In today's video, I'm going to be exploring what actually happened to HMV, and briefly tell you about the story of HMV's turbulence over the past few years. Enjoyed the video? Subscribe and leave a comment!
For the record a massive piece of HMV history is never reported: for more than 20 years in the 80s & 90s HMV were the ‘bad guys’. They were ruthless and put countless independent and small chain local retail record shops out of business and this was a huge concern for music fans for many many years. They were ruthless and took advantage of cheap money on the markets to expand aggressively obliterating brilliant record stores up and down the country. Music fans could no longer source smaller up coming bands/artist, or local acts with small record deals. The music industry could no longer market their products properly due to the HMV dominance. They called the shots. When times changed - with streaming/downloads - to destroy their business model, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer organisation. I’ve noticed how history has been totally rewritten and HMV is some sort of sob story, they were the little guy or how we should feel sorry for them? What goes around always comes around.
Well said! I worked at an independent music store in the early 00's and HMV pretty much put us out of business and two of their staff even came to scoff/gloat on our final day of business and I remember them saying "HMV will never go out of business", yet a few years later, the whole company almost went under. As you say, karma came back to bite them on the derriere and they were definitely the enemy to independent music stores and in a way, they still are; They don't get to take part in Record Store Day because they are not independent, they are the big multi-store business.
I was a huge buyer of records in the 80s and early 90s, but I rarely went to HMV, it was sterile and soulless, and just sold the chart and mainstream stuff. Always preferred small independent stores.
You think hmv stared with 100 store's or 1? It's a free market where they took advantage and independent store's just do their thing and complain when someone has a better business strategy
@@antwhite3899 exactly - it is a free market, but the very point I have made is that the narrative for HMV - when they went under and were struggling - is that they were somehow the ‘David’ (of the and Goliath story) and are positioned as the VICTIM and “what a shame / poor old HMV”. They never gave a flying f*** about the competition when they were in their ascendancy, annihilating much loved businesses with a McDonald’s model of music retailing, but - in your words - that’s market forces. Absolutely fare enough, but we shouldn’t have there for felt sorry for them. Thats the point being made. They were once the faceless conglomerate killing competition but somehow history has been rewritten to make them the poor victims. You are missing the point being made. There is a patchy understanding of their history and a revision of it. Ironically HMV were extraordinarily old fashioned with their clumsy idea of what retailing was - build debt to open endless stores (in excessively prime locations) and undercut everyone, destroying margins for an entire industry. Stacking em high and selling cheap, but in doing so reducing the choice on offer and killing the sector that served real enthusiasts. They went after the entire market in a clumsy bid to own it all - redefining the industry. Cheap Now That’s What I Call Music compilations, massive displays for the latest Elton John release and miles of cheap DVD landfill all on a tiny or suicidal margin. Yep, very progressive retailing? The board were old fashioned retailers able to spend while becoming increasingly indebted . Profitable specialists were muscled out - consumers lost out. HMV got what it deserved.
There is nothing like opening a new record, carefully placing it on the turntable and listening to it in the order that the artist intended it too be listened in. No skipping, no shuffle. Perfect.
For me it's absolutely about holding a physical copy in my hands, watching the artwork, reading the lyrics, liner notes etc. And you're forced to stop and spend some time with the actual damn record. I also like going to a record store and not having everything in an instant. You go shuffling through the selection available and sometimes you find surprising things and the other times nothing at all. I think it makes it a bit more special and connects you more with the record when you have to make some effort to have it. I just think that it devalues the thing if it's just there in the snap of a finger whether it's the music, movies etc. I do use streaming services also but never have bought just a digital album. I search for new stuff and if I like something I buy a physical copy of it. Of course it's pretty convenient to take your music with you wherever you go or whatever you're doing but there's the trap of music becoming just a less meaningful background noise for everything. There are ups and downs. There are also the sound issues of course. Some cds have remarkable sound issues but then again a badly mastered, pressed or whatever vinyl isn't any better. If a streaming service offers you the brickwalled cd version it doesn't make much of a difference how high the available bit rate is. A bad original source is just bad. Nowadays when using streaming services I prefer Tidal over Spotify since I find the audio quality much better. And there are some pros in the app also. I hate the tiktok-like scrolling Spotify keeps pushing for me. And too often the recommendations are clearly not based on my listening history at all. If you sacrifice your privacy then the least you should have is an algorithm that actually knows you and your taste. Then again those are just annoying more trivial issues. In the end whatever works for you go for it as long as you're paying the artist for the work. It's all good if the music and people behind it are appreciated enough to get a fair compensation. I don't have any statistic reference here but I guess it's pretty safe to make a claim that music is being played and consumed more than ever in the history of mankind so it shouldn't be a dying market at all.
