HMV and the Dire Future of Physical Media

The news that HMV has been saved from Hilco will be of some relief to DVD labels around the UK. Where this leaves their sister shop Fopp I am unsure - and, even if some HMV stores continue to exist, it is doubtful that the chain will ever resort back to its old ways or become a juggernaut again in the future. The sad fact is that downloading, streaming and Netflix (as well as torrents) have killed the demand for physical media and, as austerity cuts continue and the economy risks a slide into a triple dip recession, the chances of increased sales in CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays feels like wishful thinking.

The sad fact is that this is most likely to hit the indie labels, such as Arrow Video - whom I have freelanced for during a rewarding three and a half year period - and their various contemporaries such as Shameless, 88 Films and Second Sight. Even more threatened will be the labels releasing niche titles - foreign films, documentaries, underground efforts and cult flicks from the past. I have linked below to a recent article in The Guardian for some further views on this:

HMV and the demise of the indies

Of course I can only speak for myself. Whilst HMV was never especially appealing to the little leisure funds that I had, Fopp was. Indeed, for scant outlay that little store, which had a presence in Edinburgh and Glasgow, offered me the chance to buy on a whim all number of obscurities for as little as £3 per DVD. I have spent a fair whack in Fopp and the idea that in the future I will have to know what I want to see, and then find it on Amazon, is depressing to say the least. Part of the fun of a shop stocking physical media is taking a chance - and I am sure that many film fans have picked up the Arrow releases that I have worked on as a consequence of this. Indeed, not so long ago Fopp had a shelf of Arrow discs reduced to a fiver including Inferno, Phenomena and Tenebrae. It made me really pleased to think that a young 18 year old film student, perhaps intrigued by Argento through the more mainstream patronage of an Eli Roth or Quentin Tarantino, would take the dive into picking up one of these editions and, thus, discover a whole new world of international genre filmmaking. At 18 I would wander into HMV and look for reduced prices on VHS (remember that?) copies of all number of Hong Kong movies and even such 'wow I really paid full whack for that' genre footnotes as The Dead Next Door (I got ID'd buying that one too!).

Still, as profits remain slim this is clearly nearing the end for those of us who want to own evidence of our passion for music and films. So it is then that kudos should be afforded to the labels, such as Arrow, who continue to offer a bit of bang for your buck. Whatever happens, then, I am proud that - as late in the game as it is - I offered some sort of mark on the UK DVD market. And I guess in ten years time I, like many fans of my age, will hold my collection near and dear to my heart.