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Child Item

BPM Closing

johnnykilo

So first Pure closes and now apparently BPM is closing too. There'll be nothing left in this town in a couple of months

I guess the writing was on the wall for music shops for a while now. They did well to survive this long. I guess with a lot of the twenty-somethings emigrating too that made a dent in their business.

Think that only leaves Golden Discs now and I can't imagine they're doing particularly well either although they would be better insulated against the recession by having an older customer base and catering to a more general market.

Anyway, sad to see the lads in BPM go. Remember going into them when they were KG discs (I think???) in the Broad Street Centre and then when they were in Michael Street. Hopefully their other stores in Wexford, New Ross and Mallow are doing better.

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Eroticplants

NO!
I moved down to Waterford in September and I fell in love with the place like!

Heartbreaking!

shebzy

No surprise really, why would you buy a new cd for €15, when you can download it for free? Good record shop though over the years.

old gregg

Yes it's a shame to see it go and with it our only real record store in town. Bad news for artists too, especially local bands etc. I frickin' hate itunes and many of the online stores cos the artist gets shafted. I've a few albums up on itunes/amazon/etc and get around US$0.09c for each digital album sale compared to US$5.00 for a CD (once in a blue moon

). Closing local record stores may be the harsh reality of a free market but I don't think it ultimately benefits anyone except the shareholders of itunes/amazon/etc

Joey leBlanc

holy guacamole wrote: »

Surely they have to allow a HMV shop to open up in the near future now, it's embarassing for a city of Waterford's size to just have a crappy little Golden discs store as it's only main music/movie retailer. There is Rainbow Records aswell I suppose but selection in there can be hit and miss at best.

As long as downloading and buying online continues to be cheaper than purchasing online then there's no hope whatsoever for independent music stores like BPM. In years to come we'll be telling our grandchildren that we used to go into a shop to buy our music and they'll laugh their little holes off.:(

Its a real shame the place is closing. Personally, I reckon I've spent thousands of (pounds) euro's in the place through it's various guises (KG Discs/BPM) in the various locations around town since I was a teenager. I recall one of the first 12"s I bought was The Stone Roses "Made of Stone" back in the Summer of 1990 when the store was in the Broad Street Centre. Happy days indeed. The younger generation might find it hard to imagine appreciating the thrill of visiting a record shop to browse thru the material. I loved it. And judging by the amount of people that passed thru it's doors so did many.
The speed at which technology has taken hold of people's imaginations & lives over the past 10/15yrs is shocking. Back then nobody had mobile phones & a CD walkman was at the cutting edge of technology. Now we are all slaves to it. Every part of our lives it touched by it. It's destroyed the music industry. Downloading is convienient for the consumer but there is no interaction with the real world. By visiting a record store you are actually interacting with real people & socialising. Scary thing is that the beloved book shop is going to be the next casualty. E-books are already outselling hardbacks/papersbacks on Amazon.
Personally, I havent been in BPM as much as I used to, but anytime I was in town I'd always call in to have a look. Its really sad to see it go. I bought approx 80% of my CD collection there. The money was well spent as it's given me & many others hours of enjoyment. Perhaps, it's time passing but I feel the enjoyment is being sucked outta life by technology's relentless march. Who wants to sit home alone downloading/surfing/texting/tweeting etc. where once other generations couldnt wait to go down town to meet their mates or spend never ending afternoons & evenings in the pub having the craic.

dayshah

ziedth wrote: »

TBH i call it the begining of the end of the industry. Like ya said fricatus I can't remember the last CD I bought it's all iTunes or "other means".

It's a real shame as it's always nice to see small independent places and the lads in there always seemed pretty sound.

IMHO as download speeds increase over the next few years up to stupid speeds going by Moore's law we will be up to like 100mg broadband before the next world cup. At that stage even box sets won't keep the likes of HMV afloat.

You're spot on.

Its a shame its closing, its a nice place. Like other posters I sank plenty of money into the place. But its just technology (and the recession doesn't help either).

About 15 years ago it was predicted that digitisable products (CDs, films, books) would all be distributed electronically. Its like gas or water. Why go to the shop when you can have it piped into your home. Like gas and water there is still a niche (eg you wouldn't fill your bath with Ballygowan, but might get 1% of your water from a bottle, or get bottled gas for camping).

The next thing to go will be video rental. While there is some attraction in owning a physical CD, there is none in renting a physical DVD. Downloads will rule the rental market.

