Virgin Megastores had what they describe as "one of the most successful years" the chain has ever had in 2007 by turning away from albums and focusing on other product. The store "defied market gravity" by transforming into a "lifestyle entertainment shopping destination," as sales of video games, DVDs, clothing and books all enjoyed increased sales over the preceding years while music continued to slump.
I'd love to see sales numbers on books, DVDs, clothing and video games vs. music. Maybe people just want to spend their money on other things?
Meanwhile, in January and February (but not March) 2008, iTunes was the biggest music retailer in the USA, followed by the usual winner, WalMart (calculated if you count 12 downloaded songs as one album).
WalMart recently asked the music industry to reduce the wholesale prices of their albums. The music industry said they'd rather look after the smaller music retailers than one for who music is only a very very small percentage of their market. But then... a small percentage of WalMart is very very large...
Universal recently cut the recommended retail price of their CDs by almost a third, but the wholesale price by only $2, seriously irritating retailers.
Change.
I really enjoyed their last album. One of the few bands to attempt the 80's revival in their style (that is, keyboards and pop melodies) and not sound ridiculous.