Anyone surprised? The end is nigh.

I trawled the Tesco cd section last night, and there were a few discs I fancied, but I know full well I can get them cheaper from Amazon.

Anyone know how Amazons music/dvd sales compare to HMV and the others?

Can I revert to my concept of SHOP! - a reality TV series that follows a retail shop opening and providing music services to the new generation of high tech buyers - downloads, physicals, posters, live gigs... a meeting place for music lovers with experts in all departments and areas?

Simon Fuller expressed great interest initially but has taken it no further.

Key point there..."experts in all departments and areas".
One tends to find that the love and encyclopaedic knowledge of music from the old indie shops does not stretch to the mega-stores any more than the love of historic and sociological history of the hamburger is installed in the staff of a fast food take away.

The "Virgin Megastore" radio works ok, but it would be lovely to see a live DJ in every store, so there is my contribution to "Shop" to start with.

.."The time is coming up to 8.45, here`s the new one from the Artics, which can be found in aisle number three, download at any of the i-machines and posters are at the desk..."

isn't the core problem this? with the advent of CDs in '85 record retailers hit a gravy-train, going from selling the top 40 to the top 40,000 (in the words of Malcolm McClaren)

In the last two years we have had the biggest selling debut of all time (the Killers) and the biggest selling UK debut (The Arctics)People are clearly still buying music, they are just more selective. They are just not buying the top 38,000 that they either already own and don't want to pay for again.

That supermarkets used CDs as loss-leaders is down to the labels allowing them to do just that. Loss leaders remain just that, until Mssrs Tesco and Walmart move on to the next one, ie, mobile phones and harry fucking Potter

Do "high tech buyers" buy music? And if they do, do they buy discs in shops? I don't think so.

A new kind of record shop would be a meeting place for "serious" music fans (if there are any left). This might be a niche market, but only in (very) big towns.

To spin-off HMV was one of (if not the only) sensible thing EMI has done in the last ten years ...

Not even remotely surprised. The end is indeed in sight.

One major problem I feel is, is that there is very little passion about music by those employed by music retailers as Mart suggested.

A while ago I was in my local HMV and overheard somebody asking a member of staff where they could find Patsy Cline product. Just out of interest I nosed along and was astounded when this employee took the customer to the METAL section because he didn't have any idea about music whatsoever... I walked out both laughing and in dismay.

I fear the main problem is is that music has become nothing more than a fashion accessory. It is easily downloadable for "free" enabling the "consumer" to spend their money on an expensive pair of trainers or tracksuit instead since you can't exactly download those for free can you? Look at most youngsters and you can see them wearing expensive clothes along with their IPods marked out by those white earphones. An IPod is nothing more than a fashion accessory and I fear the music consumed on such devices is rarely actually LISTENED to anymore by such people and that saddens me. By the way is it just me and some pals but those white IPod earphones do no favours to the music at all, meaning people are listening to mp3 copies with all their compressed artefacts through crap earphones which make them sound even worse?

Call me old fashioned but to me Music is and always has been IMPORTANT in my life. I actually LISTEN to it, sitting down and doing nothing else but immersing myself within the music. Seems to me most people nowadays just use it as background music for whatever they do in their lives to the degree I don't think they become emotionally attached or engaged to the music anymore.

Bit of a tangent....but have the Kooks not outsold the Arctic Monkeys now making them the biggest selling debut..unless you meant fastest selling debut?

Profits down 50% - share price remains stable.

Some people obviously think the profit drop isn't terrible news. Perhaps they were expecting it or bought shares cheaply.

ah, zooloo, I see you are quoting from Orwell's "1984". I don't see why since it has nothing to do with what's going on out there at the moment. This is indeed a splendid time of peace, stability and justice. Didn't anyone tell you?

Big End wrote:
ah, zooloo, I see you are quoting from Orwell's "1984". I don't see why since it has nothing to do with what's going on out there at the moment. This is indeed a splendid time of peace, stability and justice. Didn't anyone tell you?
The thought that it was anything but wonderful hadn't crossed my mind.

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