Ten years ago, there were more than 1,000 independent record stores in the UK, although by 2007, there were only 408. The news has only gotten worse in the last two years, with trade association the Entertainment Retailers Association reporting that the number has since slipped to around 300. MORE »
Posts Tagged ‘Record Stores’
everything must go
Things Aren’t Much Better For UK Record Stores
the biz
Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman has a crackpot idea for stopping the tide of record-store closings, and he can at least blame some of the genesis for it on the guy who helped shepherd Michael Jackson’s career back in the day: “Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s former manager, recently suggested that the… MORE »
the biz
Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman has a crackpot idea for stopping the tide of record-store closings, and he can at least blame some of the genesis for it on the guy who helped shepherd Michael Jackson’s career back in the day: “Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson’s former manager, recently suggested that the… MORE »
Shocking News: Record Stores Keep Closing
Not entirely surprising, but college-area record stores are closing left and right. So, what’s supposed to be our reaction to this sort of news these days? MORE »
Virgin Megastores Getting A Little Less Mega
Virgin announced its plans to close two of its megastores–one in Chicago (pictured), and one in Salt Lake City–over the weekend, citing the two locations’ lack of profitability. At the same time, it announced that it would be opening a new, more modest store in California, and that it was scouting locations for more stores in California and New York:
According to VEG CEO Simon Wright, the Chicago store, which had an annual volume of $16 million, was never profitable due to high rent. In fact, the lease was to expire in 18 months and VEGNA probably would have been looking at even higher rent, so the chain was happy to jump at a chance to sell the lease to the Forever 21 clothing chain, Wright tells .biz.
Buddy, Can You Spare A Clue?
We here at Idolator poke enough fun at the major labels’ and retailers’ ham-handed approach to selling music in the digital age (and deservedly). But it’s hard not to feel a little sorry for them sometimes. Case in point: the 2007 edition of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers convention–i.e., the annual confab of music-store operators, and the companies that love, service, and cling to them for dear life.
As you can imagine, the reports coming back from this year’s NARM in Chicago are a bit like a wake where everybody’s cheering each other up talking about what a full life the deceased had. According to HITS, NARM President Jim Donio tried to buck up the troops by “touting the fact that the convention had managed to maintain the same attendance from last year, posting some 1,200 people [despite] the loss of Tower, Musicland and Capitol Records.” The kind interpretation: it is impressive that so many people in the industry are still standing. The cynical interpretation: where else are these folks gonna go?
MORE »
Everything Must Come Back?: Owner Of Tower Brand Planning To Open Actual Record Stores
Today’s bit of surprising news in music retail: The CEO of the the London-based online merchant Caiman–which now owns all the branding related to the liquidated record-store behemoth Tower Records–has announced that his company will revive the brand, even opening (gasp!) a few brick-and-mortar record stores:
Online merchant Caiman Inc., which acquired the bankrupt Tower Records’ logo, Tower.com and the company’s intellectual property for $4.2 million in a March bankruptcy auction, has big plans for the brand.
Nation’s No. 1 Music Retailer Realizing That Selling CDs Is Not Very Profitable
The Dangerfieldian profile of the brick-and-mortar music business is getting bigger, as Wal-Mart–the No. 1 music retailer in the US, as far as units sold–has decided to cut CD shelf space in about 500 of its stores next month, according to Kings Of A&R. MORE »
Glow-Stick USB Drives To Be Added To List Of Things Manchester Has To Answer For
Factory Records founder Tony Wilson has an article about the demise of record stores and the reasons for their descent into obscurity–crappy packaging and greedy executives, of course, being at the forefront. It’s a good piece, but then he shoots it all to hell by turning it into an ad for the emo-rave rave-screamo we-don’t-know-because-we’re-too-old outfit Enter Shikari:
I was thinking about the best band in the world the other night. They’re these young kids from St Albans just north of London and they are quite simply the best band in the world today. (By a fucking mile; and the last time I was wrong was when I gave Harvest a bad review in my university newspaper, which I regretted two weeks later and have agonised over ever since). I have not got an art judgement wrong since so you can believe me. I saw Enter Shikari live last October, before I got ill with cancer, and the sight of these boys on stage with 200 fifteen year old kids with glow-sticks and glow rings going fucking berserk was the most exciting thing I’ve seen since the early Sex Pistols gigs back in ‘76/7.
And as with any band who capture a new generational spirit, God has given them the gift of melody. I never understand how that comes about, but that’s a different essay. This is about the return of the object, the creation of something that gives you your little bit of the group, “to have and to hold, from this day forth.”
Record Industry Hoping To Boost Sales By Reminding People Of Albums They Already Own
Yesterday, we were peppered with e-mails about the Definitive 200, a list of albums that share the common trait of being bought by a lot of people. But as we found out this morning, this list is more than an opportunity for bloggers to moan about Supernatural’s popularity–it’s a marketing ploy!
The National Assn. of Record Merchandisers and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame unveiled a list of 200 albums that belong in everybody’s CD collection titled the Definitive 200 that will be used as a marketing tool at big box outlets (Wal-Mart, K mart, Best Buy), chain music shops (Virgin, Trans World outlets), indie CD stores (Cheap Thrills in new Brunswick, N.J.*, J&R in New Yok, Newbury Comics in Boston, Zia in Phoenix, Ariz., and Waterloo in Austin, Texas) and online sites (Amazon, Overstock). Campaign is starting with 75 retailers signed up.
