Tesco’s takes on iTunes with new download service
Jim Carroll
This week’s announcement by supermarket giant Tesco of a further move into music retailing provides yet another reason to hope for the continued existence of local independent record stores.
On the back of £2.8 billion (€3.5 billion) profits for the past year, Tesco revealed plans to revamp their current music download offering and to position it as yet aother challenger to Apple’s iTunes.
Tesco Digital will relaunch in May and aims to have more than 3.3 million songs available for download as MP3s by the end of the year. This is in contast to its current download store ( www.tescodownloads.com ), where songs are available in Windows Media format only.
It’s a further sign of Tesco’s intentions to increase its revenues by moving away from traditional food and clothing lines. According to the company’s latest figures, sales of such items as CDs, DVDs, books and electronics rose by nine per cent last year. Naturally, the move into music downloads will be followed by film and TV show downloads in time.
One sector which has suffered significantly from the move by Tesco and other supermarket chains into music retailing is the traditional record store.
There have been wholesale changes here in the past few years, with the disappearance of such once- significant players as Tower in the US and Virgin in the UK and Ireland.
There has also been a huge reduction in the number of independent stores, with many outlets now flogging mobile phones and DVDs where once they sold CDs and vinyl.
But independent stores are still in business, and tomorrow’s worldwide Record Store Day is a worldwide event endorsed by many big names in an attempt to re-focus attention on the local record shop.
While many bigger shops have been squeezed out, there are still many independent stores worldwide which continue to provide the kind of service, knowledge and enthusiasm about music which you won’t find in your local Tesco.
And there are still dozens of Irish indies up and down the country worth supporting tomorrow – and every week – when it comes to buying music.
The funny thing is that the industry gravitating towards the Tescos of this world is encouraging the illegal downloading so hated by label suits.
Correct me if I’m wrong, Jim, but part of the reason the bigger players such as Tesco can afford to sell albums so cheaply is because distributors will give them a cheaper price per unit than a small local shop. This in turn kills the local independent store. While these stores can just about survive in big cities where the demographic of people looking for alternative music that can’t be found in supermarkets is large enough, small independent stores in smaller towns and villages will collapse – they can offer a wider choice but when it comes down to it they need, as one local store owner who had to close last year described it as “the bread and butter” of chart music sales.
For the small demographic of people in these smaller towns looking for their fix, the only options presented are
a) Travel to the nearest city for their music.
b) Download
c) Buy the album online.
The obvious problems with b and c is that more often than not a credit card is needed, a luxury not afforded to your average teenager. Then options a and c dont offer the immediacy that downloading provides.
It’s clear that downloading is the preferred choice (if they have broadband in their area that is, and that’s a whole other can of worms we’ll leave well alone), and where’s the incentive to pay for it? The wailing of “killing the industry” doesn’t relate to people who have already seen the threat made a reality by Tesco coming in and putting their favourite store out of business. What’s left to be lost? Multiply this effect across countless of towns in the country and it’s a significant kick to the wallet of the labels.
I’m not naive enough to suggest this is the main cause of illegal downloading, but it certainly is a contributing factor.
This was one of those times when I could have done with at least 2,000 more words to get my thoughts across!
The reasons for Tesco’s ascendance and cheap pricing are, as Joe touched on above, many and varied. They can bulk buy, they can lean (in the nicest possible way) on distributers for price favours, they can stock ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap.
The problem is that Tesco and co are only interested in the albums which will sell. Sure, they’ll take a White Stripes album or a Raconteurs album from XL because it will sell but Be Your Own Pet? El Guincho? iLIKETRAINS? Not a chance – and if they do, it will be on sale-or-return which means the label might get back ’000s of albums in six months time.
So where can labels sell and promote these bands? Well, thats where the indie stores into the picture. In the US, the indies are still thriving because there’s a community of people who know the value of what the indie stores do and are prepared to support them. Price, of course, doesnt hurt – these indies are cheap (and cheaper if you’re buying with a strong euro like I was last month).