HMV isn't on the demise. They're expanding. They just moved back into their original Oxford Road location in London and they're opening new stores. They also have the largest vinyl store in the UK. Vinyl definitely isn't a fad and is growing consistently year on year. It's been 20 years of growth. Last financial year HMV doubled their revenue. I go to HMV all the time. I buy films and music consistently. As many are now seeing, streaming is becoming more expensive for lesser quality. While digital purchases are basically rentals that can be taken away any time. Consumers are waking up to that reality, and I think this will stabilise the physical market in the coming years. When this happens, HMV will be well positioned to take advantage.
I agree with most of your comments! HMV is doing very well as the video ends states, may I ask - why do you choose to shop HMV for film over Netflix? Do you think Plex is the future?
@BusinessifyYT I choose HMV because they are well stocked and their customer service is usually very good. I would much rather browse in a shop and pick up physical music and movies. So I'll happily buy from a specialist retailer. Things like Netflix curbed my expenditure on movies for a while. But with rising costs and newer content being pretty poor in general, I've stopped watching Netflix etc. I would rather build a definitive collection of music and movies that is mine, than rely upon an ever changing landscape of digital content that rarely has the film I want to watch, when I want to watch it.
This resurgence will be short lived. I hate to be the pessimist but its true. Physical media will die a lingering death then it will be gone. Vinyl is just a fad. Sad times but its a natural evolution of media.
Here in Canada ,we had them as well. At many malls,they had competition from Sunrise Rec and they were often both in the same malls. Eventually, HMV declared that if the malls renewed the leases, then HMV would leave. The malls made Sunrise leave . Three years later ,HMV Canada declared bankruptcy and Sunrise returned to the malls . I love irony .
I did regret my wording post recording - forgive me on the first video! I would say more is it a passing trend - if we were to look at vinyl sales around 2012 we wouldn’t be mentioning it as digital was the focus - but its resurgence is either a passing trend or is a strong message to the Digital giants it is here to stay - of which I’m not sure it is…! Thanks for the comment!
@@BusinessifyYT HMV are now doing really well.. also Vinyal came back popular in 2025 because of Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran that release Vinyl to a general who never grow up with it , so it was like new , to them.
I regularly visit my local HMV for CD purchases, I've even played at their live and local. I just love the idea of browsing the CDs, and even the vinyl though I don't use it personally. In my eyes, and the eyes of many others, HMV is still a great place to go and shop for physical medium.
I remember the price of CD albums creeping up and up in the early 2000s before digital music became widespread. Had it continued we'd be paying on average 30 quid plus now and the Internet saved music lovers from sheer opportunism on the part of the old record industry.
Years ago now at some conference or other a BPI insider castigated the industry for demanding top money for back catalogue product which had recouped its costs decades earlier. Carry on doing that he said and you'll kill us. He mentioned a price which he reckoned would still give everybody a decent margin, I can't remembmer what it was. The disrupters like Naxos showed exactly what could and should have been done. I have never been without a decent turntable and have never replaced any vinyl!
I was always curious about the demise of HMV and you’ve explained it perfectly in this video! It’s obvious you’ve done your research and the video itself is well put together. Looking forward to the next one
"We all started to switch away from CD's" No. "we all" didn't. I was dead set against MP3 from the start. Hated the concept, tried it, learnt about how it worked internally. Then I found out about all the patents, and later the DRM. I went on the warpath against DRM, ridiculed by my peers until they all came to me years later asking why they couldn't do X or Y with their little brothers tracks, or even with their new CD they were trying to rip. "I told you so" never crossed my lips lol. I offered up nothing much at all as I had long abandoned MP3 and non-compliant CD. Anything I did rip I ripped to ogg vorbis, not that anything could play it but that was fine as I was using minidisc when portable and in the car, mostly to listen to podcasts and the vorbis stuff was on the PC for when I did my coursework and then away from the PC was the standard CD/radio unit I had for a decade. Now I use the minidisc recorders for field recordings, along side a flash based recorder but that needs TLC before it's fully working. I just use DAB in the car for talk radio stations and CD for music if I need it. Now I have my own place, the vorbis files are mostly archived, the CD players are everywhere so I have literally zero need to rip or stream anything. I have a 3 disc changer next to my bed, and a Sony CD recorder as the main player in the living Room, which I also use to digitise LPs to CD and rip on the PC. The dvd recorder, Blu-ray player can all play CD obviously, then there is the Blu-ray player in my bedroom too (with the 3D TV), and I use 2-3 PCs and 2 laptops, all of which have optical drives. I have 1 MP3 player. It sits on the shelf like an ornament waiting for a use lol. I used to use it on long drives to listen to podcasts, but recently I upgraded the radio in the car and it can play the MP3s directly. MP3 is ok for me now as patents have expired and DRM is half of what it tried to be. I avoid drm where possible or allow it if I have the means to break it or work around it. Now I'm in HMV and see huge numbers of people clamouring over the vynil, CD sales got an uptick too. I see budding groups of all ages dashing to the charity shops to hunt out CD's (I'm one of them). I never stopped buying physical games or dvd/Blu-ray and have some UHD, and again for the main reasons that although in the case of video I do stream, I mostly aim to own. HMV usually manages to suck £60 or so out of my pocket when I go in there, I have way more video than audio I have to admit, my taste in music is pretty limited so was for two decades served by a collection of 25 or so CD's, why would I rip that lol, thats probably why I found it easy to stuck with CD and go against DRM? My video collection however greatly dwarfs it, so you'd think I'd go full in with Netflix etc? Well I do at times and it reminds me just how little of what I have is on Netflix, thus it's been relegated as a way to watch something im not sure about or dont care to own (shelf space is limited after all). Oh and HMV in Milton Keynes had a live band in there last time I went in. I never knew they had such things, it took be a few seconds to realise that it was a live band and not some CD the staff had put on!
