A New ERA For Entertainment?

A turn up for not only the books but the CDs and DVDs – Just as Kanye West forsakes the CD format completely, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has published figures revealing that the number of physical stores selling music, video and games has reached an all-time high of over 14,800.

Stores selling music and video have actually doubled since 2009, despite something called the Internet accounting for 71.8% of entertainment revenues in 2015.

Look a little closer and the reason for this is quite simple, as opposed to being a turning of the tide – there has been a huge increase in general stores stocking such items, i.e. Tesco selling vinyl- stores who are now reporting to the Official Charts Company include Argos, Boots, Burton, Moto, Primark and Urban Outfitters, who quite ludicrously and inaccurately claimed to be the largest seller of vinyl in the world last year.

All three major entertainment sectors registered growth last year with video up 1.5%, music by 3.5% and games striding ahead at 10%.

On a related note, Music Business Worldwide’s Tim Ingham this month made a fascinating case for what independent music can learn from video games, TV and film in a guest blog for PIAS that you can read here.