There are a couple of dozen indies around Ireland who do that job – selling and supporting and recommending the non-mainstream releases which you will never find in Tesco. But the current retail mood is against them. People are NOT buying CDs in the same quantity as before. They are not going into these shops because, as Joe suggests, these shops are not necessarily where the market is. And then, there’s the ease with which you can fire up your computer and download (legally or illegally) the tracks you want.
So the question is as much can the indies survive? Or will it become like record labels, that we’ll only realise just what they were about when they’re gone?
If one wants to pay a little more for organically produced, locally grown vegetables one avoids Tescos and their ilk and goes to farmers markets.
Mark, this is true – but if one had the option of an instant free organic vegetable delivery instead, would one take it?
markg- True, but as obesity figures show most people dont care what they eat…or listen to…
Bye Bye Independents with Tesco about..
It’ll be Top 10tastic..
But how will there be a new Top 10 with Tesco when they will only by the popular albums in .(my brain is hurting tryinh to think about this)
Just boycott them,go on ,for the laugh..
Catherine, Joe, the point is consumers have a choice of what to buy and where to by it.
If you fail to grasp this you are both part of the problem, not the solution.
For the majority of us music geeks, you can’t beat the feeling of walking into an independent music store and talking to the staff about music & recommending new bands to one another.
Jim, I know you can back me up here but Soundscapes in Toronto is a perfect example of an awesome independent retailer. Heaps & heaps of music to choose from, all priced amazingly well & staff who are enthusiastic & know their music. Due to the ever-lasting impression Soundscapes leaves on me whenever I am in Toronto – I order CDs from them online. I know I don’t have to but it’s a fantastic store I like to support.
ue to the ever-lasting impression Soundscapes leaves on me whenever I am in Toronto – I order CDs from them online. I know I don’t have to but it’s a fantastic store I like to support.
One of the scariest stores I’ve ever been in. I went in with a long list and they had every single one of the CDs on it. And all of them were reasonably or cheaply priced.
i third the joy of soundscapes! on a visit to toronto their staff pointed me towards holy fuck and a place to bury strangers – lovely store
on an irish level you can’t beat Road, i love the little descriptive slips they put on the covers, feels like reading a book a friend has leant you with the best bits highlighted
Hey Jim
You may know that Danny Federici, keyboard and accordian player with the E Street Band, passed away yesterday.
I think Danny’s death yesterday is worth flagging up on On the Record, there is a big Bruce fanbase out there who would appreciate an opportunity to pay tribute.
The RDS in May will be a little bit sad now.
Best
Brendan
Everyone seems to be ignoring the middle ground. HMV & Tower.
I usually avoid going to independent stores because I don’t seek advice from someone in the know. Thats not to sound cocky, its just that with so many places like Jims blog to discuss good music, why take a chance on a Jack Black type behind the counter?
I wouldn’t buy music from Tescos and I rarely go to the indies either. The middle-ground offers a good enough variety and reasonably priced if you shop around.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Jim, but part of the reason the bigger players such as Tesco can afford to sell albums so cheaply is because distributors will give them a cheaper price per unit than a
small local shop”
tesco sells music as a loss leader, it’s all about footfall.
the major labels do give higher discounts to Tesco then they do to the independents and in doing so have contributed to their own demise, the promise of higher units and therefore more turnover never really panned out.
the independent labels on the other hand never succumbed to the need for the supermarkets – yes their artist were sometimes in tesco but they never compromised on the price. as JIm pointed out tesco is not going to sell bon iver, crystal castles, notwist etc.
independent labels love independent shops.
I don’t think Virgin have completely disappeared Jim, haven’t they been (rather dismally) re-branded as ‘Zavvi’?
God, I used to love that great big Virgin Megastore on the Quays when it was in its prime…
Peter : when I spend my precious moolah, I don’t want it to line the pockets of HMV (let alone Tesco!) who view customers as blingin’ sheep. The independent stores are there because music is more than just a profit to be made.
Flynnduism: that’s a lovely sentiment and very true.