DRM is not only annoying, it is pointless. If someone is determined enough, it is possible to remove, and once it's done, then the raw file is available on the internet forever if you know where to look. The entire stated purpose of DRM is to prevent piracy, but if the pirates already have the file, then why not just release DRM free versions, and allow the user to do what they want with it. I have no problems with digital itself, but the reason I don't 'buy' digital, is because it is restricted, and can even be taken away Sony. But if digital was a simple download of a lossless file with zero restrictions on it, then I would likely buy it.
Have my 50" 3D Plasma TV in my bedroom. Heavy as all hell putting that on the wall, but I wasn't getting rid of it. PS3 connected to that as well which can play 3D, plays everything tbh, 1080p lit of the TV so 🤷 Admit I haven't used 3D for a long while but I kept it all. Kept it even with a meta quest for vr viewing 😂 I was about on the early 00's in the great pirate times. Could see DRM being a total useless pointless mess a long time ago.
A small part of me died when they closed my favourite HMV store. It was my main reason to go to that retail centre as i could always nip in and grab a CD or a movie. I very rarely go there now except for the clothing/sports stores or chritmas gift time. It was on my way home from work and i could literally spend an hour just browsing until i found the golden gem. Used to love the listening posts to hear new music. HMV did have at one time an online service with discounted CDs I used to purchase quita a lot. Admittedly times have now changed and all my music is now digitally bought.
I agree Jd..I was gutted when HMV closed..I hate this streaming crap..I want to be able to go out and buy my copy from the store and go home and play it on my stereo...bring back CD's and vinyl and let proper music and movie fans decide.
We have a large one in Exeter city center, but i would be surprised if it is here this time next year. Most people (including myself) walk in, walk around looking at things a walk out without buying anything. It's more of a museum of the past if anything.
I once visited HMV in Swindon about 20 years ago. I got most of the Judas Priest albums I was missing for around £5 ( 4 albums), where my local record shop was charging £10 per album cd.......... It was a no brainer. I like physical copies as my downloaded stuff was left on old devices and non transferable once they packed up.
The vinyl resurgence is a mystery to me too. There will always be those who claim it has the best sound quality, in which the word 'warmth' will likely make an appearance. That warmth, as David Thomas of Pere Ubu once quipped in simply audible distortion caused by the needle scraping its way through the groove. But, no matter to aficiandos. A lot of vinyl is bought just for show. Surveys both here and in the USA consistently say that around 50% of vinyl purchasers don't own a record player. During the early days of the vinyl resurgence there emerged record shops which also sold picture frames to cater to that section of buyers who bought LPs to hang on their wall. Does vinyl have better sound than CD? In the early days of the latter format, arguably yes. CD mastering was often just straight transfers of vinyl masters, and the machines and especially cables were infant technologies. A CD player has a much higher output voltage than a record deck; something easily demonstrated by how high you can turn your volume control on the amp up before it gets too loud. With vinyl that would be somewhere between 11 and 12 O'Clock, but with a CD player using a regular cable, around 9 O'Clock is more likely. Switch the ordinary cable for a proper CD interconnect, and you'll be able to turn the dial to the same as you would with vinyl. Some CDs still suffer from the so-called 'loudness war' effect too, even today.
Vinyl sucks. It's big, and bulky, easily prone to scratches and dust, requires a very specific set up, and you have to get up to turn it over every twenty minutes. But I love it. I love the physical aspect of it. I love the fact it is literally music made physical, and you can see the sound. I love the large artwork. I love having a piece of memorabilia for something I enjoy. I certainly don't think it sounds better though. Sure, the loudness war isn't something that really affects vinyl from what I understand, but most music nowadays is recorded and mastered digitally, so the sound you get from vinyl is the same as what you'd get from a CD. Of course, this is coming from someone who can't tell the difference between a mp3 and high quality file, so what do I know.
