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HMV about to enter adminastration!
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Kid Calamity
9042 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 09:33
Me and a couple of mates, on a college trip got grabbed by security, at that place and taken downstairs but about four meatheads, tipped off by a plainclothes store detective, suspecting us of shoplifting. Thankfully, none of us had anything we hadn't paid for.
Kid Calamity
9042 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 09:34
Ha!
Spaceship mark
Spaceship mark
1686 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 10:46
Growing up in Blackpool HMV was pretty much the only place to buy records, certainly the only place to buy new records. When I started going in the old shop on Victoria Street the whole of the upstairs was vinyl, and if they didn't have something they'd order it. At the time that was mainly, not very obscure, thrash metal albums but they later got me some odd indie singles.
Later on when it moved to the shop behind the tower I actually worked there for two Christmas seasons. I got stuck upstairs in the speciality section, because with my GCSE in music I was most qualified to talk about clasical music! But the staff were passionate about music, the guy downstairs who did the dance music(who I know, but whose name escapes me) would always make sure his racks were stacked with whatever was current.
Sadly, the writing was on the wall when Amazon opened. Running a mail order business, renting big warehouses etc (even without the tax dodges) is always going to facilitate cheaper prices, the rents on town centre properties, staff costs etc being a huge factor.
Recently, I have to say, I very rarely went into a branch and, when I did, I found it to be full of X-boxes, chart music and lots and lots of discounted DVDs.
I will always have very fond memories of HMV, but I cannot help but think its time has come.
I guess, at the end of the day, this is how these things evolve. I certainly don't see this being a death knell for independent record shops which provide a very different service. But even they have to evolve, Rough Trade seem to be very into instores and such, which can only get people in through the doors, but it's difficult to find a USP. Recommendations, listening in advance of purchase, ordering obscurities...all these can be done sat at one's computer. I mean, who are the clientele of indepedent record stores these days? Are there 14 year old kids asking for Marillion, or is it just 30+ year old nostalgists? Because if the latter is true (and I don't know if it is, I don't get out enough) then that customer demographic can only diminish.
In the long term I'm more concerned about the decline of physical product because, as I once read, if everything ends up digital we run a very real risk of being the generation(s) who leave behind the smallest historical, academic and cultural record of any civilisation since the dawn of history.
We would never have figgered out heiroglyphs if the Rosetta Stone was on a 7inch floppy disc that no-one could play...
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 10:57
Spaceship mark wrote:
Growing up in Blackpool HMV was pretty much the only place to buy records, certainly the only place to buy new records. When I started going in the old shop on Victoria Street the whole of the upstairs was vinyl, and if they didn't have something they'd order it. At the time that was mainly, not very obscure, thrash metal albums but they later got me some odd indie singles.
Later on when it moved to the shop behind the tower I actually worked there for two Christmas seasons. I got stuck upstairs in the speciality section, because with my GCSE in music I was most qualified to talk about clasical music! But the staff were passionate about music, the guy downstairs who did the dance music(who I know, but whose name escapes me) would always make sure his racks were stacked with whatever was current.
Sadly, the writing was on the wall when Amazon opened. Running a mail order business, renting big warehouses etc (even without the tax dodges) is always going to facilitate cheaper prices, the rents on town centre properties, staff costs etc being a huge factor.
Recently, I have to say, I very rarely went into a branch and, when I did, I found it to be full of X-boxes, chart music and lots and lots of discounted DVDs.
I will always have very fond memories of HMV, but I cannot help but think its time has come.
I guess, at the end of the day, this is how these things evolve. I certainly don't see this being a death knell for independent record shops which provide a very different service. But even they have to evolve, Rough Trade seem to be very into instores and such, which can only get people in through the doors, but it's difficult to find a USP. Recommendations, listening in advance of purchase, ordering obscurities...all these can be done sat at one's computer. I mean, who are the clientele of indepedent record stores these days? Are there 14 year old kids asking for Marillion, or is it just 30+ year old nostalgists? Because if the latter is true (and I don't know if it is, I don't get out enough) then that customer demographic can only diminish.
In the long term I'm more concerned about the decline of physical product because, as I once read, if everything ends up digital we run a very real risk of being the generation(s) who leave behind the smallest historical, academic and cultural record of any civilisation since the dawn of history.
We would never have figgered out heiroglyphs if the Rosetta Stone was on a 7inch floppy disc that no-one could play...


