(Pop-Up) Shop Til You Drop

You may have noticed that record shops have changed quite a lot over the last few years. Actually, the high street as a whole has seem some radical changes. The recent down-turn has accelerated the effect of online retailing radically changing the way we shop for certain items. This has led to the record shop as we knew it almost disappearing entirely from the high street – Our Price went, Tower Records went, Virgin went. HMV were manfully struggling on, but it could be argued that as it was the last, it could probably limp on for a while by diversification.

But there may be something fundamentally changing on the high street. Many shops have lain empty due to chains going bust – Woolworths and the short-lived Zaavi to name two. And this has led to a new phenomena – the “Pop-Up Shop”. Due to developments in technology, brands can set up shop in an empty retail space for a period of time and then rip-down and go. Like some rent homes others buy, now shops can have the same option.  An obvious time for this sort of activity is Christmas time when the high street traditionally makes the majority of its annual take.

And HMV got in on the act this Christmas. It set up in 10 premises in areas that didn’t have an HMV. And, guess what….  they are keeping six of them open – at least for the time being.

This opens up a whole plethora of options and discussion points and may change the high street for years to come. If you think about it, we knew that certain types of shop would probably be decimated by internet retail. Low cost items that people are not really bothered about seeing “in the flesh” before purchase can be confidently bought online, for a cheaper price than on the high street. So that’s CDs, video games, DVDs and books basically. And these specialist retailers have been really struggling and closing as discussed. Certain shops will survive, mainly those where people need to try on (clothes, shoes etc) or where the item needs to fit into a home (so kitchen stuff, bedding etc). So the big chain stores are probably OK. But what about all the empty shops? Who is going to move in? This is where the pop-up shop becomes compelling. We could see models evolving where landlords rent out space at different rates during the year – so, a much cheaper rate during the summer (where other functions such as art galleries could rent the space), more expensive at Christmas (when the CD/book sellers – traditional stocking filler items – can literally set-up shop). And with the modern shopper demanding an “experience” more and more, what better than to have a constant evolution of short-term shops?

So, maybe the high street will fight back – and maybe we haven’t seen the end of the record shop afterall…

Where will the buzz be in the future?

I met my old mate Pete yesterday. When we meet up, the conversation inevitably heads towards geeking out about collecting music – Pete ran a rare record stall on Greenwich market in the late 80’s and I worked for him on Sundays. Most of what I know about collecting music was gained from Pete. I used to collect various bands, but mainly Level 42 (I moved onto 60’s and indie pretty quickly) when I was 16 and in those days before Ebay, it was amazingly hard to find certain records. but it was FUN. The buzz of finding something that was rare, in good nick and affordable (or, if you were really lucky, massively under-priced) gave such a buzz. I know it is geeky, but I don’t care.

Anyhow, Pete makes me look like an amateur and is still uncovering bizarre pressings and rarities by his favourite band, Blondie. But what will kids in 10, 20 years from now going to have to track down? By definition, everything is available and will remain available via download. No hearing that there is a limited edition, promo-only 12 with only 100 copies pressed and then trying to frantically track it down. OK, having everything available is obviously great and now days people are exposed to such a wide range of music, but I can’t help thinking that something has been lost. And I still think that having your records/CDs physically around you is an incredibly powerful thing – the picture covers, physically putting the music “on”.

The thing is, the record industry needs to create long-term loyalty to bands – in the old days, fans could buy picture discs, double packs, remix 12″s, loads of different stuff. Everything was branded – all part of developing that loyalty. Will downloading zeros and ones promote the same sort of loyalty to a band? Or will bands/musicians become as disposable as everything else in the modern world?

HMV makes profit out of selling music and entertainment on high street shock

HMV will announce its full-year results later and it is expected that they will be near the top end of estimates. Like-for-like sales at its HMV UK and Ireland shops were up 4.3pc in the 16 weeks ending April 25 – which seems at odds with what is happening on the high street in general and particularly with music and entertainment retail.