Even CDs themselves are on the way out. In a car I usually listen to the radio. When walking I use my phone. Its a pain in the whole to copy CD to computer and computer to phone. So the attraction of owning a CD is a lot less for me than it used to be.

With books people still want the paper, and industrialised production will be most efficient for bulk selling books and also graphic intensive books. But I predict in 5 to 10 years time you will see sprouting over the world little printing shops that invest money in specialised printing equipment. You go to the shop, browse the online catalogue of less common books, and then they will print and bind it there and then for you (if I was bothered about being a millionaire I'd invest in this idea now, but I'm already incredibly handsome and want some chance for the ladies to give me some peace).

About 5 years ago I stopped buying CDs. First I switched from record shops to CDWOW, then CDWOW was unreliable so I just stopped.

I'll miss BPM though. I remember there was a girl there with a sort of Mona Lisa smile when you bought something. I'm sure I bought a few tunes in there just because of her

nkay1985

It really is sad to go but I don't think anybody is surprised. You just have to read through this thread and see the amount of people that have said how they used to spend lots of money in there. I too loved the place when I was younger but once I left secondary, I was hardly every in town anymore and sure CDWow, Play or any other means was handier.

I detest Golden Discs though. I was buying Rhianna's album for my wife at Christmas and consciously thought to myself "I'm going to buy this in BPM to give them the business". Sad to think that'll almost certainly be the last album I'll buy in there. I might actually make a point of going in there over the weekend so that I have a better last memory.

Adyx

nkay1985 wrote: »

It really is sad to go but I don't think anybody is surprised. You just have to read through this thread and see the amount of people that have said how they used to spend lots of money in there. I too loved the place when I was younger but once I left secondary, I was hardly every in town anymore and sure CDWow, Play or any other means was handier.

I detest Golden Discs though. I was buying Rhianna's album for my wife at Christmas and consciously thought to myself "I'm going to buy this in BPM to give them the business". Sad to think that'll almost certainly be the last album I'll buy in there. I might actually make a point of going in there over the weekend so that I have a better last memory.

While I have spent a fair bit online and on iTunes, I'm sure (and proud to say it) that I've spent more in BPM in the last 10 years, than anywhere else. When I was working I used to go in and think nothing of spending €80 or so on a big bunch of CDs. I really love that shop and absolutely wonderful staff too. This is actually worse news than losing my job.

Golden Discs is shit. I'd say they have more DVD box sets than CDs at this stage, and the few they have are Bieber and Jedward rubbish. Looks like I'll be doing all my CD shopping in Kilkenny and online from now on.

Bog

zeppe wrote: »

Sad to see it go. It was great for us local original bands. They'd stock our CDs
and we could do gigs outside BPM for publicity.

Things have changed in the music business forever with Itunes/free downloads and the resurgence of vinyl for real music lovers. There's a generation of people too who will never buy music or even understand the relevance of music as its been completely devalued.

I'm out of the scene for a while but any CD we released in the past,we broke even on it because we could sell it at BPM/Sinnotts and at gigs. Forget about it these days, every musician I know have garages fuill of original CDs that will never sell. Its funny, people will pay €50 on a round of shots in Harveys no problem but you cant get them to an original gig for a €5 AND you get a free CD. Strange times indeed.

Best of luck to all the lads in BPM.

Very good point on the effect on local music too. Last CD I bought in BPM was the O Emperor album, very sad to see the place go. Thanks to all for the advice, recommendations and for feeding my music habit over the years.

decies

The price of CDs have being a rip off basically since they first came out to be honest, I blame the music industry for that one. Still sad to see any shop closed down , god we are becomming a one horse town , one bookstore, one record store.GOD help all the retailers !!!

wmpdd3

That may be true but unfortunatly is is big business for the supermarket. Look at the sq feet Tesco has in Waterford alone just for media.... about the size of 8 BPMs.

Tesco don't back loosers, that floor space has to give a €/sq ft return of else something else would be there.

Scaldy Ned

****...More bad news. Whens it goin to end.
Like a lot have said here , i always bought in BPM,the two for twenty was perfect for me because i could replace my albums that my 3 kids have nicked on me.
Being able to pick up an album in your hand and read the sleeve notes etc, is a pleasure in itself.....The problem is that when it's only the Tesco's of the world left...we can only buy what they decide to sell....:mad:
It's becoming an X factor world where only what the naieve kids will spend on will get sold.
Thanks BPM

eeloe

Such a crying shame, I used to spend at least 100 a week in there on vinyl back in the day!