That would be a Rosetta disc.

Actually I agree about the real loss being that of physical product, but from a different angle. I think the cultural loss is of the tangible packaging and artwork - previously such an intrinsic part of the musical product. That, for me, is where digital music really loses out. That and the quality of course, although that will soon be rectified with lossless files I reckon.
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 11:09
What strikes me about that pic is that back in the day record stores were a real destination, an exciting place to go - where the cool people would want to be. So sad that that feeling has been lost for future generations - they will never feel that excitement when buying new music. You don't get to go out and meet like-minded people when you're downloading a new track.
Spaceship mark
Spaceship mark
1686 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 11:12
No I agree, that art, packaging etc can be represented digitally, but not properly appreciated OR preserved.
If physical product goes then, theoretically, everything could be wiped out by a massive electromagnetic pulse (although that would probably bugger tapes too, so no S-Club-7 cassingles would survive).
Kid Calamity
9042 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 11:16
I think what's happening now could increase. People will go to gigs more (cos X-Factor is shit), they will see something that'll blow them away. They walk over to the merchandising stand, meet the band and buy tee shirts and CDs from the musicians and their crew.




The record company and twats who turned record shops into DVD stores didn't appear in this fantasy, I'm afraid.
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 12:16
Spaceship mark wrote:
No I agree, that art, packaging etc can be represented digitally, but not properly appreciated OR preserved.
If physical product goes then, theoretically, everything could be wiped out by a massive electromagnetic pulse (although that would probably bugger tapes too, so no S-Club-7 cassingles would survive).


When I go home I will chisel the music for the S-Club-7 single into a slab of granite, that should preverve it.
Squid Tempest
Squid Tempest
8761 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 12:18
I'm also worried about the death of town centres. Before long all that will be left will be cafes, and they'll go out of business coz no-one has any reason to visit the town centre anymore. Whole communities will die because of the shrinking of the retail sector.

Dark times.
Moon Cat
9577 posts

Re: HMV about to enter adminastration!
Jan 15, 2013, 12:51
Squid Tempest wrote:
What strikes me about that pic is that back in the day record stores were a real destination, an exciting place to go - where the cool people would want to be. So sad that that feeling has been lost for future generations - they will never feel that excitement when buying new music. You don't get to go out and meet like-minded people when you're downloading a new track.


I suppose you could have one tab open here when you're downloading something and virtually hang-out for nostalgia's sake:^)

Actually, as I mentioned somewhere up there, if physical record shops go the way of all things, it's the sniffing about and rummaging for stuff I'd miss with that occasional bit of luck at finding something you may not have been looking for or seeing something you wanted but forgot about for cheap and so on. Clicking isn't quite as satisfying as a good rummage. Plus, the advantage over online ordering is that you get to go home with the fruits of your hunt there and then rather than hoping the postman doesn't run off with 'em. And, you get to go....out!

I agree about the potential effects of the demise of the physical product - the art, the tactile feeling, the trophy hunted etc. Plus, a fairly important point; unless you have the right kit mp3's can still sound pretty cack compared to physical formats at the moment. I'm no audiophile, but I don't want to be shoe-horned into an MP3 only universe just yet thanks!

You have to wonder though, if the physical side of the market will just be whittled down to a collecters market, with such items being sold in dark corners or specialist haunts populated by the music equivalent of antique dealers, happy (and presumably able) to pay inflated prices for limited editions and so on. The (near) demise of physical formats will almost certainly push up the prices of whatever's left. Look at vinyl. Lovely and desirable though it is, it wasn't so long ago it was a dead format. Now it's successfully re-branded as for a music cognescenti. In shops it's often a good £5-10 more expensive than its cd counterpart, but call anything 'collectable' and up goes the price tag. Actually, even online its usually the most expensive format.
It's funny, but just before Christmas this girl and her mum - girl say 18-20 - was in Fopp and the girl was saying how pleased she was her dad had given her his old record deck and she was sticking to vinyl from now on.
Then she clocked the prices of some of the albums. From the sharp intake of breath and the visible shock on her face, I'd say she wasn't quite ready to abandon all other formats as yet. My fear is that CDs, if they are still about at all, will go the same way.
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