12:48 | Wednesday January 5, 2011

 

HMV announced today that it will close 60 of its shops in the UK over the next 12 months for various reasons. In connection with this the following article appears relevant:

 

"The cost of illegal downloading to the industry is again underlined by new OCC figures that show the physical and digital album market slumped 7% in volume last year.

 

Despite a big uptake in digital albums – they represented almost one fifth of the album sector in 2010 – the market for CD albums dropped 12.4% to 98.5m and dragged the whole sector from 128.9m in 2009 to 119.9m in 2010.

 

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor believes the market has now turned a corner, with 2010 going down as the year that digital albums finally went mainstream selling some 21.0m.

 

But, Taylor also pounces on the data as further evidence of the damage illegal filesharers are doing. Taylor says, “Despite unprecedented demand for music, and strong innovation offering consumers new ways to access music online, legal downloads are unable to offset the decline in CD sales because they are dwarfed by illegal competition.”

 

His words were echoed by BPI chairman Tony Wadsworth, who says it is now crucial that action to stem illegal downloading is taken.

 

However, the pair have much more to cheer about in the singles sector: digital downloads have powered singles to their third successive record high with 161.8m sold in 2010, compared to 152.7m the previous year – a 5.9% jump.

 

5.2m of these tracks came in the final week of last year, which is another record because that is the first time weekly sales have surpassed the 5m mark.

 

Taylor adds, “2010 showed that the digital singles highs seen in the previous two years were no fluke – music fans continue to embrace the convenience, value and choice offered by legal download stores.”

 

Brian :(

To be honest, albums aren't that expensive in HMV - especially when you compare it to other countries. Most of the albums are 10 pounds (or cheaper) which is around 11,50 euros. Here in my country, albums sell for atleast 15 euros or higher. So when I go to HMV when I'm in London, I'm also surprised at how cheap everything is.

Although they have some weird things like the Sugababes' Sweet 7 being 16 pounds.

 

True, i can't fault HMV when it comes to music. But i have seen very old albums worth at least 3-5 pound the most being on sale for well over 10 pounds. I would love to know how HMV come up with pricing if some place else like Amazon sells it even cheaper.

I'm more gutted about the thought of losing my local Waterstones :( There is nowhere else in Stirling to get the sort of books I buy.

HMV will be a major loss too, since Zaavi closed there is only HMV in the town centre or Tesco.

Better not close down the one near me, there is nowhere else in my town that sells CDs I don't think, or if there is, HMV has the biggest choice.

 

I really don't get why people call HMV expensive. Is my local HMV cheaper than all the others or something? :huh: And people say ordering online is easier, but tbh, I need to go into my town to do other shopping anyway, so I might as well buy stuff in HMV while I'm there rather than ordering online and waiting a few days for the item to arrive.

Tbf... I really think it is down to the prices. I can get all I want off Play.com, with student discount also! (& free packaging!).

it rare for things to be cheaper in hmv instore, but online i found the how i met your mother seasons 1-5 boxset for about £65, in store i found it for £45 picked it up and the one behind it was £35, so i was like hummmm which one will i buy :P.

I can't fathom some of HMV's decsisions on prices.......I mean not enough people wanted Anastacia's Heavy Rotation or Sugababes's Sweet 7 the first time round. Why would they now pay £16 each for them?

Hope the HMV and Waterstones in Perth are not effected. Perth will have no more Bookshops if their Waterstones closes.

Edited January 5, 201114 yr by zenon

There's two in Brighton and they're a little over a 200 metres apart so that shows they've got plenty of stores they can lose. They might just sell Waterstones as that would pay the loan but they certainkly need to look at their prices.

^^some albums in hmv are like 12-15 quid but you generally find that things get put on special offer on rotation and the said albums will be cheaper eventually!!

 

i think it will be bad for music and bad for society if record stores disappear of the high streets completely.theres nothing like going into hmv on a monday to check the new releases, beats sitting in front of a laptop screen.tescos doesnt count as they specialise in groceries and just sell cds as a side profit enterprise.if you want the current deadmau5 album you wont find it in tescos top 40 selection.