The loudness war is well and truly still in place. I have some cd’s and even digital lossless downloads (flat), that I just can’t listen to all the way through. Because of the loudness war, there is no dynamics or very little dynamics in the music. Apart from compression a limiter is often used to keep the level at say -1db. Try putting a cd through adobe audition and you will see what I mean.
I think vinyl is the epitome of having something physical and tactile. Given the world went the other way with digital, it makes sense people want some tangible again. I dont own any vinyl, but i can see it continue to prosper in the future.
My local hmv in bath is a shadow of its former self , relocated to a smaller unit that’s easy to miss and half the store is filled with T-shirts , premium action figures and funky pops , but I’m grateful it’s still going and always make sure to support it whenever passing through, but they NEED to fix the poor quality control of they’re tagging system , expensive boxsets and Blu-ray and 4k Blu-ray with slip cases completely ruined and damaged with tightly secured wired security tags , I either embarrass myself by asking if they have spare undamaged copies out the back not tagged or avoid completely and buy off Amazon and even Amazon have been hit and miss recently due to reduced packaging
I regularly shop at my local HMV. However, it recently had a refit, and has reduced its video selection, which is unfortunate. Now it is primarily a vinyl and merch store. It still sells CDs, which is something I still collect, and I also enjoy vinyl. I like the physical aspect of these formats, and the fact that I own it rather than renting it like you would on digital services. The video selection, while decreased, seems to be geared more towards two categories. The really popular stuff, superhero movies and big budget films, and the boutique blu-ray brands such as Criterion and Arrow. There are definitely other things there, and they still sell many old TV show boxsets like they used to, so it's not all bad, it's just a reduced selection. I am also disappointed at the lack of classical music and world cinema options. I understand these are less popular, but they used to have an entire wall dedicated to classical CDs, and now it's barely a shelf, and a single bin of vinyl. Both of which are dedicated to the more marketable artists, rather than composer. World cinema never used to have much of a selection anyway, so that hasn't dwindled that much, but I would have thought they'd expand it a little with the rise of interest in media following the success of things such as RRR, Squid Game, and Parasite.
I was born in the 70s and its great that vinyl has made a comeback. There's just no replacing it as physical media and as my Bro is often telling me, sounds much better than digital. Well done HMV! You're back where you belong.
Really good breakdown here, you should have more viewers. You surprised me at the end by dismissing vinyl. Give it a try and delve into it... Spotify does not appeal to many, you are just renting the music. What happens if the cloud crashes or they decide to increase their prices?
you know you raise a good point! there are benefits to vinyl which I may dismiss here, I just can’t see a route where mainstream will stick to non-subscriber based music sourcing. for instance, vinyl does have the benefit of once it’s yours it’s yours! Which I can understand is a great benefit. Thanks for the comment about my content! First video on YT so only way is up hopefully!
Over the years I've seen 100s of bands and met quite a few ...and all the ones I've spoken too about formats...etc..vinyl always comes top...proper way of listening to music...on high end gear especially 👌
I have some vinyl. I feel that 90% of the experience is the ritual. Getting the record sleeve off the shelf, getting the record out of the sleeve, putting it on the deck, waiting... If you have a side by side comparison of CD/high quality digital format vs. vinyl the vinyl always is second best. Sorry.
You use a record as a argument for pro physical ... well the same could be said for a CD, its superior in every way to a record apart from having smaller artwork.
HMV were exceptionally arrogant. They were offered several opportunities to partner on download sites etc and refused, blindly feeding their mountain of debt to fund endless shop openings to stack their DVD bundles high and make huge displays for the latest Elton John album which they would sell cheap - they thought they were it and their “retailing” board got what they deserved.
Great insightful video, nice work! I believe both digital and records can coexist in today’s world. For me though,nothing beats going to a record store and go through all the available catalogues. Picking one up, playing it at home from start to end. Something about picking a up physical copy, can’t beat that.
Having worked for the company/s since 2005 I agree with a lot of what you've raised here... hmv did attempt a digital music store, it also tried to tie it into a social network of sorts but it was perhaps too niche. Personally I feel like Netflix and video streaming has had a tougher impact, music has a try before you buy element, if you watch a film you might not want to watch it again for a while. The mix of what the store offers has changed massively and is where the company is turning the corner, if it solely sold music and films that wouldn't be the case. I've also worked for MVC and back then (early 00s) HMV were seen as the big evil juggernaut, amazing what can happen in 20 years!
The reason for the resurgence is complex. After Covid a lot of older people decided to retire and with the extra time and money went back to their younger days when they could buy vinyls and listen to music. As with a lot of hobbies and pastimes the older generation has extra money in their pockets so are more willing to spend it on things of their youth.
