The net is the way forward

 

True... but you have to create jobs for people to work, think of all those people scrimping off the government, if they can't find full time work.

I knew Zavvi was in trouble but didn’t see this happening quite so soon after the collapse of woolies. I can’t see anyone coming in to buy them either in the current economic climate.

 

Which leaves HMV as the only national record store and that’s in DEEP trouble making multimillion pound loses every month. Unless they pick up a lot of trade from woolies and zavvi customers in the first quarter of 2009 then I can’t see them surviving until next Christmas!

 

To be fair the music retail sector has been in recession for years… The general economic downturn has just proved too much. It’d be a tragedy if the only place on the High Street that stocked CD’s ended up being WHSmith because their stocking is very limited!

 

The death of the physical single is virtually here with only large HMV’s left selling them, what’s the incentive for record companies to keep producing them? Album sales could well suffer too as a lot of impulse buys will be lost with fewer stores around. Niche acts are also going to be battered, as supermarkets just don’t stock anything other than mainstream or middle of the road stuff.

True... but you have to create jobs for people to work, think of all those people scrimping off the government, if they can't find full time work.

 

Yeah the next year or so is going to be tough, Brown is probably not far off with the prediction of 3m out of work by mid 2010

 

While I do post about flawed business models and rip off prices etc it is of course a shame so many people are losing their jobs

 

But after the credit crunch is over new businesses will be created, more opportunities for those out of work will be created through the net as the traditional High St model disappears and so on

 

Things will for sure get worse before they get better

Niche acts are also going to be battered

 

Don't bet on that, yes they may not be getting massive recording contracts but they will be able to exploit the opportunities of the net to make a name for themselves, MySpace, Facebook, other social networking sites, You Tube and so on, word spreads like wildfire if the right internet marketing opportunities are exploited so no reason why niche markets should suffer, quite the opposite if the chart goes download only

 

Don't bet on that, yes they may not be getting massive recording contracts but they will be able to exploit the opportunities of the net to make a name for themselves, MySpace, Facebook, other social networking sites, You Tube and so on, word spreads like wildfire if the right internet marketing opportunities are exploited so no reason why niche markets should suffer, quite the opposite if the chart goes download only

 

True, although album sales are still where the money is made...

Yeah the next year or so is going to be tough, Brown is probably not far off with the prediction of 3m out of work by mid 2010

 

Brown’s predictions tend to be wildly optimistic; it’s looking more like 5-7 million in a prolonged savage L shaped depression.

although album sales are still where the money is made...

 

I thought it is gigs/tours where all the money is made :unsure:

 

Like albums and so on are pretty low margin and all the money is made out of ticket sales for gigs and merchandise at gigs

 

I read about the money a while ago that Madonna, Rolling Stones etc have made out of tours and it way outstripped anything that would be made out of albums

 

 

You've obviously not been in HMV for a very long time. I go in there regularly and it's incredibly rare you see a one disc cd for above £12 now. I've bought so many CDs from HMV this year, about 10-20% of them could be described as commercial or chart and I've only paid over £10 once, it was £10.99 for the second Los Campesinos! album which came in a cardboard box with a booket, dvd, poster and badges!

But most of those would have at least been new releases or somewhere on the HMV chart at the time surely? I find that once the album has flopped the price is usually jacked up. I was in there last weekend and saw Shontelle's album, on import I guess, for £16. Earlier in the year I also saw the latest releases from Beverley Knight and Jennifer Lopez for £16 each. It's weird, if you look through their older albums they'll be 2 for £10 or £12-16 per album.

 

New albums are hardly ever more than £9.99.

I thought it is gigs/tours where all the money is made :unsure:

 

Like albums and so on are pretty low margin and all the money is made out of ticket sales for gigs and merchandise at gigs

 

I read about the money a while ago that Madonna, Rolling Stones etc have made out of tours and it way outstripped anything that would be made out of albums

Royalty rates are quite low for single and album sales but for touring bands recieve a much larger portion i think.

 

If HMV goes, the music industry will be in REAL trouble.

 

It will definitely affect impulse purchases, and TV promotion for non Top 40 artists will be a waste unless you can guarantee that the supermarkets will stock you.

