ShockHound

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Downloads, Merchandise and Community in One Store

ShockHound's model joined three things that music retail usually kept apart. It was a download store, selling MP3 files compatible with most digital music players and free from digital rights management software restrictions, at a time when DRM limits were a live complaint among music buyers. It was a merchandise retailer, selling band t-shirts, accessories and posters alongside the music, a cross-merchandising step that fits its parent: Hot Topic built its shops on exactly that combination of music and the clothing and objects that display musical taste. And it was a social networking platform, allowing users to create and share content, so the audience produced part of the site rather than only shopping on it.

Editorial content held the three parts together. Music reviews, rock concerts, interviews, music videos and streaming audio gave fans reasons to return between purchases, and original programming called Shock Shows, including Taco Tuesday and Stella Can't Cook in the record, gave the platform its own voice. Contributing content editors Randy Bookasta, of Ray Gun magazine, and Dan Epstein, of Revolver magazine, brought print music-magazine credibility to a retail launch, signalling that ShockHound wanted to be read and watched as a music publication, not only used as a shop.

Why a Music Platform Belongs in a Clothing Directory

Band t-shirts are clothing, and for many teenagers and young adults they are the most identity-laden clothing they own. A Hot Topic venture that sold band shirts, accessories and posters next to the music itself documents the retail logic of music fashion in 2008: the song, the shirt and the social profile were parts of one fan expression, sold by one company in one place. ShockHound also marks a dated moment in digital retail, launched in 2008 when paid DRM-free downloads, streaming audio and social networking were still separate features a platform had to assemble deliberately.

For researchers, the ShockHound record should be read as a period document: Hot Topic as launcher, 2008 as the launch year, MP3 downloads without DRM, merchandise centred on band t-shirts, an editorial team drawn from Ray Gun and Revolver, and Shock Shows as original programming. Its presence in the S letter, between Sean John and Simplicity Pattern, is a useful reminder that a clothing directory covers the retailers and platforms that sell fashion, and not only the companies that manufacture it.