With the steady demise of high street shops,im so happy that hmv is not only surviving but actually thriving.I regularly use my local hmv and will continue to do so.
Nice video. I can see why people are being drawn back to vinyl. Firstly it’s a human instinct to want to collect things and although the move to digital has added great convenience it also starved that passion people have to collect music. I used to spend much of my time listening to dance music in specialist independent shops and would sift through hundreds of records or ask the owner to play some of the new releases from the wall behind. Then there were the hot releases which when played in the shop through booming loudspeakers would get people buzzing and raising their hands to buy it before they missed out on the last copy. This was a social activity and each purchase connected you to the piece of music with a fun memory. Secondly, if you are only going to have one music media survive it makes sense for it to be vinyl. The large 12” sleeve provides plenty of real estate for great artwork which CD cannot match. The tactile act of dropping a needle into the record groove and hearing the sound can’t be matched by MP3 or CD mediums. The final factor is to do with scarcity and value and this ties back to the first point about collecting. A CD can be produced in the home on a low cost drive, an MP3 can be replicated perfectly and shared with millions (perhaps not legally) so these mediums simply cannot hold value in the same way vinyl can.
My band did a gig for hmv Winchester, they put us in the middle of the shopping centre and we played to some college students sat in a soft play area - we were facing a primark. The CDs we gave them to sell were faulty, we used the wrong file type so none of our songs actually worked, only the sound of me knocking down a wall with a cango hammer and 2 of our bassist’s GarageBand demos
I still visit hmv regularly. Last Friday was the last time I went there.. I've bought nearly 100 cds and about 30 lps this year alone, I prefer having the physical copy to streaming.
I’ve recently shopped at the new HMV Oxford Street in London and their Liverpool stores. Both had a great level of stock and expertly curated film collections. Staff are always really friendly, knowledgeable and helpful which makes a really good shopping experience. In my recent shopping trips I’ve got prices cheaper than Amazon and had items in stock that the online behemoth didn’t have. I really wouldn’t want them to vanish from high streets again. As for the future, vinyl isn’t a fad but movie sales have seen the biggest shift to quite a hardcore group of collectors wanting niche and 4K releases. These are being manufactured in small quantities so whilst selling less, they are selling all the stock. HMV is a great channel for these steady sales for the next decade.
The Oxford Street store is at the original 363 Oxford Street Location. It's big but not as big as the old Super store that used to be opposite Marks and Spencers.@@maccagrabme
HMV deserves to survive & it's great to see it recover, Vinyl is not just a passing moment, it means so much more! I have Spotify, I love using it on my phone when out, I use it on Alexa, but as much as I love having so much access & choice, it is a physical copy of a record that I cherish & keep! There is just no sound better than vinyl, it is miles above all digital formats as it is a far warmer sound! That's not to say you cannot have quality digital sound as Alexia combined with fine all-around sound speakers proves you can! Yet it's a good record system that delivers the best actual sound. I spent £1400 on a Record System, Amp and speakers, it's more expensive than anything else I own in my house, yet I see it as the best money I ever spent. Digital tracks while being the same as the titles and the artist you get on an LP, are still those you can not hold and thus you do not feel you own them. So, regardless if you pay for Spotify Premium, which I do, it never feels like you own a collection no matter how much you can listen to those tracks. You cannot pass on a collection and you cannot sell it on either if you choose. A digital track is renting a moment of time, and even if you place some tracks on your Laptop, it still requires you to keep moving those tracks to more storage or another laptop when the first one gets too old. Yet with Vinyl, you buy it, you look after it and you store it in protective sleeves. When you play it you hear every aspect of what the music artist intended, every instrument, which is something digital music seldom does because it is depressed for storage and that means less quality. HMV has been saved because of Vinyl and it's great that it has, we have lost too much of our musical heritage when it comes to retail, Tower Records, and Our Price for instance! CDs were never the replacement for Vinyl, they were just a different format that was easier to store and streaming is the same concept! Well, done to the new owners of HMV, I welcome their input and in saving a brand that we need to exist and one that keeps records accessible. Now, we just need something like Top of the Pops to return to, so the interest in the charts will regain which will help more existing & new artists be able to afford to perform great music.
A lot of these companies should have dipped when the internet came around. I feel like as a business you have to fierce and reluctant but you cannot be living in your echo chamber.
I, like almost all music lovers, use a streaming service. I also buy vinyl, i do it because i love the experience of opening, seeing the beautiful artwork and listerning to a whole album. I also feel that it directly supports the artists when i buy physical media.
