Rise Warwick Arts Centre branch will close in the coming months due to lack of custom. Just Played.
Grim times indeed for music retailers – Rise is my favourite but with just two other stores in Cheltenham and Bristol I’m luck in having both with easy reach of my doorstep – how long before these last vestiges of the music stores that once dominated every high street disappear forever?
HMV’s downsizing of its store network is already underway, with nine HMV shops closed for the final time on Sunday. Most of the nine shops that closed this weekend are in relatively close proximity to another HMV store. The branches so far affected were in Birmingham (Pallasades Centre), Brighton (Western Road), Croydon (North End), Ealing, Glasgow (Sauchiehall Street), Liverpool (Bold Street), Nottingham (Wheelergate), Oldham and Plymouth (New George Street). CMU Website.
“Credit insurers are reviewing the level of cover they provide on the group,” HMV said in a statement.
“Whilst this has resulted in the reduction in the availability of credit insurance to certain of the company’s suppliers, our business remains a core channel to market for them.”
Suppliers take out credit insurance to cover payments owed to them by customers.
So when insurance companies lower their credit limits, they are concerned about the ability of the supplier’s customers, in this case HMV, to pay their debts. BBC.
If you’ve got any gift vouchers for HMV or Waterstone’s left from Christmas I’d spend them before they become worthless pieces of paper
1. I Speak Because I Can – Laura Marling
2 Wolves And Thieves – Goldheart Assembly
3 The Magician’s Private Library – Holly Miranda
4 Boys Outside – Steve Mason
5 Unicorn – Chew Lips
6 Heligoland – Massive Attack
7 No.3 – jj
8 Contra – Vampire Weekend
9 The Courage Of Others – Midlake
10 Acolyte – Delphic
That’s my thoughts now but in a year from now what would I think? So here’s my list for 2009
1 (1) Live in London – Leonard Cohen
2 (5) Wilco (the album) – Wilco
3 (6) Far – Regina Spektor
4 (4) Kingdom of Rust – Doves
5 (10) XX – The XX
6 (3) Fantasies – Metric
7 (-) The Hazards of Love – The Decemberists
8 (-) Conditions – The Temper Trap
9 (2) Aocana – Ojos de Brujo
10 (-) Fever Ray – Fever Ray
So no room for The Howling Bells’ Radio Wars
HMV is to close 60 stores across the UK after suffering a sharp fall in sales over the crucial Christmas period.
The struggling high street chain issued the retail sector’s first profit warning of 2011 this morning, dashing hopes that the company’s fortunes had improved. In an unscheduled trading statement dubbed “grisly” by one City analyst, HMV admitted that like-for-like sales across its UK and Ireland outlets had plunged by 13.6% in December. It also warned that it may breach the terms of its lending agreements with its banks. Graeme Wearden, The Guardian.
I’m not a fan of HMV it’s often overpriced and uncompetitive – I’m lucky enough to have a Rise store nearby with its competitive prices and friendly, knowledgeable staff.
I see no way out for HMV once it has fallen most music buyers will be left with the limited selection at their local supermarket or the Internet – what then for the humble CD? How much quicker it is to download than wait for the post. How long before music becomes consigned to a download nothing but a disposable piece of software to be installed played and discarded?
I shall mourn the loss of physical music something I started collecting over 30-years ago with cassettes not the most glamorous of formats. However it wasn’t long before I moved on to vinyl, singles in the first instance and then albums. Sometime in the late 80’s early 90’s I stopped buying vinyl – well you couldn’t anymore – and started my CD collection which since then has grown to over 2,000 CD’s. Meanwhile my vinyl collection was been consigned to the loft where it’s warped and gone mouldy – ironic really as vinyl is seeing something of a resurgence – it’s considered by many audiophiles to be superior than any digital format (CD or file).
What now for my music – I guess I’ll continue my CD collecting – for now – but the writings on the wall – well actually the music’s on your iPod! And I feel ill prepared.
When the Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPod on October 23rd 2001 who foresaw that 10-years later music stores would be facing oblivion?
You can listen to the Decemberists new album The King Is Dead
Shares in HMV Group have slumped almost 17% after it reported falling sales and deepening losses.
The music, video, games and book retailer made a pre-tax loss of £41.3m in the six months to 23 October, compared with a £24.9m loss last year.
ike-for-like sales – which pulls out the impact of new store openings – at its main HMV UK business fell 16.1%.
Sales at its book chain Waterstone’s were down 3.2%. HMV Group said Christmas sales would now be key. BBC
Times are looking tough for HMV the UK’s last nationwide High Street music retailer – although these days it looks more like a cross between Game and Blockbuster than a music store – how long before the only way we purchase music is as a internet download?
To be honest I’ve not brought anything by Prince since the release of his greatest hits package – The Hits/The B-sides. When he released his last album Planet Earth as free giveaway in the Mail on Sunday – I assumed it to be an album of outtakes and the like – and to be honest nothing on earth would persuade me to buy the Mail on Sunday – I wouldn’t wipe my arse with it – so I ignored the whole thing.
Now however in an interview in the Daily Mirror we learn he’s to release his new album as a free giveaway on Saturday.
“You must come and listen to the album,” he says. “I hope you like it. It’s great that it will be free to readers of your newspaper. I really believe in finding new ways to distribute my music.”
He explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There’ll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses.
Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website.
He says: “The internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it.
“The internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good.
“They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you.” Peter Willis, The Mirror.
So if you want the latest Prince album you’ll have to purchase Saturday’s Mirror – which isn’t as bad as the rest at least it supported Labour at the general election and not the Con-Dems like the rest – oh and I’ve completely forgotten the intervening Lotusflow3r – but maybe that’s an indication of Prince’s relevance these days – he made great music once but doesn’t now.
Everyone can create music is iNudge’s strapline – I wouldn’t got that far but it’s certainly a bit of harmless fun – just be careful of how much time you spend on your creations.
Hat Tip: Very Short List.
If you use Spotify then you should check out Grooveshark and if you don’t use Spotify then forget Spotify and go straight to Grooveshark. Groove shark has more music and less advertising than Spotify and if you wish to pay it’s cheaper.
How it works is simple anyone can upload a file to Grooveshark – once the file is uploaded anyone can listen – there’s a few repeats but Grooveshark has a more comprehensive catalogue than Spotify. Unlike Spotify though it costs $3 a month for the desktop version for when you don’t have the internet,
Hat Tip: Trusted Reviews.