However, HMV is now the last remaining music retail chain on the high street and bought 23 (profitable) stores from the collapsed Zavvi chain. Simply put, if you aren’t a downloader you are more likely than ever to buy your entertainment from HMV. Look back a few years beyond recent problems and it is shocking to remember the choice we used to have on the high street – Our Price, Tower Records, Virgin/Zavvi and Woolworths were all around as competitors to HMV – now they’ve all gone.

So, perhaps one strong high street music/entertainment chain is sustainable for now. And HMV is also looking at diversification – a smart and necessary move. A couple of days ago they announced a plan to open a chain of arthouse cinemas above its stores. This is potentially a clever move – although people now have DVD systems as a norm at home and many have 42″ screens and surround-sound AV set-ups, many people still like to view movies on very big screens. Clever.

Going forward HMV could strenghthen its position as the only music/entertainment chain left on the high street, offering physical formats to those that still want to buy them whilst offering entertainment “experiences” that you can’t get down a broadband line. I expect more in-store gigs and exclusive digital offerings. How about remixes that you have to visit the store to recieve… charging stations for MP3 players… maybe HMV will prove survival of the fittest is still alive and well.

Record Store Day – Next week, Chocolate Teapot Day

When I started this blog at the beginning of the year it was primarily to discuss music in the wider context – discussing the way we used to buy music and how this has fundamentally changed – for good, if not better. I blogged about “the good old days” here.

They say timing is everything and there appears to be some nostalgia rising for the humble record store. I was listening to 6 Music (BBC’s digital-only station aimed at over-30 music lovers) a couple of days ago and caught Steve Lamaq (the indie-fan’s, indie-fan) asking his listeners for their recollections of visiting record stores and getting the predictable responses of people romanticising visiting these citadels of music almost as a religious experience. Now, I used to work in second-hand record stores, at various record collector fairs and on the late, lamented Stockwell Street Market in Greenwich in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was a brilliant time and I think my posting about it outlined it was a great time for me and lamenting that these days have gone FOR EVER. Without stating too much of the obvious, back then, there was no internet, no broadband, no MP3. If you wanted to hear a tune, you had to buy it on a physical format. As I also discussed, sometimes you had to pay big money to get a hard-to-find version of a tune. It was fun, it was a bit geeky (OK, VERY geeky) and it was of its time. today we have too many ways to get hold of music, legally and illegally. So, I was interested to discover that yesterday, Saturday 18th April 2009 was world “Record Store Day”. Obviously this was a noble idea and done with the best intentions to “save” these (mainly independent) places where you could go and discover new tunes. But it is too late and one of the last fairly desperate acts of a dying industry. In the future record stores will be very niche. Some people like crochet. Some like to go fly-fishing. Some morris-dance. I’m sure that the centre of big cities will still have enough people to keep a record shop or two going. But it is over. Done. Finished. As much as the people behind Record Store Day would like to think that we can halt the closures or maybe turn things back, it isn’t going to happen. Unfortunately the majority of people will go for convenience everytime. This coupled with a whole generation of kids growing up that cannot fathom why they would need a room to house their record collection rather than an iPod and the whole “save record shops” idea is about as likely to have a positive outcome as a “let’s go back to black and white analouge CRT TV” campaign. Luke Lewis of the NME also raises similar arguments here – and he also used to work in record stores. A really good article, go and read it.

As I have already said, I loved the days of vinyl/CD collecting and the buzz of finding a rare record or saving up to buy a new album. It was less immediate and was fun. But the genie has been let out of the bottle and no one is going back.

Devaluing music

As previously blogged, I despaired at the state of Zavvi in Bluewater and likened it to some sort of music jumble sale. Obviously Zavvi has gone to the wall and the flagship store on Oxford Street is currently standing empty – which begs the question, what the hell is going to take its place? T o me and many others, the store will always be the Virgin Megastore and is pretty damn huge. HMV already has two stores on Oxford Street and I can’t see them taking a third on. I guess the obvious evolution of the store would be for it to become an entertainment store of some sort – maybe a games store of some kind? Or, maybe one of the huge mobile operators will see it as an ideal place… Apple are around the corner in Regents Street – so I can’t see them taking it on either…

