As 2007 ushered in a new dawn I placed a hefty bet with my fifteen year old son that by the end of 2008 there would be no chain stores, either here or in America, specializing solely in the sale of CD’s or DVD’s. A pretty drastic pronouncement and one which it gave me no pleasure to make seeing as how I misspent much of my youth – and money – in record stores. What surprised me was that my son was willing to take the bet – after all fifteen year olds claim to understand the rhythm of the streets and the tills are no longer alive with the sound of music. The writing was on the wall a long time ago. Tower Records went bust last year and already 2007 has seen the end of the influential Fopp chain, the last of the Virgin Megastores and HMV produce a report showing that its annual pre-tax profit has more than halved.
It is hardly rocket science to realise there is only so long the high street can compete with free: free CD’s and DVD’s with magazines and newspapers, free downloads off the internet and – if you have made a one-off payment on the appropriate digi-box – limitless free films. But, although it may be sad, does it really matter if we can’t find the CD’s or DVD’s we want on our high streets? Already, if you’re into classics or jazz you have to brave an assault course of hip-hop and rap to find the obscure corner where they are hidden only to discover that ‘they’ means a miniscule choice based on some increasingly dodgy chart. And if you’re into hip-hop and rap you’ve probably downloaded whatever it was you wanted anyway.
Even more ominously for the major record companies, top bands and artists like Radiohead, Prince and Madonna have been busy sidelining them altogether by literally giving away their new recordings. Here I do feel some sympathy with the ‘big boys’ because they have invested huge sums to bolster these artists along their varying roads to success. Unknowns would not have been able to behave so highhandedly and it is significant that these same top acts are still looking to record labels to distribute their recordings once the novelty of their newsworthy innovations has worn off.
But times have never been more challenging for the world of ‘entertainment retailing’ which Richard Branson declared – while shutting the last of the stores which made his name – “is no longer viewed as core to the Virgin Group’s future”. Of course there will still be a few ‘top titles’ in the supermarkets to throw into your trolley alongside the guacamole and sun-dried tomatoes but what a depressing picture that makes (literally, in the case of films) as some mogul from Walmarts dictates which ‘products’ their consumers will want to buy.
But all is not doom and gloom. Specialist shops (the kind where I misspent my youth) will survive – provided they have mastered the art of online retailing – and record companies have at last woken up to what their customers actually want. For classical music lovers a marvellous site – HYPERLINK “http://www.arkivmusic.com” www.arkivmusic.com – has opened up which allows you to order both current and long deleted CD’s on demand with the agreement of all the companies concerned and similar ventures are springing up all over the internet.
When recording began in earnest a century ago everyone predicted it would be the end of live music. Time proved them wrong as it will those who are now predicting the opposite. CD’s and DVD’s will be around for a good while yet. Just don’t expect to find the ones you want on your high street.
“I do intend to make sure that what happens over the next period is not detrimental to the arts and will not allow the fact we are having an Olympic Games to come in the way of the arts”. So said Gordon Brown shortly before becoming Prime Minister but hardly anybody seemed to believe him. The recent spending review which increased spending on the arts by 6.6 % proved the doubters wrong. So let’s give credit where it’s due: on this issue Gordon Brown has more than proved to be a man of his word.
