The whole HMV saga has been interestng hasn’t it? I have bought very little in HMV down through the years as I viewed them as the evil big brother. Trying to pofit fomr our scene but ready to trample on it should an alternative way of making money be found. It all stems from Chumbawamba I suppose. They advised us way back when to boycott Thorn EMI and that developed to the excellent only stupid bastards help emi album.. HMV were part of that empire until it had its day and connections were severed. Not by me though.
And it did lots of business, sold a huge amount of cd’s and dvd’s and somewhere along the way bankrupted itself. From what I read the Irish end of the operation seemed to be profitable but currently it is the irish businesses that remain closed. Of course HMV are based in a different jurusdiction and are operating under the laws of that country. They have more shops in the uk than ireland so may wish to get these sorted before here.
The outcry is the one thing that is fascinating me. I never viewed HMV as a record shop, it was a superstore but probably something that is required so that music can reach the masses. it is a bad thing that the high street doesn’t have a record store? There’s always other streets around the corner, these streets are far more interesting anyway.
I wrote a piece a couple of weeks ago (http://culturie.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/heres-to-a-new-year/) “Anytime you think of something that you feel would be a shame if it ceased then support it. In Dublin it was local shops. Let’s support those worth supporting. ” Ironic that a coouple of weeks later after a hugely busy Christmas period that HMV closed its doors and didn’t pay its staff.
If you felt that it was a shame that HMV closed then support other stores you would like to see open, don’t just sign an e-petition and go off to amazon. Think of other places you like and support these too, excuse me I’m off to casa rebelde (http://casarebelde.com/) for some clothes and then chapters (http://chapters.ie/) or Gutter Books (http://www.gutterbookshop.com/) for a read before having some food in the newly opened lurve (http://lurve.ie/)
