Swindon Music

More losses and shop closure for HMV:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/business/breaking-news/6527401/hmv-losses-extend-as-the-entertainment-market-weakens.thtml

Speaking to an analyst today they expect HMV's high street presence to be gone in the next five years as more shopping shifts online. I guess that's why they're trying to make inroads into the live market.

The high street chains do seem to be suffering, although shops like HMV can do very well on the net. I did watch a report about independent shops and they seem to be doing well.

The music industry is screwed, high street music retailers dying on their feet, in a few years we'll have a handful of shops left where we can wander in and seek out new music, music has become nothing more than an icon on someone's laptop, most people don't even see why they should even pay for it anymore.

So, perhaps we all think it's "sticking it to the man" well I doubt Sony Entertainment or the likes of Bono give a s**t if you download a free copy of the new U2 album, however the smaller bands, smaller record labels and small music retailers are breaking up and closing down all over the place.

Future Of The Left are a medium sized band, released 2 albums, probably shifted around 20,000 copies of the first one and tour a fair bit, their bassist quit, not due to musical differences but because he could no longer afford to be in a touring band, their last album shifted 5000 copies, because they were shit? no because most people thought it okay to download it free and illegally.

Hey it's music, lets help ourselves to it, why not, let's not pay for anything, perhaps I should tell my bank they can stick their mortgage as I'm going to occupy my house and pay nothing, maybe I should visit the pub later and just help myself to free drinks, then perhaps visit a supermarket on the way home and grab what the hell I like, why not, I'm "sticking it to the man"

That’s two different issues really, I rarely go into a high street record shop but I predominantly buy my records online. I am aware of the slight irony of the fact that I work in IT but I have never downloaded an album, as I prefer to have the CD with artwork and lyrics.

The decline of the high street in general is due to cheap online stores, hence why hairdressers and coffee shops now rule the roost, as a cappuccino would most likely be cold by the time it arrived from Amazon. I am up for testing out an online haircut though.

I went to buy the latest Deftones record in Marlborough. When they didn’t have it I popped into HMV who deemed it worthy of a £16 price tag. In the end I ordered it online for a fiver, which probably makes me a bit evil.

I remember having the Future of the Left conversation with Neil, whilst it is sad, they’re hardly the most accessible of bands so I’m not sure how many records I’d expect them to sell. The UK has an entirely different (and far smaller) audience base when it comes to that kind of band. Or maybe we should look away from conspiring market forces and reach the conclusion that a fair amount of people bought the first record, thought it was a bit s**t and therefore chose to give the second one a miss?

Just saying is all…

Some would say it looks as though you already have

While I do see (and understand) Rich's frustrations, and I do agree that people who solely download music for free and have no other financial interaction with those who make/produce that music are essentially thieves, I also think that we're seeing a transitional period.

I've worked in the Internet industry for about 15 years now and very well recall the prophecies of High Streets becoming deserted as far back as prior to the new millenium. Obviously, it's not really happened - yet - although, as Phil points out, the shift may not have been massively dramatic but the nature of the High Street has changed and is continuing to change. Of course, this is also largely down to the big supermarket chains now selling CDs, books, games, DVDs etc. from their out of town locations.

HMV knew that their survival, like that of so many bands, would only come via the live music sector. Much as nobody can deliver a decent cup of coffee via the online world, nobody can recreate the experience of attending a live show. Let's face it, live albums and DVDs are nice oddities but they don't come close to actually being there. This (and the associated merchandise sales) is where the financial future of bands and music really lies. Swindon's just about waking up to the fact and hopefully MECA will firmly seal the deal.

I reckon we'll end up with the supermarkets and online retailers continuing with their music sales but a new type of presence for music will appear in our towns. I think we'll actually see a return of small, independent record shops, mainly selling second-hand stuff, merch and possibly tickets for local venues. Hopefully, anyway.

Gok said it was on trend...

I can see Mr Moons point about illegal downloads but can't see what record companies or shops can do about it? I used to copy friends albums onto cassette. In my defence, if I liked it, I would by a hard copy... but not always. I like buying CD's on the net. It is very cheap and allows me to buy more music. I also love browsing in record shops. However, with the loss of all independent record shops in Swindon, this activity is no longer enjoyable. HMV is filled with chart, compilations and best of CD's, oh, and the 2 for a tenner section.

