In January of this year, Britain's leading music retailer, HMV went into bankruptcy. After being in business since 1902, the company had succumbed to tough economic times and the growth of the digital economy.
HMV, which stands for "His Master's Voice," and was best known of the image of the little dog, "Nipper," sitting next to a gramophone, had employed a staff of 4,123 in 223 stores in Britain, Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong. At one point it had several outlets in the US that opened in the 1980's but the last of those closed in the early 2000s.
Hilco Consumer Capital has come forward to buy HMV's outstanding debt, which had reached a high of $279 million back in October of 2012. Hilco has agreed to pay $190 million to purchase that debt. In so doing, Hilco will save as many as 2,643 jobs, as 141 stores will remain open.
This was not the case for Tower Records here in the US, as the chain shut it's doors in 2006, after losing it's footing to Walmart, Kmart, and Best Buy, not mention, iTunes, Rhapsody, and Amazon. Tower failed to move forward into to the digital domain, and as a brick and mortar only platform with CDs selling for 17.99, sooner or later, something had to give.
In February of this year, it was reported that global music sales had risen 0.3 percent in 2012. That increase is the first since 1999, however, actual CD sales continued to decline as digital downloads gained more of the market share.
Perhaps, we are on the eve of a paradigm shift. Or, maybe not. Certainly, this has to be a transition in the making. While CDs have a greater sound quality than a digital download, at least at this stage, it appears that the digital delivery system is coming into it's own. Even still, just as vinyl faded, it seems that we are on are way toward the next big thing. The most that can be hoped for, is that the music will survive, as well as those who make, distribute, and sell it. Through it all, the only constant will be change.
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