HMV RIP !

IceCreamMan

Dingwall wrote: The last remaining dedicated CD retailer in UK calls in the administrators today! This actually saddens me as my very own kids will potentially grow up in a world that never knows that feeling of finding that rare lp/tape/cd whilst browsing in a music shop or saving up for that album you really wanted etc

Am I just showing my age here!?

Used to go to the flagship HMV store in london a lot back in the day ...... share space with fellow music enthusiasts scrounging around always looking for something ?

i was thinking the same thing over the weeked funny enough ..... as a lad grwoing up in kepmton park we used to go to stereo heaven in kempton city and go thru the albums , it was hallowed ground ...i loved going there and if i could not find what i needed they would order it for me ... was thinking the same thing , my wee lad will never run his fingers over cd's looking for something , will never have to save money to buy that prized album .......

time moves on , i recently became a big fan of the ZA itunes, they have everything i need at a much cheaper rate and zero time involved ...for me its win win ...but i sure will miss the going thru cd's .......

Bob-Dubery

Dingwall wrote: The last remaining dedicated CD retailer in UK calls in the administrators today! This actually saddens me as my very own kids will potentially grow up in a world that never knows that feeling of finding that rare lp/tape/cd whilst browsing in a music shop or saving up for that album you really wanted etc

Am I just showing my age here!?

Plenty of 20 year olds in Johannesburg don't have much experience of catching steam trains, playing vinyl discs or listening to plays on the radio.

I don't know about you, but I knew about the wax cylinders that they had before flat discs, but I never felt I was missing out by not being able to shop for them.

Jack-Flash-Jr

X-rated Bob wrote:
Dingwall wrote: The last remaining dedicated CD retailer in UK calls in the administrators today! This actually saddens me as my very own kids will potentially grow up in a world that never knows that feeling of finding that rare lp/tape/cd whilst browsing in a music shop or saving up for that album you really wanted etc

Am I just showing my age here!?
The last few years when I've been to HMV I haven't found much of what I was looking for. Their second brand, FOPP, was better but not a whole lot.

OK... so I have quirky tastes. Fact is, I can do much better on-line. Even though I'm only starting to reconcile myself with the possibility of using iTunes or something similar, for me Amazon and the like are far superior to any high stree/shopping mall store. I have a better choice, I can listen to previews, they track my previous purchases and can thus match me to stuff I haven't bought but is in the ballpark of what I previously have sought out. Amazon do a much better job of putting me in touch with music than HMV or, for that matter, Look and Listen.

I'm guessing that this not really the end of retail CD sales in the UK. Have all those wonderful indy retailers gone belly up in the last couple of years?

So you're not going to miss the inserts after all? ?

+1 on availability. There is another route as well - Endless Boogie is releasing a new album which I could have happily downloaded on iTunes or 7Digital (UK) on release but instead I bought a CD that comes with a poster and limited ed. 12" from their site and they're posting it to me. Best of both worlds.
The Raconteurs did a similar thing with their first release and Jack White's Third Man Records continues to sell vinyl and CD in addition to digital download.

Edit: I should add I never enjoyed browsing record stores because a) I want to hear samples of new stuff without the hassle of taking 20 discs to a listening station b) I worked at one as my first job and I probably have some PTSD stemming from piles and piles of Celine Dion and Wet Wet Wet cds to wrap and stack while the lone copy of Electric Ladyland sits unloved except by me.

wirt

I sure wont miss having to drive to a music shop to find a CD but like Jack Flash Junior asked: I sure will miss the inserts and extras that came with a CD. I remember NIN's Year Zero album had a black disc coated with thermo-chrome which changed colour when the disc was heated up by playing it for 30 minutes or so (revealed binary code would point to an external website which was the start of a whole series of thematic websites centered around the album and it's contents. Pure genius, I tell you). I always bought the albums for the music, but it was the best feeling in the world to pay for something and get a lot more than what you paid for.

But would I trade that for being able to go online and find whatever I want instantly and effortlessly? Hell no.

Bob-Dubery

Jack Flash Jr wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote:
Dingwall wrote: The last remaining dedicated CD retailer in UK calls in the administrators today! This actually saddens me as my very own kids will potentially grow up in a world that never knows that feeling of finding that rare lp/tape/cd whilst browsing in a music shop or saving up for that album you really wanted etc

Am I just showing my age here!?
The last few years when I've been to HMV I haven't found much of what I was looking for. Their second brand, FOPP, was better but not a whole lot.

OK... so I have quirky tastes. Fact is, I can do much better on-line. Even though I'm only starting to reconcile myself with the possibility of using iTunes or something similar, for me Amazon and the like are far superior to any high stree/shopping mall store. I have a better choice, I can listen to previews, they track my previous purchases and can thus match me to stuff I haven't bought but is in the ballpark of what I previously have sought out. Amazon do a much better job of putting me in touch with music than HMV or, for that matter, Look and Listen.

I'm guessing that this not really the end of retail CD sales in the UK. Have all those wonderful indy retailers gone belly up in the last couple of years?

So you're not going to miss the inserts after all? ?

I still buy physical product from Amazon and other e-tailers, so I get the liner notes - and read them. If I go fully digital then I have to cross that bridge.

+1 on availability. There is another route as well - Endless Boogie is releasing a new album which I could have happily downloaded on iTunes or 7Digital (UK) on release but instead I bought a CD that comes with a poster and limited ed. 12" from their site and they're posting it to me. Best of both worlds.
The Raconteurs did a similar thing with their first release and Jack White's Third Man Records continues to sell vinyl and CD in addition to digital download.