I have never downloaded anything digital. I always want a physical copy . I almost always try to buy-in in store to try and keep people in jobs even if it’s a couple quid more
In terms of of not understanding why people like me are buying vinyl? Nothing I can say will change your mind. TBH I’m fully aware it’s an emotional thing. Not a head thing.. My grandfather had a large record collection. My dad did, too. So do I Why do I like it? I find it comforting. It makes my home feel like a HOME, not just…a flat. I’m a big music fan. It’s probably my main interest. Ahead of things like tv, movies, games or books, for me I like that it gives me time away from screens. I like the big artwork. I like putting the records on and flipping them over (yes, I do have a player and I do use it). I like that fact there’s no greyed out songs. I like seeing my collection get bigger and better over time. I like having a physical document of what I’ve been listening to. I actually like have a physical wall of them - I don’t see it as a chore or a burden I even quite like the surface noise (though I do have a low end cleaning machine). Is any of that rational? Probably not, and I know that Am I going to stop? Absolutely not
You know, the more I hear about the connections people get with an album through Vinyl, the more I've understood (and slightly envied!) people like yourself with a passion for it. I'm definitely a lot more open to it and am glad that the comments here have created such an interesting debate around this topic. Hopefully see you on the next video!
HMV pulled out of Ireland a decade ago and left a stink worse than the River Liffey at low tide when they wouldn't honour Christmas vouchers. I see they are back now in Dublin selling vinyl,cds and funko pop like junk but no movies on disc.Only a matter of time before they kiss off again nobody will cry this time
I remember woolworths selling records. virgin records. Our price records .and haveing growing up walking down the lanes in Brighton popping into the odd shop that sold different types of music .I still like the hard physical copy but I see why people liked the digital format as well. Music's changed a lot since I was a young lad as well
@@BusinessifyYT Not just Woolworths, but WH Smith, Boots The Chemist, plus all the other major department stores in large towns & cities,as well as every town had an independent record shop. HMV can only but dream about what happened to all those customers.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! Interesting point, I don't think HMV is going anywhere any time soon it seems. It definitely holds fond memories for us all. Feel free to subscribe to our new channel if you enjoy this type of business content!
In Canada, HMV shutdown years ago, but I was in ToysRus this week and I was shocked to see that they now have HMV inside the ToysRus stores. It's so strange to see! The video game departments are all gone now and they have been replaced by a HMV section where they have movies, CDs, vinyls, manga and t-shirts. A very strange move in 2023 as ToysRus also seems like they will be gone soon too.
@@myles7522 Toys'R'Us now has a tie up in the UK with WH Smith and can be found in about 10 branches. I believe Toys'R'Us Canada is owned by the family who own Sunrise Records and HMV.
I still buy physical vinyl and media. But seriously, let’s not pretend HMV were anything other than utter bastards in the old days. They put countless small and independent record stores out of business.
I only listen to vinyl it's nice to physically have the music and the artwork that goes with it .we go to hmv every few months and usually get something
I used to use them back in the day to buy my DVDs and CDs, but for me their new killer is music related t-shirts, posters and music related physical product. As I that is the main things I have been buying from them since they started opening up again. For me HMV Forbidden planet and Waterstones (yes I like my hardback books (and amazon just dont seem to be able to ship them do me undamaged any longer)) are the 3 shops that have me taking a trip into Glasgow city centre about once a month since covid to see what new stuff they have in. As long as these shops can continue keep supplying a good range of goods that it is nice to see in person before purchasing to make sure that its undamaged and what the product really looks and feels like I am sure a good few others will be happy to pay a small price premium for. They just need to cheap their cost in check and keep make sure they continue to make the retail experience enjoyable and I am sure cal have a real future. Just as long as they dont try to directly compete on price alone or just sell digital downloads in store as in todays world that just is not going to work.
I don't understand how HMV can make money with all the streaming there is out there. I myself collect movies Blu-rays 4ks and I am really glad that HMV is still alive and kicking. We will never know how long hmv's got but I'm still glad it's here
I will admit I do use digital to buy my movies and music but at the same time I really do hope hmv do survive because it takes me back to being a kid as a 80s kid going in there and spending my pocket money on cassette tapes like Michael Jackson bad album and others before my parents got me a hi-fi with cd compartment even today just coming back into HMV and just seen CDs. I picked up as a child just takes me back now and why hmv needs to keep going
There's a perfectly functioning HMV in the town where I go to University, in fact it has been there since I lived there back in 2009. High Wycombe in fact still has quite a lot of the big name shops that were about back in the 2010s due to it being the main hub and university town in my area. The other big towns have shopping but no HMV or Burger Kings, Zavvi's etc except High Wycombe.
I always remember as a kid rushing in to get the latest now that’s what I call music cd and fighting with my sister to play our favourite tracks in the car 😂😂
I grew up with vinyl and HMV is the only retailer in my town to sell vinyl. I buy vinyl records a lot just because it's what I grew up with in the 1970s.
