I can see why UK record shops are going bust

I have not bought at  "record shop" for 15 years...

I bought the new Maccabees album today in HMV for £7.99, the same price as Amazon.  It's the first time in ages that i have bought from a shop. Some of the prices are awful.

Regards

Huw

Hope you dont mind me asking your source for CDs, is it just Flea Bay & Amazon or do you use some other alternatives ?

Since buying the Tracy Chapman Cd for silly money i have been searching a bit more on Amazon and a company called ZOVERSTOCKS keeps coming up with great deals. They also are doing the T/C cd @ 1p + 1.26 p & p.

Mista H

I think selling CD media is just about a perfect model for mail-based fulfillment via the internet vis:

1- You can often hear tracks on line to sample - try doing that in some high street stores.

2- CD cases etc aren't like the vinyl album covers, some of us treasure.

3- you can see reviews - other than the team in Our Price @ Sloane Square many years ago, I've found it pointless asking people behind the tills.

4- postage costs are cheap in relative terms

I'm sure we all remember when the high street stores were selling CDs >£10 mark, when on-line offerings were so much cheaper. The economics of the high street, just don't allow this kind of margin impact.

I'd love to have seen the HMV business plan which supported their restructure plans. Strategically, they don't appear to have looked ahead and face the challenge of split-pricing high street and on-line delivered product. But it must be said, that being a plc, they probably couldn't have funded the up-front infrastructure costs like Amazon, nor justified them to shareholders.  

Akin to the daily newsprint industry, there may be a 'settling point in these marketplaces, but guessing where it is (predicting imputes some rationale understanding!, which I don't think exists), is very challenging.

Internet only for many years.

I was in an HMV store last week for the first time in months. I was hoping to pick up something cheap because it's always nice to take home a cd in a bag, just like the good old days, but they were selling for 8.99 or 9.99 what they were selling online for 2.99 or 3.99. Needless to say I went home bagless.

Why don't they just stop selling them in store? Nobody's buying them and they take up space that could be devoted to posters, tee shirts and no end of other bits of crap. No wonder they're on the verge of going out of business.

On the other side of the pond...we haven't had a major record store chain since Tower Records went bust in 2006.  Well, we do have Walmart, which Apple overtook as the largest music seller in the US, but is probably biggest offline I'd guess.

Some small shops are making it here. Amoeba Records in San Francisco is the shining example, and the Princeton Record Exchange here on the east coast. Both places are amazing. If any of you are near them on your travels - visit.

Though, by far the best buying experience I've had for new music is ordering online straight from small labels. I feel good supporting them, and their email mailing list specials usual beat Amazon. Many have embraced LP + CD deals, or LP +  digital download.  Look at some of your favorite music, and visit the label's web site. You might be pleasantly surprised. One of the heads of a small label (Yarlung Records, which I love) sent me a personal email after I ordered and LP and answered all kinds of questions about their recording process.

Thought I'd browse through HMVs CD sale rack the other day. Even the sale prices are more than you would pay online. I don't think HMVs retail shops will last much longer.

I think you are spot on Steve. Unless HMV management pull their finger out and move  in other directions be it phones/computers/hi-fi i fail to see how they can survive.

Mista H

Unfortunately something has to give though.

Common sense dictates that music on CD is too cheap to sustain either a music industry or artists.

I suppose something unexpected always happens that changes things, in the meantime I'm enjoying fleshing out my music collection at unbelievable (and unsustainable) prices.

SJB

'I think you are spot on Steve. Unless HMV management pull their finger out and move  in other directions be it phones/computers/hi-fi i fail to see how they can survive.

Mista H'

...and that would pitch them up against DSG (not doing very well), all the 'phone shops (too many already) and not least Argos etc.  

More likely, someone looking for high street presence for yet another fashion chain will take over the shop units!

Sadly, it appears HMV has moved to the recognised business definition of being a 'dog'.......not worthy of any more capital investment and heading to ground fast, with an unstainable business model.

I recently purchased metallia Black album double LP for GBP 25 at Virgin Megastore Dubai.

it was expensive compared to the CD, but what a listening experience. Fantastic. Drums sounded like drums, Vocals has reverb and ambiance, and it just sounded musical.

Even my 10 year daughter could tell the difference in a few seconds compared to the CD. "the instruments just sound so much more real".

I can't be bothered with CD, and I have no regrets spending that kind of money on Vinyl.

If vinyl were priced like CD I would go out and buy a new album every week.

it was so exciting for me to get hold of the metallica album on vinyl.

Not everyone on the forum feels this way, but with CD, unless you have a mega expensive CD player, the sound quality isn't good enough. With a relatively cheap vinyl player of costing anywhere from 100 GBP +. and some good records, it's so much more fun to listen to.

I humbly think the lower sound quality of CD and MP3 is what is destroying the music business.

As someone who works in the daily newsprint industry I heartily agree.

What I really miss about decent record shops is the lack of good staff. Some of the best music I've  bought in my life have been introduced to me by someone who's taken the trouble to build a relationship, maybe recognised me from last week, asked me how I got on with whatever (and remembers what it was I bought) and then says, well if you enjoyed that, why not try this.

Chris

Here in the West of England we have a small independent chain called Rise which is doing great business in Cheltenham and Bristol, friendly knowledgable staff and great catalogue of new and discounted CDs, vinyl and films. They've recently opened in Swindon too though that's a bit of an ask as there are about 425 people in that town who would be interested ( I know most of them).

Other great vinyl-oriented indies too in Chelt and Exeter.

The rot set in when the likes of Our Price were bought out by the majors in the 80s (or maybe when Branson started selling his 'virgin records' mail order from the back pages of the MM in 1970). I'm sure that well-run, small grassroots shops will survive for some time though.

Salmon Dave,

That seems the best we can hope for, the global picture may be dire but the local view may be excellent. Here's to Rise.

Chris

Have just walked past the HMV shop in Croydon,big shop with overheads to match.......empty

Repeat this thru all their shops and you dont have to be a wizz kid to work out what lies ahead.

Maybe they could turn part of each of their stores into coffee shops/snack bars. Good profit in catering if done well. You only have to look at the costa lot coffee Co.

Mista H

Agreed, my point above combined with Chris's....G