I think lots of artists sell items from their web site or via their own boutique labels. Usually they make more money from such sales than the they do from a sale in a retail outlet, so it's a good way to support them.

Squonk

I get what Dingwall is saying.

In those days, the average record shop used to have lots of classical stuff, a very limited rock/pop section and usually all the singles that David Gresham would play on his shows. I am talking about the shops I came across in Florida and Roodepoort in the early 70's

Then one day I visited Hillbrow....

Hillbrow Records(Library) was the most amazing record shop. I had never experienced seeing a whole catalog of any artist I could think of, just waiting there to be bought. They also had a huge Sale section and that's where you would find bargains and rare albums etc.

I remember reading about Genesis in the NME (New Musical Express - for the younger ones) and was hectically impressed when I found the exact same record in the shop, be it at a monumental price because it was an import!

From that moment on, Hillbrow Records was my "Church"; saved up all my pocket money, caught the train into JHB, had some Haggis and Mushy peas at the Fishhoek and then a huge chat with 'Lenny' (I think he was the owner of Hillbrow Records) and then the browsing began....I also met like minded people there and we used to talk about music, swop records and information, it was all good stuff.

The world has changed and it sounds all silly now, but at the time it was The Bollocks!

The internet has made it a lot easier and even I partake of all the new technologies, but I am thankful that I experienced both...

Jack-Flash-Jr

Hillbrow Records was the first Look 'n Listen if I'm not mistaken - I'm not old enough for HR but I got my mom to drive me into town to L 'n L to get Stones cassettes when I was a young teen. Look 'n Listen Sandton (now gone?) was the second store and that's where I cut my retail teeth. Yeesh.

Bob-Dubery

Jack Flash Jr wrote: Hillbrow Records was the first Look 'n Listen if I'm not mistaken - I'm not old enough for HR but I got my mom to drive me into town to L 'n L to get Stones cassettes when I was a young teen. Look 'n Listen Sandton (now gone?) was the second store and that's where I cut my retail teeth. Yeesh.

No. Look and Listen and Hillbrow Records were competitors. HR moved out of Hillbrow sometime in the early 90s, went to Rosebank and became CD Wherehouse. CD Wherehouse got bought by Clicks and was developed into a chain and, later, after various contractual stipulations expired, was merged with the Musica chain.

It was a slow downhill from the time of the Clicks buyout. Until then Leonard Berolsky was running the store and he and his hand-picked lieutenants had a massive knowledge - not just of who done what, but also if it was available, how to get it and so on. Plus they did not confine themselves to the mainstream, they stocked a very wide range.

For a while I used the late, lamented Canned Applause in Melville. Shop owner Riaan provided a great service - he could get you anything, in reasonable time and at good prices. He got me stuff I would not have got from any other shop in Jo'burg - well, not without a multi-month wait. He also ran fascinating little concerts in the back of his shop. I remember going there to listen to Guy Buttery - it was all dim and everybody sat on the floor (bar Mrs X-rated - Riaan knew she had bad knees and had put out a chair for her) and the room was lit by candles and we all just sort of sat around Buttery's feet while he played - great evening.

Anyhoo... Canned Applause ran into difficulties (I don't know the whole story) and I've pretty much resorted to e-tailers ever since. Even when I go to the UK I just order stuff from Amazon and have it shipped to my aunt's address. However, I hear murmurs about a good shop in Killarney - I must make a plan.

Dingwall

All valid and correct comments. I just hope that kids will still grow up with the same passions and creative stimulus that past generations have etc

singemonkey

Gah. Git orf my lawn, ya damn kids! CD inserts were a poor substitute for wandering about with the LP cover in your hands.

But yeah. It's a little like saying that kids in the 17th C would never know the pleasure of waiting four months for a monk to copy a book for you and handing over three years of an average person's wages for it. Sure, it was an experience, but it really limited your access to the materiel.

Bob-Dubery

Dingwall wrote: All valid and correct comments. I just hope that kids will still grow up with the same passions and creative stimulus that past generations have etc

Fear not, brother Dingwall! The creative urge wasn't to do with holding a CD or a vinyl disc. It existed in individuals before there was either, indeed before there were guitars! The tools and the context change, but there will always be folk with that itch to scratch.

Be glad for the song has no ending.

Psean

I'm with Dingwall on this...
I really do enjoy the ease of access that online shopping has brought but I still like browsing through rows of discs and happening across stuff I wouldn't have otherwise. But local record shops are crap these days (except for Micogram) so now I rather get my cds off Loot.

Squonk

Psean wrote: I'm with Dingwall on this...
I really do enjoy the ease of access that online shopping has brought but I still like browsing through rows of discs and happening across stuff I wouldn't have otherwise. But local record shops are crap these days (except for Micogram) so now I rather get my cds off Loot.

+1

Got some real rare CD's and DVD's at Microgram

Bob-Dubery

Here's an interesting take on HMV's (and Blockbuster's) demise.

Kind of says what we're saying here - there is a place for small, specialist businesses, it's the guys who are just middling (size wise and attitude wise) that are at risk. Also note the comment about Waterstones "they are not as good as they used to be: the days when Waterstones staff knew about books – or at least read book reviews – appear to be long gone". This mirrors my experience with HMV in the UK and with many (but not all) stores here: The staff aren't much good. My wife is a knitter. There are no knitting chains equivalent to HMV. All the stores she seeks out - in SA, in the UK, recently in Spain - are run and staffed by people who know about and love wool and knitting and she always gets a lot of information and has a lot of fun in these shops.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/alex-massie/2013/01/who-cares-about-hmvs-demise-shopping-has-never-been-better/