HMV, by 2000, was the only place in Peterborough, you could buy Vinyl records. Gutted when it was gone. Now, everybody is buying Vinyl again, but it's around £30 per album. That's why people use Spotify and other streamers... It's cheap.
No I spend the £30, and avoid Spotify like the plague. I tried it once but it totally failed to do what I wanted. Uses some kind of algorithm like RU-vid, which for something like Spotify I'm not after so it's basically faulty for me.
People say 'who needs DVDs anymore?' Well, whilst it's understandable their use has diminished due to streaming, if there's a favourite film or TV show you want to collect and watch whenever you like, streaming isn't reliable. Movies and series disappear from streaming platforms with little or no notice. Also certain episodes and films are absent for various reasons (often rights issues). If you want to own and watch and entire series of something, physical media is more reliable.
There is always a Resurgence on vinyl. It's because a bit of a joke now. I remember 20 years ago they called it a resurgence. The number of stores is a little miss leading. Most of the stores outside the major city's in the UK have downsized massively. They mostly sell memorabilia, cups and posters
Physical media every time. You own it. By streaming you are only ever renting the media, it is never yours. There you can not sell it. Physical media is an investment and it is not reliant on the internet.
I loved HMV and went in there every lunchtime while at work, and usually bought something, mostly DVDs, blu rays, and CDs. I love and have always loved what's now called "physical media", and dislike and don't use downloads/streaming, etc, not least because having tried that method, I found I sometimes completely lost what I'd downloaded! :-( The HMV here closed a few years ago. The shop has stayed empty since, until the last year or so, where it's now going to become an NHS mental health hub! A slight change of use. If it comes back here, it'll have to find an alternative venue. Luckily, there are plenty of other available large empty shops!
Not just vinyl, other stuff have help them like merch plush toys from films, TV shows, bands/solo artists! Also special editions come out every now and again on Cassette -which seen people pick up and buy! Also with the record player/speakers etc etc So glad that them HMV that did close a few years ago across the UK are now reopen!
i have about 4000 cds, sub to spotify and have a budding vinyl collection of about 150 albums. whilst we do not have HMV where i live, our equivalent, for physical media purchases is JB HIFI, and i spend an arm and a leg. when i am back in the UK, i will sure head into HMV for vinyl.
I stopped buying at physical shops like HMV and Our Price (remember them?) as I got sick to death of being sneered at by 16 year olds behind the counter when I wanted to by rock and indie rather then rap and dance. Thank god for Amazon, they don’t care what you buy as long as you buy. And I’ve never downloaded, always physical, vinyl or CD. If you stop paying on Spotify etc your record collection disappears, I stop buying and my music collection stops growing, but I’ve still got it all…
This is a really interesting take, thanks for sharing. Definitely when buying in a store your music taste is on display to every stranger around you. That comes with pros and cons like you say!
Great and informative video, I stream on apple and Amazon music, but I do have decent record player which plays nice quality audio and compares with my cd player , records are more tactile making sure stylus records are clean etc , but records are expensive compared cds , but I buy the odd record . Regards mark
I still buy vinyl and never stopped, even during the down period, but it's a completely different experience to listening to music digitally. It almost forces active listening, and unless you're going through a stack of 7" singles, it's more album based. No digital collection management, no painful browsing through awful interfaces, no random shuffling due to said awful interface. Digital should make all sorts of things possible, but they rarely let you have that element of control, so winds up just being annoying.
Physical copies, you won't lose access to the content when lawyers can't agree licensing rights. I was working on an outsourced Microsoft helpdesk when the OD2 DRM was shut down. We got calls even though it was spun off to Nokia. Enough people lost the music they had paid for that I am forever cautious of DRM protected downloads/streaming. I don't get the Vinyl revival. We switched to CD in the late 80's/early 90s because the affordable record decks a teen/early 20's consumer of music were rubbish and would chew up your records. And they made those crossley "portable" record decks look good. Add in the fact that most vinyl in that era was rubbish (thin, too much content squeezed on causing a drop in sound quality etc). Even lower end of the mid range CD set ups just in our price range gave better sound and a generally more satisfying experience. Is there better quality sound than CD? Technically yes. But compared to a reasonable quality Micro/Mini system I can't hear the difference.
Vinyl isn't a fad. However whether it lasts or not is unknown but hats off to HMV for coming back from the precipice. If only we could get more big stores coming back to Oxford Street and kick out the dodgy fake American candy stores.
The problem with digital media is that you don't own it. It can be taken away at any time. all you are doing is renting it. I will never download music- ever. The problem I have with HMV is that LP's are too expensive. I'm not paying £35 for one album, when I was a kid LP's were £12 at most.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! It definitely holds fond memories for us all. Feel free to subscribe to our new channel if you enjoy this type of business content!
