do it without me," Grant said. "That got my attention. We have a VW van—our second. We've had one since we got together. When we were young together we traveled a couple hundred thousand miles in our first van. Now, we plan to do short camping trips, some longer trips, canoe trips and probably some international travel.
"My tax business is about 90 hours a week during tax season; if I'm awake I'm working. But the rest of the year, I have another professional in my office and we'll swap off who needs to be there, so I should have some nice chunks of time to be away and relax and hang out with Sue, who has also been involved in women's music over the years; she travelled many concerts and festival with me."
About 350 people attended the Goldenrod open house last year and Grant hopes some Chicago women will road trip up to Lansing for the finale: "It's a party we've thrown for 20 years and we have a great time. Sue's other talent is food. She could be a professional caterer if she wanted and she does the food for the party—the spread will be pretty stunning."
Goldenrod's Final Open House will take place Saturday, Dec. 4, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 1310 Turner, Lansing, Mich. No reservations arenecessary; visit www.goldenrod.com or call 517-484-1712.
