www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarch...amp;sid=aGm.GGBtHrPI

I think JK had some opinions on the buyout ?

Yes indeed - this has been reported (with the TF spin about not taking profits so as to get positive media coverage) in the UK papers.

It is all a very simple instruction of what happens when people who do not understand a creative field think they can make money from it.

anyone I know remotely connected to the music business described Hand as a total fuckwit with what he was proposing to do with EMI-long before the current woes.

His arrogance and blather at the time now looks to be what it was.

Mr Hands has been a disaster.

EMI have an amazing heritage and plenty of stuff that interests me archive wise. Over the last couple of years, EMI have released a whole load of archive CD's but there is one major problem... they don't bother to get them into the stores.

I know this for a fact since I still want to buy CD's... I want my music uncompressed, not as mp3 files. Last year to celebrate PJ Proby's 70th birthday, EMI released a special compilation, but I've never been able to buy it in HMV or Zavvi. HMV and Zavvi will stock up on new EMI releases - an example being David Gilmour's "Live In Gdansk" release but not the archive CD's.

Talk about slitting their own throat. PJ Proby, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Bonzo Dog Band, Kiki Dee, Billy J.Kramer, Herman's Hermits appeal to older people, many of whom are not internet savvy. They have been denied the chance to buy any of these CD's. Of course one can buy them online or get mp3 downloads but not in the shops. Little wonder then, the music retailers are going out of business.

I think it is RIDICULOUS that here in Liverpool, I cannot buy the multi CD boxsets of Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J.Kramer and The Swinging Blue Jeans anywhere in Liverpool. I can buy old budget compilations and of course anything by The Beatles but it is annoying that considering Liverpool's heritage that we cannot go into a store and buy these collections by prime players in the Merseybeat scene. 2008 saw several million tourists descend upon Liverpool. The Beatles and Merseybeat is a major part of the heritage yet all tourists could buy were half baked budget compilations as opposed to "complete works" packages. Unbelievable.

It is only EMI releases... I can get archive releases from other companies with no problem from the shops here but NOT EMI releases.

And then Hands and co wonder why they're making huge losses. They haven't got a clue. They own an amazing catalogue, still taking time to give them good overhauls but if you can't buy the products in the shops, then what is the bloody point?

Then there's the case of Roisin Murphy, a singer I very much adore. She had the misfortune of signing with EMI just as it was starting to go under. Early in 2008, it was announced her next single would be the lame "Movie Star". A lot of Roisin fans like to get her stuff on vinyl. The single failed to appear. A few months later, Roisin recorded a version of Bryan Ferry's "Slave To Love" for a major ad campaign. EMI then announced a double A side release featuring that song backed with "Movie Star". Interest was high in "Slave" thanks to the ad campaign, but where is the bloody single? Again - it never appeared, except on the US iTunes. EMI therefore lost a lot of potential sales and have done Roisin's career zero favours whatsoever and her fanbase all believe that her signing with EMI has been an unmitigated disaster... EMI haven't got a clue whatsoever.

but we have to look at the other record companies. Are they also crashing ?

The music industry does seem to be on its knees and no amount of Brit polishing hides the truth that bands like U2 are spent and clueless. Coldplay though having made their best album had to copy others to get there........

The glory days have ended. Reality TV stars are the only music acts left that sell in any great number. They are packaged to such an extent that they too fail eventually - each one replaced by the new series.

Simon Cowell is now totally in charge of the music industry in terms of big sellers.

Music has become a background noise in films and gaming where getting an advert sync or film placement is now the aim of the modern band.

Will the last person in the music industry please turn the light off when they leave.........