Anyway, I digress. I was in Bluewater again this week and walked past the former Zavvi store – which has been re-branded ‘Head’ – same logo as Zavvi and same ‘bring and buy’ sale feel. Apparently the former CEO of Zavvi has bought up eight of the former Zavvi/Virgin Megastore sites and is carrying on. What really grabbed me though is the price of some of the CDs on sale. The majority were cheap anyway, then there was an additional 25% to take off. I managed to buy the remastered ‘Infected’ by The The for £3. It got me thinking about how cheap music has become and that I wanted to compare it to what we used to pay for CDs/LPs/Cassettes in the old days. I’m pretty sure that around 1987, a chart LP would cost £5.99, a cassette the same and a CD £11.99. I visited thisismoney.co.uk which has a great tool where you can put a price of something in a particular year and find out the cost in ‘today’s money’. So, based on these prices, a vinyl LP or cassette would cost £10.05 and a CD would cost £22.11. So, the original CD of Infected would have cost me over seven times what I paid at ‘Head’. And it was rare to find CDs at less than £11.99. I think we can safely say that CDs were overpriced back then, but would people be willing to pay £22.11 for the latest Kylie album? I don’t think so. Basically we have become used to paying very little for music – and books, newspapers, DVDs. I realise that my purchase was of sale stock, but you can pick up most new release CDs for £7.99 maximum online if you look around a bit.

This also leads to another point – will record companies stop pressing CDs soon? I remember when the CD really took hold in the late eighties and there was a massive programme by record companies to get back catalogue onto this new pristine, shiny, ‘non-crackle’ wonder format. For example, when The Beatles back catalogue was transferred onto CD it was big news and an enormous cash-cow. But now, if a record company could get rid of the hassle of creating physical formats, why wouldn’t they? The cost of producing the disc and booklet and transporting them to stores isn’t really required anymore. I know that there will always be a certain consumer that won’t want to pay for something that is basically a computer file, but are they a big enough population to stop things going this way? I suspect that the record shop will go completely and the last place to buy physical formats will be supermarkets.  Certain niche releases are already only available via download stores such as iTunes and the fab Lost Tunes (http://www.losttunes.com/) already deals exclusively in stuff that is only available from them in digital format.

But, going forward this may be the way of maintaining music’s ‘value’. Once a CD is pressed and released, market forces dictate its ‘value’. If you have a load of copies of ‘Infected’ by The The to shift, why not sell it for £3? But if certain music is only available on-line and can be properly DRM’d (another whole discussion), the ‘value’ of the music *could* be maintained.

But with the rise of Spotify and other excellent streaming services such as Rhapsody, there may be no point in trying to sell music in the end…

Ever wondered how a 7″ record is made?

Regular readers (yeah, right!) will know that I’ve just kicked-off the history of recorded music and am still somewhere in the 1860’s. But, as chance will have it, the 7″ single is celebrating its 60th birthday and the BBC (bless ’em) has visited the Vinyl Factory to see how a 7″ is made. I had a rough idea of this, but had no idea it is such a faff! Take a look at this film to see the whole process. Blimey, ‘making’ an MP3 is just a bit easier!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7973950.stm

And when you think that you can buy most chart 7″ for 99p these days, how much is anyone making out of a sale?

The beat goes on…

Back in the day, Stockwell Street market was the home to a few record stalls selling a wide range of second hand and new music across the whole range of popular music. Over the years the dropped off one-by-one until the only one of note that was left was Casbah Records, run by Graham and his brother Tony. G & T arrived on the market in the late 80’s when I was working a rival record stall. But as things are between record dealers, there isn’t really any rivalry and many a trade was done and a beer sunk. Top men, they continued with their passion throughout the 90’s and the 0o’s. Happily, the end of the market isn’t the end of Casbah – they have simply moved to The Beehive, 320-322 Creek Road. I visited the shop a couple of weeks back and it is everything a record shop should be – inviting, well laid out, neat and cool. There is even a record deck on the counter to spin the rare stuff that Graham seems to find somewhere or the other. There is rare vinyl, CDs, DVDs, books, posters, magazines…. a real goldmine.

