HMV and Blockbuster both collapsed in on themselves about a week ago leaving both music and movie-lovers feeling slightly lost. Where will they peruse the latest releases or pay a mere £3 for a DVD? Where will they find a deal as fab as the infamous '2 for £10' or such a relentlessly massive collection of headphones? Happy memories playing video games with complete strangers may fade and future generations could be at risk of never knowing what a 'CD' is... but does it really matter? Has the digital age finally taken over, wiping out all things physical in the process? Are Waterstones, and books in general, next to drop dead? Or will people rediscover the value in something you can wrap your arms around and hold dear to your heart, triggering a resurgence of independant stores? HCTV asked eight media-savvy individuals to exchange their opinions...
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| Will - Musician, Prince's biggest fan |
Sad isn't it! So what do we do? Shop online? I've quickly bought a CD for 1p off Amazon many times, only for the postman to launch it over my back gate, causing the duel piece in the middle to get smashed to smithereens! Gone will be the days of spending your lunch break flicking through endless rows of DVDs. You won't pick up that album you've been waiting for for months, having that proud feeling of saving your money, taking it to the front desk and then walking out with your shiny new CD in a little HMV bag that shows everyone you've contributed to the music and/or film industry. We're being forced to watch our childhood memories get torn to the ground and soon, we'll grow apart from our friends and only ever see their faces on the very same screen you buy your CDs. As was probably said in a book or film or something you probably brought from HMV once, "The machines will slowly take over..."
• Listen to Will on HCTV's podcasts
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| Ross - Artist, loves a badass leading lady |
I totally prefer physical things! It's easy for younger generations to just see everything as worthless or disposable, because it's only bytes rather than physical objects. It's really difficult to put a price on something that is only digital and easily pirated. A price that seems reasonable and competitive for a video or music file doesn't take into consideration all of the work, jobs, time and money that has gone into making it. In terms of buying, DVDs and CDs are the only thing I enjoy browsing. You just don't know all the movies or albums that are out. All those 'straight to DVD' films that may not have the budget but can bring the same enjoyment as bigger productions will vanish into obscurity! I only allow myself to stream shows that take forever to come to UK as I don't want to risk seeing any spoilers, but then I'll buy the DVDs when they're out to help support the makers.
• See Ross' artwork at the Reading Room in Soho
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| Roo - HCTV's Daddy, Farscape mega-fan |
Browsing
the web will never be the same as browsing in an HMV. It's tear-jerking
to see places like BlockyB's go down the drain but we all saw it
coming. Hopefully online services improve in a bazillion different ways,
but I also think it's massively important to remember that the demand
for physical stuff
is definitely there. Old fogies and their CD
players still exist and so do people like me - people who quite like
their shelves at home lined with DVDs! HMV struggled to come to terms
with having to make any sort of change, so it stood still, frightened,
and now it's on its last legs. If a buyer saves them they'll have to
give the remaining stores a vibe that closer resembles that of Cex
stores, or Gamestation. A fun place to be, with fun staff, where you can
pick up and buy fun things - for fun! (They'll also have to put the
logo back the way it was before the lower case letters came along.
Please.)
• Follow Roo on Twitter
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| Courtney - Digital Artist, LOTR junkie |
Personally I feel that it is disheartening to see that such a great number of these sorts of shops have had no other option than to
close, leading to a loss of jobs for a huge number of young people and, with them, a substantial amount of human interaction. As I work
in e-commerce I understand the benefits of selling online, but as the
digital era will surely continue to evolve and take a more dominant position in everybody's lives, our scarily obsessive need to be constantly "jacked in" will only become greater. I think that online prices will eventually begin to rise as it becomes apparent that there is nowhere
else to go, and future generations may suffer a considerable lack of people skills, unable to experience face to face communication on a day to day basis. I believe that we could well be witnessing the slow start of the human race finally being controlled by our 'machines'... • Check out Courtney's Photoshop skillz
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| Ant - TV Researcher, Roo's BF, Marvel buff |
Nostalgia is great, but practicality is better. It's so much more
convenient having hundreds of films stored on a hard drive
than in cupboards collecting dust. HMV didn't collapse just because of the internet, it didn't offer
more than bad customer service and while it was fine for browsing, finding specific DVDs was painful. Retail shops will always be more expensive than online, so
they need to make it worthwhile by offering exceptional customer service and a unique shopping
experience. It's also easy to forget that HMV was a commercial
company. They're not your friend and they don't share your memories, they simply care about
taking your money. Why else would they continue to sell hundreds of
thousands of pounds worth of gift cards up until the day they announced they were worthless? We are
waving a fond farewell to a corporate snake slithering away with as much
money as it could steal. HMV didn't move with the times, but perhaps now the rest of the high street will be forced to. • Follow Ant on Twitter
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| Seyi - HMV employee, Twitter totty |
We all saw the digital world overtaking the high street
years ago, and the demise of iconic branches such as HMV has always been inevitable.