Tower is an independant store isn’t it? Insofar as it’s Irish owned and they licence the name, and their staff are far morelikely to be Jack Black types than Dave and Julie in Road who are lovely folk.
Interesting comments here….
Peter – I go to HMV and Tower ahead of Tesco but only when I want something right away and dont have the patience to wait to order it online or if the indie shops dont have it. I find Tower’s pricing in particular to be counter-productive – I sometimes marvel at how much they feel they can get away with for CDs
Billy – yeah, that was the word I was clutching for, “loss-leader”
Hot – Virgin is no more, they’re now called Zavi in the UK and Ireland. Though Virgin Megastores are still doing mad business in New York’s Times Square and Union Square
Ian – see above point about Tower and their prices. I’ll spend a small fortune on CDs every month but I won’t do so in shops which are taking the piss with prices. Hence, online shops and waiting till I’m abroad to splurge on plastic discs
@15
Naomi, if there was an album I wanted and it was only €12, I’d line the pockets of Satan himself.
HMV/Tower do charge ridiculous prices for new CD’s. I’d never pay €20 for an album. Which is probably why I don’t but alot of new CD’s. Silly money. They come down in price after a few months and Towers bargain bin really is a treasure trove. If you don’t have much money to spend you’ll always find something good in there.
Alright Mark… yes I do grasp that choice is important. But my point is that when a free, albeit illegal, option is also thrown into the mix (we’re talking about music here again, not vegetables), it complicates things further.
I don’t really see how Catherine.
There are currently plenty of free and legal ways of listening to music. Radio is probably the one you are most familiar with.
“independent labels love independent shops”
Maybe so Billy, but the crux of my argument is that for record stores in smaller towns in Ireland support from the Indie labels is not enough. In fact, trading indie and alternative music is a luxury that these stores can only afford if the chart hits are selling too – if a Tesco comes in then they struggle and in some cases close.
It comes down to economics and population – are there enough people interested in and buying music to support an indie shop in a town? And this may not even directly relate to the number of live venues in a town or even the number of bands in a town.
For the most part, though, Irish towns are just too small to support a bona-fide indie store. The shops who want to stay in business have to diversify. For example, someone was telling me a shop called Sheelagh na Gig in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary. Besides music, it also sells books and art. For some shops, such diversification is the only way to go to survive.
Having lived in Toronto for the best part of a year, and initially having felt a little homesick for Road Records – I discovered Soundscapes and I can verify that it’s one of the best little shops I’ve been into worldwide.
Last year, Toronto lost another one of the good record shops – “Sam The Record Man”, sure it was more in the vein of HMV and Tower rather than your small little independent, but it was still a great place, and I was sad to see it go.
Similarly – Mulligan’s in Galway was one of the best folk/trad/blues/world music stores in the country and it’s also sadly gone.
Iarla – with you on Mulligan. I picked up some great stuff there down thru the years. Could not believe it had shut down the last time I was in Galway
I think it may be time for some list action – the best indie record stores in the world….ever. That can be next week’s project
I don’t want to sound totally biased towards anything Canadian but CBC Radio 3 (the best radio station in the damn world) had this awesome show dedicated to the best Independent Music Stores in Canada ahead of the Record Store Day tomorrow. A little bit of info:
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jeDBr7CaHL3N853HHJCupajkZ96A
Mark – don’t try and tell me that no-one is *acquiring* (as opposed to simply just listening to) music illegally! Torrentz, limewire etc. will be a competitor of Tesco Digital from the word go.
number one has hit the nail on the head for me. apart from the buying mp3s possibility.
buying mp3s sickens me so much.
For anyone who cares (me and anyone Canadian reading this probably) Meow Records has won the coveted CBC Best Independent Record Store in Canada.
Pretty fantastic considering against stacked odds, store owner Bryndis opened Meow Records in a basement location in downtown Prince George (British Columbia) just 16 months ago.
Since then, the store has survived a flood, formed an all-girl roller-derby team, counts Chad VanGaalen amongst its die-hard fans, and has quickly become an integral and active cultural hub in the community.
