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Farewell to HMV


Al Krow

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3 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

but another thing I've not got my head around is whether global warming is actually going to be a good thing?! After all far more old folk die of hypothermia in the UK than do of heat-stroke. Vast swathes of tundra around the world will suddenly become more productive: Siberia and Greenland together are the is the size of Western Europe + India. I'd love to read a balanced argument about the pros and cons; at the moment unless you can faithfully spout just the cons you're classed as a heretic.

Literally that is because the pros aren't popular. The pros are that a lot of people will die, which might make the damage to the planet lessen over time, and maybe give another species a try. We are overpopulated and technically it is fair to say that maybe a lot of people dying out could be a good thing. Its just people don't want to be those people dying.

Although as you said it is a side track, if it was that simple, ie, things getting warmer, then it would not be so bad, but its not, injecting heat doesn't just make it warmer, it makes it more energetic, ie, more major storms more often, stronger winds, changes of sea and air currents, melting of ice, rising of sea levels etc. The UK certainly wouldn't do well out of it as we are warmer then our latitude would normally permit because of sea and air currents, which will change, so it could end up much colder in winter and much hotter in summer. And also we are not far out of the sea.

As for sizes, if it gets hotter in India, all of a sudden 1.4 billion people don't have access to food. Likewise a few billion in China and a lot of central US, where all their food is grown. How do you think that is going to work out for the people who do have food?

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Tbf I personally wouldn't be including "a lot of people will die" as a pro!

Well at least this puts the possible closure of HMV because we're all into streaming music into some sort of perspective eh? 

@Woodinblack just one further thought to pick up on - you mention food a couple of times. I fully expect food production to increase due to:

a) human ingenuity

b) the fact that CO2 is to plants what oxygen is to animals. More CO= more photosynthesis = a good thing (a pro).

 

Edited by Al Krow
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7 hours ago, The59Sound said:

Buying physical music will never go away. I have kept all my albums I've burnt onto my iPhone. Why? If my hard drive goes t!ts up, I have a backup.

Streaming as well. I hate streaming. When you lose signal out and about, no music. When you lose wi-fi connection, no music. When you can't afford £9.99 every month, no music.

Burning all my albums onto my iPhone negates all these issues. It's my music, that I own and can listen to no matter where I am. 

This, entirely. Every so often, I wonder about flogging all my CDs and vinyl, but then I start thinking along these lines and decide against it.

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Four things:

a) HMV was paying business rates of £15 million a year. That's a lot of council tax.

b) Hilco its "vulture fund" owner appears to have taken out £30 MILLION of cash from the business between 2013 and 2016 by way of "fees"

c) HMV still managed to have sales of nearly £280 million in 2018

d) The Sunday Times describes HMV as a "DVD and vinyl chain". Ok that settles the matter, records are officially "vinyl" and in future all tyres should be referred to as "rubbers"

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We are all hopeful that there will someone who will buy HMV. It’s not over yet. In the meantime we are still trading & we’ve been told that we should remain optimistic. It’s not easy carrying on working under these circumstances but we live in hope. Please support us bass friends as we need it! 

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4 minutes ago, Normski said:

We are all hopeful that there will someone who will buy HMV. It’s not over yet. In the meantime we are still trading & we’ve been told that we should remain optimistic. It’s not easy carrying on working under these circumstances but we live in hope. Please support us bass friends as we need it! 

If HMV is still selling > £250 million a year, it seems to me there's still a potentially very viable business in there. Fingers crossed for sure.

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50 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

You and Maude could lobby Coreen Bailey Rae to change her lyrics:

"Girl, put your polyvinyl chloride pressings on, tell me your favorite song, just go ahead, let your hair down". 👍

Sounds like a plan (if only I had heard of Coreen Bailey Rae... was she one of the early line up of Pink Floyd?)

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17 minutes ago, Maude said:

Coreen Bailey Rae is smart, she calls them records, be smart like Coreen 👍

Well as it happens I’ve had the pleasure to play with two of Corrine Bailey Rae’s drummers,Myke Wilson & Luke Flowers. Both are amazing guys to work with & their both based in Manchester. 

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4 hours ago, The59Sound said:

I'm not worried about global warming. China isn't either. Yet our government still slaps these eco taxes on us. Until China gets serious about cutting down, nothing will change. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_China

But Trump has pulled out. At least HMV won't be contributing anything more if they do go titsup.

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2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Tbf I personally wouldn't be including "a lot of people will die" as a pro!

I would. Humans are a dreadful plague upon the planet. With any luck, we'll all be gone in the next couple of hundred years, and give Earth a chance to recover.

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3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Four things:

a) HMV was paying business rates of £15 million a year. That's a lot of council tax.

b) Hilco its "vulture fund" owner appears to have taken out £30 MILLION of cash from the business between 2013 and 2016 by way of "fees"

c) HMV still managed to have sales of nearly £280 million in 2018

Well, if its rates were £15M a year, and it had sales of £280M a year, taking out £30M in 3 years (ie, £10M a year), doesn't sound that excessive, it is less than the rates. Obviously don't know what the full story is there but on the surface it doesn't seem excessive compared to a lot of those sort of businesses.

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6 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, if its rates were £15M a year, and it had sales of £280M a year, taking out £30M in 3 years (ie, £10M a year), doesn't sound that excessive, it is less than the rates. Obviously don't know what the full story is there but on the surface it doesn't seem excessive compared to a lot of those sort of businesses.

sales of £280M means nothing really it's profit that counts

Edited by PaulWarning
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16 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

That's pathetic, no wonder they are folding. 

Retailer margins usually are pretty pathetic.

Fender margins got to about 15% GP When I worked in retail, and then some box shifter would undercut. Some expensive tech gear was as little as 8% GP. 

thats business, but unfortunately bricks and mortar costs are on the rise while profits are down.

dont know if it’s still the same, assuming nothing has improved.

 

 

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