 

Then again, it's the music industry's fault for not being competitive.

 

 

But most of those would have at least been new releases or somewhere on the HMV chart at the time surely? I find that once the album has flopped the price is usually jacked up. I was in there last weekend and saw Shontelle's album, on import I guess, for £16. Earlier in the year I also saw the latest releases from Beverley Knight and Jennifer Lopez for £16 each. It's weird, if you look through their older albums they'll be 2 for £10 or £12-16 per album.

 

New albums are hardly ever more than £9.99.

I tend to find most of the flop albums go to the cheap section. The Feeling's album was in 2 for £10 within four weeks of release!

Edited December 24, 200816 yr by RabbitFurCoat

I tend to find most of the flop albums go to the cheap section. The Feeling's album was in 2 for £10 within four weeks of release!

Yeah, it is odd like that. You can get The Feeling, Estelle, Santogold and others on 2 for £10 but some will go up in price after a flop, if it didn't sell at £7-9.99 on the release week why RAISE the price afterwards?! It's the same for albums that are a couple of years old, you can get older albums from Beyoncé, Natasha Bedingfield, James Morrison, Madonna and more for low prices but if you want something from Brandy, Alicia Keys, Aaliyah and more you're looking at spending over £10. Sometimes I don't think they want to get rid of old stock, they just want it so they can say they have it, but at a price only stupid people will pay.

Good riddance! Zavvi is bloody awful. Every CD/DVD seems to cost a good £1/2+ more than at HMV, they have a much smaller range of stock, they stock less singles, no vinyls, stores awful to navigate. Truly a terrible shop.

 

I pray HMV never goes under.

A good friend of mine works in their head office - so this is extremely sad and bad news,

 

However, Zavvi/Virgin, even compare to HMV, has always been at the top end of the market with regards to price for DVDs and CDs.... they simply chose not to compete on the most important factor we all now use when shopping - price - which every retailer simply has to do in such a competitive marketplace.

Their whole plan to improve themselves was like...bizarre. Piles of DVDs and c**p on the floor. The whole shop was like a bargain bucket. Disorganised stock. Taking the emphasis away from CDs. Getting rid of other sections leaving big amounts of empty space...weird.

 

That said I do think getting rid of Zavvi is a bad thing for music. More control for the supermarkets and less risk taking, acts like Il Divo are really going to dominate along with the other supermarket-centric acts. Bad times. PJ made a similar point...

Maybe it is a good thing?

 

HMV are losing profits, so maybe the Zavvi customers will now go to HMV. I'm sure in most places where there is a Zavvi there is a HMV. It's ridiculosly over-priced in HMV, especially when there's a HMV pretty much next door in York. I only like to go in there at times as it's much quieter. Hopefully all the business will go to HMV if they can't find a buyer (which I dont think they will, but you never know...). Ofc it's not nice for people to lose their jobs, but places like Amazon and Play are ruling the market. It's easier, less hassel and cheaper.

 

Hopefully after the depression has ended some other company might be able to compete with HMV.

A good friend of mine works in their head office - so this is extremely sad and bad news,

 

However, Zavvi/Virgin, even compare to HMV, has always been at the top end of the market with regards to price for DVDs and CDs.... they simply chose not to compete on the most important factor we all now use when shopping - price - which every retailer simply has to do in such a competitive marketplace.

 

You have hit the nail on the head Russ

 

Zavvi thought they could fleece and rip off the consumer and it has come back to bite them

 

Good riddance to them

I think so many people are off here. This really is just going to lead to more musical malignancy. Supermarket/Internet domination is nothing short of a poor thing for a vibrant mainstream music scene...meh.

I was just in town, but couldnt get into Zavvi as it was 4pm...would have love to see their 'bargains' and sing merrily "YOU'RE CLOSING DOWN!"

I think so many people are off here. This really is just going to lead to more musical malignancy. Supermarket/Internet domination is nothing short of a poor thing for a vibrant mainstream music scene...meh.

 

Zavvi should have thought about that though when they were creating their business model

 

In the middle of a credit crunch / recession and consumers more price savvy than ever it is commercial suicide to have a policy of ripping off consumers

 

It is up to retailers to offer the same price as the net or go out of business