It’s also one of the most remote music stores in Canada.
AND – It is owned by a woman & has a lot of female staff. Totally cool considering there is a lot of indie stores out there that are a little too high-fidelity and full of way too many dudes for my liking.
Pro-Canada rant over.
@26 Catherine, I’m not.
As I said, if that is how one chooses to live life and acquire one’s music, one is part of the problem, not the solution.
Jim, don’t know if you heard but the line up for the annual free music festival in Mitchelstown has been revealed – I have it on my blog. Anyway,shameless self promotion aside it’s a decent line up for a free festival that needs as much coverage as it can get to try and break even now that it has lost funding.
seems like indie stores aren’t the only thing disappearing around here!
“I find Tower’s pricing in particular to be counter-productive – I sometimes marvel at how much they feel they can get away with for CDs”
Do you have any examples of this? A couple will do. Just to allow Tower the chance to defend itself..
Hugger – ?
Dracula’s Teabag – Are you from Tower?
Yep
Dracula’s Teabag – The next time I’m in Tower, I’ll take note of a few over-priced CDs and I’ll bring them to you at the counter. Are you in Wickow St or O’Connell St? And, most importantly of all, should I ask for Mr Dracula or Mr Teabag?
Not necessary Jim. Just making the accusation is more than enough. Evidence is for pinkos.
Seriously though Dracula, I do find Tower’s prices to be on the high side and I know I’m not alone.
I’m not talking about the chart stuff or the bigger indie releases, but the back-catalogue stuff, CDs I’d pick up elsewhere for 7 or 8 euro always seem to be 12 or 13 euro in Tower, and specialist stuff like on Soul Jazz or dubstep releases or electronic releases, which always are cheaper in City Discs or Road.
I will admit that I’ve largely stopped buying CDs in Ireland because they’re cheaper online or abroad but even those impulse purchases – like, the recent Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill album for example – are dearer in Tower than they are in, say, HMV. I think it was 20 euro in Tower and I got it for 16 euro in HMV Grafton St.
None of those examples are a case of Tower “charging what they feel they can get away with”. Soul Jazz releases on CD are €16.99 on release until they slip into catalogue and then they are €19.99. They aint cheaper than €16.99 anywhere in Dublin. The Hayes/Cahill record (a beast of a record I might add) is cheaper in HMV not because we just charge what we feel like but because long after it’s 20 something quid in HMV it will still be 19 in Tower. Euros are added here and there to certain albums to make up for euros being subtracted on other records. Staying competitive, profitable & treating customers to deep catalogue & reasonable prices in a time of falling sales is a fine balancing act. There is no arrogance on Tower’s part with regard to pricing. We genuinely try to keep them as low as we possibly can while still staying in business.
Euros are added here and there to certain albums to make up for euros being subtracted on other records
I must always end up then with the CDs where the euros are added rather than subtracted
Soul Jazz releases on CD are €16.99 on release until they slip into catalogue and then they are €19.99
That’s still a considerable mark-up, isn’t it, from the dealer price?
I still spend an insane amount of money on CDs every month but, because I feel on past experiences that Tower stock is over-priced, I rarely buy stuff there. Yeah, your points are all very well but my feeling is always “Tower = expensive” so I go elsewhere. I’m sure other customers feel the same way.
tower records off graton street(i think), about a year ago:
minutemen-double nickles on the dime-28.99
Nope
another reason to love Pedro and this blog. I lived on clinton street for years , a block away from soundscapes. I remember when it opened and going in to say hi to Greg ( one of the nicest guys in the universe) and saying ” hey , you don’t happen to have Townes Van Zandt’s first record?” and he was all ” yeah , it’s over here”. and I’ll never forget going in and they were playing an early release copy of you forgot it in people and I was all ” damn , who is this” and Greg was like ” it’s the best record of the year AND they’re from Toronto”. or when he leant me a pre release of the friends of rachel worth on the strict instruction not to copy it so i took it to a bar across the street to give it a listen over some beers. great memories of that store. sob.