How are Road getting on? (4 Viewers)

[Unicron]

They're closing on the 24th of this month.

http://www.roadrecs.com/index.php

 

[Jim A. Morrish]

that sux


haven't been in there in ages as I rarely get to dublin anymore but sad to see it go

 

[rettucs]

The website claims to be going live today around lunchtime. Going by the countdown timer on it anyway.

 

[pete]

domain: ROADRECS.COM
created: 2000-07-27
expires: 2012-07-27
modified: 2010-11-04 04:45:06

owner-contact-id: 11940
owner-name: andrew nugent

 

[Goodbye]

12 minutes

 

[1 2 3 GO]

That was worth the wait!!!

 

[rettucs]

best 30 seconds of my life watching that last 30 seconds countdown

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

So where does everyone buy records now that Road has gone?

Or has everyone just jumped to buying completely online?

 

[Kermit McDermott]

I always go to City Discs & Freebird and sometimes to the other small shops. I really wonder how some of them are surviving. Most of the time they haven't got what I'm after, not that i'm looking for anything too obscure. If they haven't I look for it online.
I went to Tower for the first time in years last time. Good selection, but prices can be a touch high. €18.99 for Everything must go by Steely Dan on CD. I would have bought it if it was €10..


Just checked http://www.roadrecs.com/ Nothing happening as of this minute.....

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

Freebird would be my shop of choice at the moment. Although I rarely have money for records these days so it's only occasional. I get them to order the odd thing for me though.

 

[Anthony]

I asked my local record shop to get something in for me. 3 weeks of "no, it didn't arrive", then I was in town and picked it up in Tower. I felt sad about that.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

towers independent now though no?

 

[mark]

freebird. it's really great. tower occasionally too.

 

[rettucs]

I used to buy about 85% of my music purchases from Road. About 90% of that was via their website.

Since they closed I haven't been buying as much, mostly cos I don't get into town a whole lot. I went in last saturday and bought a load of stuff in Tower and a few bits in the HMV sale. I always try to buy stuff at gigs too. Obscure-ish and older stuff I buy from amazon. Thats it really.

 

[travispickle]

I've stopped buying online for the moment and am back to enjoying hitting actual record shops! I rarely find anything in City Discs, but go regularly (i.e. weekly) to Spindizzy and Freebird for the 2nd hand options - great selection and good prices in Freebird anyway I find.
I like Tower for sales and occasional special offers (3 for €20 kinda stuff) - handy for picking up oldies or albums I've missed first time round. They also have a good and dedicated section for new Irish Independent releases.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I have always thought tower was pretty decent, and for old stuff the prices are fairly good - €10 or thereabouts. Maybe not for newer reissues. There was a time when the average price of a CD was about €25. It was made expensive in there some years ago. The amount of space taken up by music seems to be getting smaller and smaller all the time though, and the selection of more exciting stuff doesn't seem what it was. I presume nobody was buying it. I have curtailed my buying a bit in recent times but now that I have discovered we7 I can see myself buying a lot less cheapo classic albums.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

saw this on another board,no idea of the source.

On the wall of HMV's flagship store opposite Bond Street Tube station in London, a prominent display sets out the history of recorded sound.

Old vinyl records and other ageing music formats are preserved behind glass, as part of a timeline charting the development of music retailing and HMV's role in it.

Few customers seem interested in stopping to read about the chain's very first shop, which was opened just across the road in July 1921 by Sir Edward Elgar and closed in April 2000.

But fears are growing that some of HMV's 421 existing outlets - 235 of them in the UK - could follow that landmark store into oblivion, as the traditional record shop becomes as much of a relic as the dusty old 78.

Alarmed at falling sales of CDs, the firm has announced a three-year "transformation plan" that could see it disappear from many of Britain's High Streets and withdraw from overseas territories.

HMV's chief executive Simon Fox says he is confident that the proposals will allow the group, which also includes Waterstone's bookshops, to overcome "challenging" market conditions.

But if he fails, the company that once proudly proclaimed itself to be "top dog for music, DVD and games" may well have had its day.

Digital dilemma

HMV, along with its main UK rival Virgin, is under attack on a number of fronts.

Much of the media coverage of record retailers' woes has centred on tech-savvy teenagers downloading copies of their favourite tunes rather than buying physical CDs instead.



CDs remain popular despite the growth of downloads
Both HMV and Virgin have risen to this challenge with their own digital download services, although they are subject to the same digital rights management (DRM) restrictions on usage that were recently criticised by Apple's Steve Jobs.

But figures from the British Phonographic Industry indicate that such digital formats still account for no more than a tiny proportion of all music sold in the UK.

Just 3% of music sales by value come in the form of downloads, while a whopping 87% are on CD.

Vinyl, by the way, is lumped in with "other formats" including the trusty old cassette, which amount to about 5%, while music DVDs make up the remainder.

Pile 'em high

The widespread availability of music illegally on the internet has undoubtedly had an impact on sales. Total music revenues fell between 3% and 4% globally in 2006, according to estimates by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries.

Even so, when people do decide to acquire music honestly, they are clearly still buying CDs. The problem is that they are spurning stores such as HMV and choosing to find them elsewhere.

Specialist music retailers now handle just 44% of CD sales in the UK.



HMV is well aware of the need to respond urgently to market changes
And while downloads are not yet taking over, online retailers such as Amazon have definitely eaten into HMV's market.

Sales of CDs over the internet now amount to 11% of the country's music purchases - although, of course, HMV is in that sector as well, with its own website offering music delivered to your door.

What is really hitting the music specialists is the growth of the supermarket as CD retailer. Stores such as Tesco and Sainsbury's, with their policy of stocking a small selection at a hefty discount, have collared a 26% share of sales.

Obviously your local supermarket cannot boast the range of HMV's other Oxford Street flagship store, close to Oxford Circus, which has 150,000 different music titles in its racks.

But as any frequent browser will know, HMV has been forced to lower its prices on newly-released CDs in order to compete with Tesco, further shrinking its profit margins.

Loyalty card

HMV bosses describe their turnaround plan as "exciting, radical and far-reaching".

Some of the ideas, such as introducing a loyalty card, sound like an attempt to tackle the supermarkets on their own terrain.

But HMV has already been beaten to the punch by Virgin, whose "Virgin Addict" card scheme allows customers to claim a £10 voucher after they have made 10 purchases worth at least £9.99 each.

For their part, retail-watchers are far from convinced that the plan will save the firm's iconic Nipper dog brand from being put to sleep.

"We remain very sceptical about the group's future prospects," said Numis Securities analysts, "as we do not see how these initiatives will save HMV from the structural problems it faces."

 

[pete]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6444717.stm

 

[Scientician 0.8]

This is relevant too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/dec/09/online-shopping-vat-channel-islands

"Unsurprisingly, more than 600 independent record shops have closed in the last five years, leaving just 269 standing, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association; high-street fatalities include Zavvi and Fopp. These closures have been shrugged off as the inevitable consequence of downloads and the digital revolution. In fact, UK sales of hard-copy CD albums have seen some of the slowest declines anywhere in the world. "

 

[nlgbbbblth]

new stuff - will try Tower, HMV, City Discs, Freebird but if it's not there I just order it online. I don't go down the "can you order it for me" route any more - burned too many times.

second hand - Spindizzy, Trout, charities, ebay, discogs, cdandlp