 

£8 for a new cd is cheap anyway - less than a pound a song.if you want it cheaper illegally download it sure - and thats another arguement!!

As I said earlier, apart from a few exceptions HMV isn't expensive. Since the turn of the century, the price of albums has fallen in nominal terms, let alone real terms, dowloading has completely wiped out the physical single (apart from a few rare cases), DVDs have become cheaper, and anything HMV sell you can find in a supermarket. Is it any wonder that HMV can't cope in the current day? And it's nothing to do with their prices. Simple business logic would state that HMV is not something that can be sustained at all.

I know it's been said countless times but it really is all down to their prices. I saw a Desperate Housewives boxset in there a month or so ago priced at £200. It was £69.99 on amazon :mellow:

 

WHAT!!! My goodness. Its on Tv advertised for Amazon. Hmv is so stupid with their prices seriously. £14.99 for an album when its £7.99 in Tesco i know where Im going.

 

Yes it contributes to Tescos inevitable world domination driven by insane consumerism.

 

It's a very sad day indeed. :(

As someone said, why are all the flop albums like £16 still? I saw BIONIC for £16 there the other week. Wtf? No wonder it sold f*** all!

Edited January 5, 201114 yr by madeinheaven

It's not their prices, it's the prices elsewhere. Supermarkets can sell cheaper because they make more money elsewhere, and online retailers can sell cheaper because they've less overheads as they just have a massive warehouse somewhere. Downloads are cheaper because there's no physical or distribution costs. I remember in the 90s when I first started buying CDs that if I got one for £10 that was a good price. I got the NOW albums from about #36 onwards, they always used to cost at least £14. £10 in the late 90s is probably equivelant to about £15 in today's money, yet people now complain when CDs are sold for as much as £10. It's no wonder they can't make any money!

 

It's a sad but inevitable day. :(

 

Agree - people are unfair to say HMV are too expensive. It's the supermarkets who are stocking them at a ridiculously low price. Plus HMV do compete quite well on chart stuff. Another problem is the *perception* of the value of music. Now music is something you can listen to for free on YouTube.

 

To be honest, albums aren't that expensive in HMV - especially when you compare it to other countries. Most of the albums are 10 pounds (or cheaper) which is around 11,50 euros. Here in my country, albums sell for atleast 15 euros or higher. So when I go to HMV when I'm in London, I'm also surprised at how cheap everything is.

Although they have some weird things like the Sugababes' Sweet 7 being 16 pounds.

 

Agree with this too. UK album prices are probably the lowest in Europe.

 

We MUST support HMV if we do not want them to close. It would be absolutely terrible to see it close. I would barely see the point of going shopping.

Surprised people are seeing albums for £16. My HMV doesn't have any normal CDs for any higher than £10, the only ones that are more expensive are deluxe editions, so fair enough.

 

And CDs don't seem to take too long to go on the '2 for £10' offer. I got the Ellie Goulding album as part of that offer just a couple of months after release.

And CDs don't seem to take too long to go on the '2 for £10' offer. I got the Ellie Goulding album as part of that offer just a couple of months after release.

That's probably helping to compound the problem. There must be many people who decide to wait for albums to be on special offer rather than buying them when they're released.

Well for me it's a bit of déja vú :(

Apparently they own Waterstones (or are part of the same group?) and are doing a dire trade (now Waterstones is in the dark ages price-wise!). I don't think HMV isn't as expensive as people constantly declare; historically it used to be but I think they've been going out of their way to come very close to online stores and supermarkets. Having said that, I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I've made a purchase in HMV last year!

 

Now FOPP on the other hand, that is a poor excuse for a music store!!

Edited January 5, 201114 yr by ScottyEm

FOPP was amazing before HMV took it over, it's pretty average now, although does always still have a lot of cheap stuff, it's just that the majority of it is just as cheap as it is in HMV.