The music industry ran a campaign back in the late 70's, early 80's trying to discourage copying music from vinyl to cassette. The music industry survived. Looks like they got another campaign to fight now and I'm sure they'll survive this one. The pop music sector is now mostly based on downloads. Maybe the album sector could embellish on this? Include downloadable artwork including disc artwork? I know some bands already do this and sounds like a good idea to me.

Music shops selling exclusively online is not going to kill music off. It's just sad that I'll have to go to Marlborough to physical touch a CD before I buy it.

I make a point of visiting Marlborough JUST to visit Sound Knowledge, likewise I still purchase cd's on a regular basis from HMV Swindon and HMV Oxford, I'm not made of money but I spend what I can on supporting new music and rediscovering old classics, at most I download the odd track and then it's mostly out of print stuff or unreleased material, I still prefer the anticipation of buying a new album and supporting the musicians involved in it's creation.

I think music high street retailers will vanish from most of the country, there's very few independents left anymore, hundreds have shut down added to this we've lost Virgin, we've lost Fopp (apart from a few that were saved by HMV) and whilst HMV will survive to a point their shops won't, add to this the fact labels are folding there will be less music commercially released.

It's looking pretty s**t to be honest

People said that the music industry would die when the blank recordable cassette came out. It's still here. Times change and people have to change with it. Sales will still take place, but not as we knew it.

As a society, our shopping habits have changed dramatically just in my lifetime. Back in the 70's it was mail order. Today it's the internet. I might be bold to suggest that in Swindon it may be the overheads of running a shop what with the costs of rents and rates in the town centre. HMV probably sell more DVD's than CD's these days? Every time I've been in there and asked for a CD not on the shelf, they point me to their website!

I guess the bottom line is: as long as I can still purchase a bands CD, I'm happy

Whilst I'm sad that it's leading to the demise of the good old record shop, I have no sympathy whatsoever for the record industry as a whole. They need to realise that the possibities for digital distribution are endless! Everyone I know moans that "its not the same looking at album art on a PC" - this is exactly the point they should be expanding on! Use this new frontier as a BLESSING. Imagine if this was the 60s, and physical music had never existed. They would be making all sorts of uses for digital distro! Imagine the cover for Sergeant Pepper, except it could be a fully animated GIF! The lyrics book could scroll in time with the song, whilst artwork shifts in the background! You could take the visual experience of listening to an album (yeah, odd concept) far beyond 'durrrr pictures on dat vinyl are prittyyyy'...

Bottom line: Give people something new, exciting and fresh. Give them something they never knew they wanted and make them NEED it. Dont just try and rehash the same ideas in a new world. It's the simple lack of creativity that's killing the recording industry.

Rant over.

nicely done Mr B.

Fair point Phil but in the case of Future of The Left it's more to do with a large percentage of their fanbase deciding they can't be arsed to pay for their album, you're right they aren't the most commercially viable band around but it's this level of band who are suffering most/

The Kings of Leon probably saw several thousand people help themselves to their latest steaming turd of an album for free but when you're shifting millions it doesn't register, for a band to see their record sales fall by 75% that's when it's going to really hit... and really hurt those bands.

Sure music is a labour of love but those who are trying to make some sort of living out of it on the fringes they can ill afford to lose such a large proportion of their revenue because people think it's okay to steal their music.

Some good points there Sam, I would concede that the music industry haven't helped themselves, the vastly inflated prices of CD's (of which the artists get a very very small percentage) didn't help and music retailers should've woken up to the potential of online music a lot quicker than they did, having said that the biggest issue here is the culture shift where people just don't feel they should have to pay for music anymore and whilst there are some parallels with the advent of home taping back in the late 70's the ability to freely download digital copies of albums often ahead of their release dates is a far greater threat than people recording stuff onto C90 tapes.

Same for photography - irony is that experience has show that it's musicians and the music industry on many levels that seem to hold little to no value in such things and simply assume that it's natural and normal to take and use images and artwork without any real consideration to the originator

I get that with reviewing as well. If I responded to every band that asked be to write a review, blurb, promo I would have a full time job, as soon as you suggest that they make a donation for your time and effort it all goes a bit quiet. A lot of bands don't even guest list you for the gig....it becomes like paying your boss for the priviledge of turning up for work.

That's why more and more of my time is now spent working with national level promoters, at least I'm getting a free CD collection and free entry to some nice gigs.