I still use HMV online Though I do think their prices are a bit, shall we say, optimistic I’ve never, at any point, entirely abandoned physical media, unlike most In 17/18 yeah I was mainly using Amazon, however I have since moved to a town with two currently active record stores I go most weeks. I love it. I don’t want to move entirely to streaming. I never have. I don’t think I ever will. However, yeah, I’m not most people and that’s a fact
Yes, some definite consistency in people thinking the prices are high - but I guess they now are dominating that market! Thanks for sharing your thoughts - hopefully see you on the 2nd video!
Maybe vinyl is a fad, I personally still use CDs and haven't stopped buying them since the 90s. As far as physical media is concerned, I can only see a growth of this medium. Especially when on streaming services don't own the item, as we've seen it may be on your streaming service and then be taken off due to licensing or you may have purchased an item kept on a company's servers only for that company to remove that item because legally you do not own it. That's why I see people having a physical copy, in their hands, will make a comeback.
@@BusinessifyYT Thank you for your video. It really captures the communal experience of retail music. 🙌 The corny punchline is "What does H.M.V. stand for?" 🙄. I worked for both HMV and later Sunrise. Both were excellent, rockin jobs. At HMV, we had the legendary #MCFlipside perform in store and lots of other neat attractions. Here is a video I made, which mentions HMV. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TXfMJkddZd4.htmlsi=aOndaCBWArumOvDo 📻
Streaming means you don’t own it. Whatever you are listening to could be taken down at any time. You also don’t have the pleasure of taking something out its packaging, looking at the artwork etc. personally I still love CDs. I like the convenience of not having to worry about worn needles etc and the fact that CDs can take extra content etc.
They're a victim of the digital age, nobody buys actual CDs or DVDs any more, because most people have an Alexa or a Google device, and most of the good movies are on Amazon Prime or Netflix.
I gave my son a turntable and amp and speakers not high ened but not a crosley cruser. if we listen to amazom music we skip flick around reverse but when he puts a record on we sit down and listen to the whole thing . I have found memory's of hmv late 90's very early 2000 because the only vinyl that sold was DJ/ dance stuff ( then i lost them in 2008 in a move)
It all depends on the price labels charge shops to stock. Prices are becoming stupid. When perhaps someone would go in and buy 2 records, they can now only afford 1. If labels dont address this then sales will stall.
Covid encouraged home entertainment setups. 4K disc movies are being released and people are slowly being educated on their superiority over streaming. I always try to buy from HMV instead of Amazon.
how do you hand over your music collection when you bite the bullet - what is left to flick through, and rediscover, what your parents cherished, . . ... just buy it again, . . . . sad
I got back into vinyl a couple of years back after probably 25 years, you actually listen to album's all the way through, no skipping and changing artists after 5 seconds of a track starting. With a decent set up vinyl sounds amazing.
New vinyl will be gone in ten years because they are running out of oil to make them thats why you have to wait long processing times. The price will go up and up.
Quite simply vinyl is superior I’ve bought 400 this year, but none from HMV as thier pricing is ridiculous, still plenty bricks and mortar record shops who build customer relationships
Then it will smash into the buffers of AI generated streaming content. Unless physical can save it, the future of cinema and TV, music too wont be good. Bringing back a Beetle with AI was cool, but soon you won't ever need to think the Beetles ever will cease to exist as they can, through the power of AI generate music for millennia. No kid in the future will learn to play an instrument. Why? The AI does it and even if they did what would they do? Play live? Well that's probably all they will be able to do as streaming won't pay their bills, heck streaming revenue pays nothing to artists even today! That's why today's artists release a CD, or movies go onto dvd and Blu-ray. It makes them a ton of cash. And when they manage to stop us from buying physical, people like me who prop up those you pay nothing to on Spotify and netflix, well too bad. Enjoy the future mundaneness of streaming. You should look at the actual numbers mate, to really understand the sad truth about streamers obsession with convenience vs the cost of actually making movies, TV and albums. They don't match up, so when physical goes off the rails, so does everything you like.
Cool video but I don't think you have set foot foot into HMV recently because it's not just records that they are selling! It's all the pop culture like funko pops, Japanese chocolate, t-shirt and other nerdy objects that I can best describe as being once seen on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Also fllm physical media collecting has not gone away and the boutique 4K and Blu-ray market is growing. Also as Gen X I never stopped collecting physical media and never paid for any streaming service apart from Amazon Prime and that only for the free delivery of Amazon stuff not for the music and stuff. Apparently also there is starting to be a shift away from streaming because of availability and censorship from the normies back to physical media which is bad news for physical media for life types like me because prices are increasing on new and used items!! 👍🎅