That said, I can't imagine the high street without at least one specialist music/film shop. I work for HMV and know that my
branch still makes a profit daily. We have devoted customers and
diverse, knowledgeable staff who aren't in the business solely
to make money, but also to be as helpful as possible (as cheesy as it
sounds) and it's a shame they might not be able to do that any more. I
don't see physical CDs/DVDs dying out yet as they're still in
demand, it's just that the demand is now online, thanks to lower prices. We live in a lazier society too and sitting on
my computer streaming movies, away from the barbaric public,
sounds like bliss - and saves money! But dismissing places like HMV then moaning
about a lack of jobs says a lot about where we might be heading. • Follow Seyi on Twitter
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| Alex - GT Production manager, Dexter nut |
I'm old enough to remember when HMV was just a record shop, selling 7
and 12 inch singles, LPs and cassette tapes. In recent times, up until they announced they were going into administration, HMV has sold music almost exclusively on CD and
it's range has expanded to include DVDs, Blu-rays, books, video games
and God knows what else. Not me, because I stopped shopping there years
ago. My urge to own physical copies of 'things' has dissipated. I
used to take great pride in my extensive CD, DVD and book collections.
But they were heavy, bulky and a pain to move so my CD's were digitised
and I now mainly rent and stream movies online. Books are the final
hold out. But at some point I'll make that transition too – it feels
kind of inevitable, and not just for me. Everyday the market for
physical copies of mass market entertainment seems to shrink. But lovers
of physical objects probably needn't fret yet; look at the small but
passionate consumer base who still buy vinyl records.
• Follow Alex on Twitter
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| Mr Stream - Musician, gamer, geek |
Having worked in entertainment retail before, my opinion is somewhat biased, what with the lovely discount that I received! We wouldn't just order any old
products though. We only ordered limited, attractively decorated vinyl - that's the
kind of product that retailers should have been flaunting all along;
something that you can't download! For all other the products, my colleagues and I
were indulging in a little downloading. It's a quick-fix, well suited for today's
immediate mindset. All kinds of media has become infinitely
customisable and much more personal than ever before - MP3 playlists have been the new 'mixtape' for years already. While I
don't think the disc will die, its distribution will have to become specialised to
reflect the buying public's ever-changing needs and tastes because let's face it - nothing beats
something you can get your hands on! • Listen to a collection of Mr Stream's remixes
It appears as though while we're all struggling to come to terms with the fact HMV and Blockbuster may no longer exist the way we've always known them, if at all, the majority of us are in agreement that digital media is taking over - whether we like it or not. There will forever be those among us who want something we can touch and here's hoping we're never without a place to go to fulfill the urge! But for the everyone else it's probably most important to remember that if you're going to make the shift from discs to digital, download your movies and music
legally. As has been discussed, at the moment it's much cheaper online so you've no excuse! Support the industries you adore and sacrifice a cup of coffee from time to time to make it happen! And, hopefully one day, we'll be able to display our downloaded films on our shelves at home using holograms or something.
But, before clicking the 'X' button and buggering off over to Netflix, take a moment to relive the excitement that came with Blockbuster stores popping up in the UK.
Go on, nip down to your local store and buy what could become the final few DVDs in your collection.
Roo
