Would the failure of HMV invigorate independents?
I went into Oxford Street HMV during the week with Terror Danjah and it was like a graveyard for CDs. They had albums released within the last 6 months for £6 stacked to the brim. Then you had recent independent albums in there for £14?!
Was weird
well that's part of the problem as they're selling off that stock at cost cos they overstocked in the last 6 months, which shows you they support good music, the problem is also independent new albums stocked at £14 of course, as they're cheaper in amazon and play - who incidentally don't pay VAT, and can charge cheaper prices, plus hammer distributors, so HMV is kinda fucked in that way unless they do something different, it's a shame they're being punished as offshore companies can charge less, but alas it's one of the many visible contradictions of wresting with current government etc.
It does own Fopp of course, who are quite often masters of taking in stock, and often kinda rebranding it - usually overstocks at distributors and big lists of label stock and selling it at knock off prices, - since they're a bit more specialist it works for them, so HMV could benefit from following more of a Fopp model or something similar, infact i think there is a real gap in the market for something that connects with music fans on more of that level, HMV have a whole interest in live music as well, it's actually got alot of strong assets about it and potentially lots of opportunities, but it's firefighting right now and needs to be more proactive and essentially look like it loves the things it sells, as i'm sure it's young employees of music and film fans for inspiration, cut away the rigid management, present the things that it's competitors don't have and be a bit more humble, less like a corporate warehouse with tills, and more like the sort of place people can enjoy and discover stuff in.
The slow death of the other stores hasn't invigorated indies so far, but it could be different with HMV as it's the last one standing, HMV's expansion definitely killed indies too on the way up. Dance music stores, of which there are very few now, need to adapt too I think.
thats my half arsed thinking anyway, - it's probably a little too late still.