Category: Live Music – HMV has decided to add live shows to their business model on the heels of Virgin Megastores announcing they will close their store in the first quarter of 2009 in Times Square. The British retailer will partner with concert venue operator MAMA and take ownership of 11 mid to large size live music venues. The venues include the Hammersmith Apollo in London and the Picture House in Edinburgh. With CD sales plummeting, HMV is trying to get in the lucrative area of live touring. Live touring is a 1.5 billion dollar business in Britain alone and it ultimately gives them a “360″ type of deal. They will now be able to sell their customers tickets, merchandise, Cd’s, videogames and it will be like one stop shopping.
On top of that HMV recently bought 14 stores from rival Zawi that has collapsed and is in bankruptcy. It appears to be a very good move for them as they needed a re-structuring of their model as the music business has shifted away from the CD and more towards the live touring. With this model they will be able to offset the losses with the part of the business that is really working.
Time will tell whether this was a good move, but clearly HMV had to make a move or they were going to be extinct shortly.
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