Autumn puts spring in the step

Music Week, Monday September 17, 2007

It has not been an easy year for music retailers, but some good news emerged last week, as the autumn season kicked into gear for the first time.

Kanye West, 50 Cent and KT Tunstall helped usher in one of the busiest weeks for retailers since the spring.

Of course, there is a long way to go yet, but the brisk trade provided good early signs of a lift in business leading up to that crucial Christmas period. And, after the past few days, this week sees the arrival of James Blunt’s new album, with the forthcoming weeks bringing further additional hit albums.

None of it is likely to bring the market for 2007 as a whole back in line with previous years, but they demonstrate that, if the releases are right, consumers will buy CDs, in significant volumes.

Not that you would believe it from some of the coverage of the business in recent months. One piece typified this last week, a Financial Times article reflecting on the launch of HMV’s bold new store, which not only snottily likened HMV’s Simon Fox to a flint-axe salesman, but trumpeted the “P45 for record shops”.

It is easy to be a smart Alec, as the FT writer demonstrated in spades, but it is something else entirely to focus on the facts.

It is worth noting that even a 10% decline in album sales would still leave the business in 2007 bigger than it was in the first half of the Nineties. And, while digital business is growing, physical albums also continue to outsell their digital counterparts at a rate of around nine-to-one.

No-one is denying that the business of physical retail has its challenges. But the efforts being put in by the likes of HMV, Virgin and a wide range of independent retailers across the nation, to retain the presence of specialist music stores on our high streets, should be applauded, not derided.

The end of the physical business? Not for a little while yet.

The initiatives by Julie’s Bicycle, in an attempt to build a cross-industry coalition committed to addressing issues of climate change, are also crucial to our business.

The music industry has always been highly politicised. It has always recognised the inherent link between the young audience it has traditionally targeted and their openness to fresh ideas. And, of course, the artists who drive the business have often been the kind of creative characters who have been driven to pursue challenging concepts.

It feels that the tide is beginning to turn towards climate chaos as an issue and that we may well see some significant movement over the coming months – both among the artist community and the industry itself.

It will never be easy, of course. Commitment to addressing this issue demands, in some cases, some difficult choices.

But there are also some eminently sensible and simple choices which can also be made, with the dual benefit of delivering positive environmental results, together with clear cost savings.