It is well worth a visit. If iTunes is the Sainsbury’s of music buying, Casbah is the Harrods. Go and visit and say hi from Jeff.

So daddy, you used to go to a shop to buy music?!?

Two stories broke during the last week that further underlined that one day kids will ask their parents to remind them when they didn’t get their music fix via a mobile phone (think about it – 25 years ago a phone was a bakerlite thing tethered to the wall with a big dial on the front and you bought 12″ plastic disks to listen to music – who’d have thought it, eh?).

Firstly, Zavvi announced that another 15 stores will be closed immediately – that’s 55 down, 48 still going. The management team are obviously streamlining and looking for a buyer that will be interested in keeping the main stores open. But will they still be regarded as ‘record shops’ – I think that they are closer to ‘Game’ now than anything. In fact, as DVDs are so cheap already and the film industry is facing up to an ‘online’ future, are games the last ‘margin maker’?

Secondly, EMI announced that the company’s digital revenues rose to £102 million in the six months to September 30, a 38 percent increase from the previous half’s £74 million figure (http://www.paidcontent.co.uk/entry/419-maltby-capital-report-in-progress/). This lead EMI chairman Lord Birt to concede that ‘the music market is in turmoil’. Good oh, EMI – so you didn’t see this coming 10 years ago then???

It seems that the record companies are finally facing up to facts. They can’t carry on as a cash-generating old boys club that basically treated artists and customers in an equally shabby manor. Time’s up, the MP3 boat finally came in. Also, what with Woolies also going, will ‘Record Shop’ seem a ridiculous a notion in a few years? When I was a lad, the idea that everyone got their suits made seemed pretty mad – will the record shop become as relatively rare as the bespoke tailor? Unfortunate as it is for all those they employ(ed), record comapanies are basically going to become marketing companies. Apart from offering advances that allow bands to go and buy some nice clothes and marketing a new album, why would a young band sign their lives away to a label these days? Why not get a buzz going via the plethora of social media sites and stuff  ‘the man?’ It is even easy to press your own vinyl these days.

But then again, with no record shops to sell the bloody things, what’s the point?

Death of the Record Shop

So I was in Bluewater yesterday. I was in the frankly bonkers-named (and stricken) ‘Zaavi’ and a couple of things struck me. As I saw the ‘everything must go’ signs and cardboard boxes (really) of stock strewn about the floor, I realised that Mr Branson worked this all out and got out of record shops at just the right time. I remember the heyday of Virgin Megastores and in its time it was an impressive beast. Richard saw the end of the road and surprisingly some others decided that it was a good time to get into music retail. Puzzling. Second thing was that we are witnessing the end of an era. Sure, people have been counting down the days for record shops for over a decade, since perfect quality mp3s became small enough and broadband wide enough to allow music to be bought/sold/sampled/stolen/listened-to from home. But I think that the passing of music retail has been lost in the general financial meltdown. Let’s face it, banks collapsing and Woolworths (I mean, Woolworths – an institution older than the record itself) going have inevitably overshadowed the demise of teenagers popping into a big shop to buy their favourite tunes on record, cassette and latterly CD. But I truly believe that this marks the end of the socially ritualistic buying of a product that tells you a lot more about a person than, say, the clothes they wear.

I used to work in rare and second-hand record shops and stalls around London. I even worked at record fairs. It was all a bit ‘High Fidelity’ but that was the point. People would come in and you could discuss a new band, introduce someone to an old band and everything in between. There were colourful sleeves, double packs, picture discs, strange Japanese editions, rare original 60’s pressings, different genres, different styles, different formats. Every shop was different. And inevitably with the demise of Zaavi and the like, it is also the end of these music emporiums, often run by strange men (always men) with a story or 7,000 to tell. In the places I worked, you got to know the regulars and share a cup of tea with them. There was talk of great gigs, stories of meetings with band members and ‘insider knowledge’. Tales of rare pressings and weird mixes turning up in strange places. A love of music and records.

Now we can get what we want, when we want – but no sleeve…. no history of a record…. no sense of achievement tracking something down.

So that’s why I’m sad that I was witnessing the death of a high-street giant – the repurcussions are so great on so many levels.