Such a shame to see them going, really influenced my musical style to where it is now!

At least the staff were knowledgeable about the music they were selling.

Gerry Byrne in the Vinyl section?

dayshah

Scaldy Ned wrote: »

Being able to pick up an album in your hand and read the sleeve notes etc, is a pleasure in itself.....The problem is that when it's only the Tesco's of the world left...we can only buy what they decide to sell....:mad:

Of course the flip side of the technology is that musicians can distribute their music internationally for free from their website.

If I was a local band I'd give my music away for free and try get it played on radio. That way I'd have a fan base that would pay for gigs. The internet can never do away with a live concert.

I don't think its Tesco that decide what to sell, but the radio stations decide what to play, which influences popularity.

johnjoe123

all four shops of the chain are gone. Mallow and New ross closed down in january and waterford and wexford will bothe be gone by friday. such a shame for the lads.

deise_boi

dayshah wrote: »

If I was a local band I'd give my music away for free and try get it played on radio. That way I'd have a fan base that would pay for gigs. The internet can never do away with a live concert.

In an ideal world, but most local bands struggle to meet the expenses that come from travelling to gigs (local or not). Equipment hire or purchase such as PAs and also the instruments themselves. And then the cost of hiring out a studio and engineer/producer to make the single or album ready for radio wouldnt be too cheap either!

But I digress from the topic, gutted to hear to BPM is closing. Bought my first album in there and have always bought there when I could

200motels

It's sad to see alright, I'm old fashioned in that I still play LP'S and downloading does not appeal to me whatsoever, but things move on. Still it's a shame it's closing down and people losing their jobs.

johnjoe123

link to their website where they have a short message

http://bpmrecords.ie/

RxQueen

200motels wrote: »

It's sad to see alright, I'm old fashioned in that I still play LP'S and downloading does not appeal to me whatsoever, but things move on. Still it's a shame it's closing down and people losing their jobs.

Yeah same here, sad to see it go.

wonder whats next.

Ledger

All shops gone like that??

Jesus Christ.

Joey leBlanc

Surely a company like HMV will see the potential market in the south east for a decent music/dvd/media store now that BPM in on the way out. As far as I know it's an hour an half+ trek in any direction (Cork/Limerick/Dublin) to any worthwhile alternative to Golden Discs. The only problem I can forsee is the lack of a decent vacant premises!

dayshah

So is Golden Discs all we have? The one in the Book Centre is gone, isn't it?

Looks like I'll have to stick with play.com (for my much reduced CD purchases).

PTH2009

is there any reason why HMV never moved to the city. ? Theres one in Kilkenny so why dont they think waterford is a good destination for one of there stores

Professey Chin

PTH2009 wrote: »

is there any reason why HMV never moved to the city. ? Theres one in Kilkenny so why dont they think waterford is a good destination for one of there stores

No suitable units would be my main guess thinking of most HMV layouts

Nolanger

PTH2009 wrote: »

is there any reason why HMV never moved to the city. ?

HMV are crap now. All video games and iPods. They only sell the usual mainstream CDs at special offers prices. Won't get anything there for the serious music fan.

johnjoe123

to be honest I think you'll see more HMV's closing down before you see any open up. They are as far up the creek as anyone else is and I wouldn't be too surprised to see them go the same way as virgin soon.

STIG83

Will the day come when music and DVD shops will be extinct? online shpping, itunes and downloads will have taken over?

ziedth

johnjoe123 wrote: »

to be honest I think you'll see more HMV's closing down before you see any open up. They are as far up the creek as anyone else is and I wouldn't be too surprised to see them go the same way as virgin soon.

I was going to post this, are HMV even making any mobey as a company? I couldn't see them taking on a new shop unless they are at least making a profit.

Like I said before, I think the industry will be on it's knees are finished altogether by the time broadband gets so fast that we'll literally getting TV series in an instant.

johnjoe123

ziedth wrote: »

I was going to post this, are HMV even making any mobey as a company? I couldn't see them taking on a new shop unless they are at least making a profit.

No completely the opposite. They are going downhill really fast. They have issued two profit warnings in the last two months and currently are trying to renegotiate it's debts with the bank as they have a deadline in April that they know they can't meet.The value of the shares are also at an all time low.

Nolanger

What Waterford City needs is a one-day record/CD fair every few months in a city centre sports hall.

200motels

Nolanger wrote: »

What Waterford City needs is a one-day record/CD fair every few months in a city centre sports hall.