HMV – Still the top dog for music?

HMV - His Master's Voice

With a rise in digital forms of music and websites like YouTube and Spotify, it’s not surprising that HMV has started to lose money. Being £164m in debt isn’t good news for HMV and with their Christmas takings looking lower than expected, it’s time to really ask; Is HMV still the top dog for music?



The old HMV logo. The dog in the picture is apparently called 'Nipper' and that thing which looks like a trumpet is called a 'Gramophone' -  it was used back in the day to listen to music on?!?



These days music can be listened to on radio or online. In addition, purchasing music has changed immensely in the past ten years. With iTunes you can buy music whenever you want, and whatever you want will always be there (unlike record stores where some music can be out of stock). Ten years ago most people would buy all their music from record stores, however nowadays it seems that record stores are becoming somewhat of a ghost on the high street. HMV, after all, is the only surviving record store left, as over the years the high street has said good bye to once popular stores like Virgin Mega Stores and another store which I cannot remember.

Although HMV is losing money, at least, at the moment they are doing so at a slower rate. Figures from the second quarter in 2011 show that the record store made a loss of 8.6%, which is better than figures from the first quarter which showed a 13% loss. So there is some improvement, but still a big loss for the once record store giant.

So, what’s left for HMV? Well, it would appear that the answer lies in selling stuff other than music. Recently HMV have started stocking more hi-tech electrical equipment in a bid to save their dwindling sales. HMV sell everything; iPads, funky headphones, tablets, hi-fi systems and blue-ray players. Possibly the addition of such items could be responsible for slightly ‘better’ losses. HMV boss, Simon Fox remains optimistic:

"The continuing actions to focus the business and to expand our technology offering are beginning to show through…We are seeing a combination of a slowing of the decline in music and film, and acceleration in the growth of technology.”

However he still recognises that “the consumer environment remain[s] challenging”

Undoubtedly, 2012 will be a crucial year for HMV, and it remains to be seen whether a re-focus on technology will actually pull this store out of financial problems.