Last night it was announced that the latest casualty of the recession is HMV who have been struggling over the past few years but finally had to declare themselves as going into administrator-ship (They're Broke) meaning that like Woolworths, Jessops and many other UK Businesses they too will soon become a distant memory although to many of todays I-tunes generation they never existed in the first place and this is one of the major reasons they are in the position they are in.
Its a known fact that Asda,Tesco's and Morrissons are the major players when it comes to CD and DVD sales with HMV steadily loosing ground as digital sales took over from physical sales and in a vain effort to counter this HMV took to concentrating on sales of accessories and music players (instead of their concentrating on Music) with many of the stores operating as cinemas playing re runs of classic films (instead of concentrating on Music)
HMV's overall failure to engage with the youth is probably their biggest downfall as Music is a youth culture, They could have seen this in the demise of other Music retailers before them such as Our price, Virgin records and Tower records who all had similar fates due to their inability to understand the shift in the way consumers not only purchased new music but but also what music trends were outside of commercial releases (How many times did you go into a HMV store only to be told they had to order in a CD for you)
in today's world of instant gratification that just couldn't last.
I can't say I will be sad to see the back of HMV as they were another old Dinosaur trying to do things the old way in new times.
R.I.P HMV!!
(If you ever stole a CD from HMV your sins are now forgiven)
