Very interesting article from The Economist on UK music retail. Says that supermarkets accounted for over a third of UK CD album sales last year, up from just over an eighth in 2000. Also makes the point that independent music shops have survived by sticking with physical product and embracing internet sales.
This mention of Rough Trade East... "an independent in London, has a stage for in-store gigs and a coffee shop, selling the experience of visiting a shop dedicated to music as much as the recorded product itself..." reminds me of my local, Conch Records. It's why these shops are surviving, and thriving.
Their master's voice: Independents need the industry’s last retailing giant to flourish
"Music retailing has had a curious April. HMV Group, owners of the last surviving high-street music chain and linchpin of the business, produced its third profits warning of the year as conditions on the high street “remained difficult”. Yet on April 16th hundreds of bleary-eyed shoppers across the country queued from sunrise outside HMV’s independently owned competitors. They were waiting for the one-off releases on sale to mark Record Store Day, a “celebration of music” organised by independent music shops, with over a thousand outlets participating around the world.
The popularity of this event suggests that small specialist music sellers are healthy. Some are, but they need their sickly mass-market opponent to recover. Over the past decade the way Britons buy music has changed radically, and this has hurt both chain stores and independents.
Millions now purchase chart CDs, often on impulse, when they are out shopping for groceries: supermarkets accounted for over a third of CD album sales last year, up from just over an eighth in 2000. Tesco alone receives more than £1 of every £10 spent on music in Britain. Most of all, the internet has transformed buying patterns. Home delivery accounted for a quarter of album sales in 2010, an estimated half of which were from Amazon, the internet giant. Digital downloads have all but wiped out the singles market, for years the lifeblood of local record shops: 160m songs were downloaded last year (most for less than £1), but only 2m physical singles were sold, down from 44m in 2002.
When the economy weakened, these changes helped kill off three high-street general retailers: Woolworths, Zavvi (formerly Virgin Megastore) and Borders. The number of indies also plummeted. The Entertainment Retailers Association says there were 281 of them at the last count, down from 578 in 2006. Those that focused on chart music closed first, and many more lacked the resources or the will to renew leases first taken on in the early 1970s.
But some independents are thriving. They embraced the internet but avoided the distraction of digital downloads. Half the turnover of Manchester’s Piccadilly Records comes from online sales; Philippa Jarman, its co-owner, says that “one of our shrewdest decisions was to stick to physical rather than digital downloads.”
Concentrating on physical products left independents well placed to capitalise on the recent revival in vinyl, too. Surviving independents highlight the importance of having staff who are immersed in the music scene, so that they act as a trusted filter in an industry with millions of products on offer. The most successful stores have used this expertise to create a sense of community far removed from the stereotypical shop staffed by snobbish music nerds. Rough Trade East, an independent in London, has a stage for in-store gigs and a coffee shop, selling the experience of visiting a shop dedicated to music as much as the recorded product itself.
By contrast, HMV has diversified into clothing, gaming and selling tickets to events, cutting its dependence on CDs but diluting its distinctiveness. With its shares now around 10p, down from 85p a year ago, the firm may sell its book chain, Waterstone’s, and close at least 40 HMV stores. The four biggest record labels are even considering supplying the retailer with non-chart music on a “sale or return” basis, freeing cash to reduce its £130m debt.
The labels need HMV to survive in order to keep lucrative non-chart music on the high street. So too do the independents, for if HMV were to fail, the labels would cut back their operations, drastically shrinking the market. HMV’s logo famously shows a terrier listening intently to a gramophone; even the indies hope the top dog regains its form."
2 comments:
RT East stocks a little bit of everything, the CDs are often discount and it has books to browse, too. I think the coffee angle is overrated – people go there to flick through the racks and listen to what the staff are playing. Just like the old days, really.
I think the coffee angle works, certainly at Conch, as it makes it more social. Funny thing is, some folk who come for the coffee never venture into the deeper recesses of the record store. Thanks for the comment Chad.
Post a Comment