Entertainment For Lively Minds
HMV WTF?
Posted by David_Jockney on 21 January 2011 - 11:47pm.
Just got home from a rare browse round the shops in our nearest big town. Dropped into HMV and saw first hand how screwed up the "tangible" entertainment market has become.
Two extremes. At one end, Bowie's Hunky Dory for £4. That's less than the coffee and bun I'd had earlier, but roughly same as Amazon.
At the other, Season 1 of Curb Your Enthusiasm for, and I kid you not, £27. That's right. Twenty seven pounds. Currently on Amazon for £7.19 where the box set of all seven series will set you back, cough, £39.99.
Gulp.
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An old Word Favourite
Saw the Wire season 2
that's fifty three pounds for a box set available for £15 new on Amazon.
Now there is the chance that that store was being used as one of the 'this item has been available at X price previously' sites, but check the current price on line http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;0;-1;-1;-1&sku=41...
The "available at X price"
The "available at X price" thing crossed my mind.
And, yes, I'm probably treading ground familiar to more regular posters. Apologies if I'm polishing an old chestnut.
We're either blessed or cursed
I'm not sure which.
Hunky Dory for four quid.
For argument's sake - let's say that there was absolutely no way of getting hold of Hunky Dory other than buying the CD.
No download option, even no way of copying - even on cassette - your mate's copy.
But you knew it was great.
What would you pay to get hold of a copy? £4? £40? More?
I'd be happy at around the forty notes mark. Would you?
Around £20 - £25
...but I'd want some ch-ch-ch-change.
Can I get your....
...oh, you already appear to have taken it....
Blessed or cursed
It's hard to know and although Hunky Dory isn't one I'd bid very highly for, you raise a good point about price versus worth. It's a trade-off that's been lost over the past decade and is at the heart of HMV's ills.
£4 seemed ridiculously low (oh, and incidentally Low was also £4).
Station to Station
for £3 at HMV Oxford St. before Xmas
Bowie
Got into Bowie about 10 years ago, at that point the albums were about £15 a shot, Woolworths did them on a 2 for £20 offer. Scarily I can remember speaking to an assistant in the local cheap store saying that that was a good price because Bowie was never reduced
Sounds like a young assistant with a short memory
I purchased the bulk of my Bowie collection in the '90-'91 reissue period: as far as I remember they were all £7.99 then. That seemed like a huge bargain at the time.
I also remember buying the Beatles' white album at the same time for £28.99!
there should really be a few
there should really be a few copies of the Curbz DVDs at £10 each. We've had them in constantly for at least the last couple of years. Due to sale and base ranges being treated differently it's perhaps best just to imagine that the sale Curbz is "out of stock". Likewise with the Wire.
Two for a tenner
I was in HMV today. Picked up last year's OMD album History of Modern plus a 2-CD Peter Gabriel greatest hits. A tenner for the two of them, which I was quite pleased with.
I wonder how long the shop can survive because the 'sale' section keeps growing and the gap between release and ending up in the special offers is getting shorter.
I'm sure I'm not alone in looking briefly at the new DVDs for £15 and thinking I can wait a few weeks until they are in a 3-for-£20 offer.
Whilst...
it won't really affect those outside London, my only link with HMV now is the basement of the Oxford Street branch (rock 'n' roll, jazz, soundtracks, comedy, blues etc.).
Three reasons:
1. The deals on pop stuff simply don't seem to exist as they might have done ten years ago when I remember getting loads of 60s reissues for £4/£5 by Free, Nirvana, Floyd, Jethro Tull, Traffic, Dusty etc.
These deals do exist in jazz.
2. You don't get an awful soundtrack of Madonna/Jackson in the basement and so,
3. You avoid the riff raff!
I still love HMV
(and Fopp, come to that)
but I'm probably one of the culprits that has given them both financial problems: I tend to lurk and browse for weeks and then swoop when an undeniable bargain comes along.
The COMPLETE Twin Peaks box set was £20 in HMV and £18 in Fopp for a short while just before Christmas. Swoop... Now it seems to be £49 everywhere (even Amazon was about £35 last time I looked). I do feel smug.
Poor old Nipper
Doesn't HMV's problems stem from the fact that they no longer know who their customers are? This contrasts with Fopp who've zeroed in on Word reader-type music fans who still like to buy CDs and DVDs, carrying the range of product they believe will appeal and priced keenly (which certainly works for me). Contrast with HMV who still seem to be trying to be everything to everybody (or at least most things to most people) and only succeed in failing to adequately meet anyone's needs or desires.
Good point
"they no longer know who their customers are". Good point - they've become the ITV of music stores. Attempting broad appeal but becoming increasingly unappealing. Hmm, perhaps a new thread, "ITV WTF?"
Need to sort out pricing
Not just High Street vs online, but in two shops in the same town.
Dexys Midnight Runners - Too Rye Aye (2 Disc Special Edition)
online: £10.49
HMV Oracle, Reading: £18
HMV Friar Street Reading: £22
and very few bargains to be had in post Christmas sale - Best of Chuck Berry for 2 quid was the only purchase I managed to make