Sick Sad World, Etc.

After announcing that the Times Square location of Virgin Megastore would be closing in April, the Union Square location is now closing in May.

I don't know how I feel about that. Personally, I always hated Virgin Megastore. Too crowded, horrible selection (at least within the records), and most of it was overpriced. The one in Union Square is right next to Circuit City, which is also closing, so that huge storefront will be empty and I wonder what is going in its place. I hope to God not some establishment that can be found every 5 blocks. Or worse, as someone suggested, more NYU dorms. Don't even get me started on NYU.

From reading BrooklynVegan, it seems that the majority of people would like Amoeba to take the place of Virgin and possibly Circuit City. Who knows.

One point brought up, and one that I think is important, is the impact that this will have on smaller music stores in the area. If the chains can't last, then what about the independent stores? Personally, I think the independent stores are fine. From what I've read, it seems that a lot of people, at least those who like certain genres of music, tend to support more local stores, such as Other Music, SoundFix, Ear Wax, Bleecker St. Records, etc. 

I think part of the problem is that people don't want to or just simply don't buy CDs that much anymore. With all the Internet brings with acquiring music legally or illegally, for a large amount of people it seems pointless to buy a CD after you have an mp3 on your computer or iPod or whatever.

We discussed this in my Music Business class along with the fact that lately there has been a resurgence in the amount of people buying vinyl these days, mostly due to the artistic elements and physicality behind it. I know for damn sure that when I buy music, I just go for vinyl. I can't even remember the last CD I bought, I know it had to have been years ago, as one of the perks of being a Music Director was getting free copies of CDs. 

I just hope that will all the changes taking place within the music industry, that the independent music stores will fare better than their chain counterparts.