Peter Ulrich on Music Retail

Ex-Dead Can Dance Drummer on the Typical High Street Record Store

Jun 18, 2008

Peter Ulrich conducts his own Q and A as to why the same old tired Music Retail Song should not remain the same.

Like his latest solo album, Peter Ulrich has truly Entered his Own Mysterium when it comes to this question of Music Retail, a topic that continues to fascinate him and many other musicians and music fans in his very famous circle.

Peter Ulirch: So, what is going wrong in music retail that is resulting in terminally declining sales of physical formats?

Peter Ulrich: "The answer is very simple. While the internet has given us access to an enormous range of different music, the major retailers have completely failed to identify the changing requirements of the music buyer and are trying to retail in the same tired old way they always have done. Generally (and perhaps even more surprisingly) the leading, mainstream online retailers are just as guilty as their bricks 'n' mortar counterparts in the laziness of their methods.

"So for the time being, let me concentrate on the good, old-fashioned high street store. When you walk into a big music retail store (I live in London, but I presume this is an international phenomenon) you are first greeted by a rack of CDs of the current chart Top 20; next comes a rack of new releases by major, established, big-selling artists; then comes the row after row of 'A-Z of Rock and Pop' - all the old back catalogues of the major labels; and then off in the dark corners are the little niche sections for Jazz, Blues, Soul, Folk, World, House, Urban, Classical, etc - each of which has a tepid selection of the most middle-of-the-road fare available in its category."

Peter Ulrich: "Firstly, the prime positions in the store are entirely consumed with mainstream pop which is either being illegally downloaded on the web by kids who will always take their music for free so they can keep their little money for clothes and going out, or is being sold cheaper down the road in supermarkets such as Tesco (UK) / WalMart (US) etc. Not only does this severely limit sales potential of these titles, it also gives the retailer a reputation for being an expensive source of music which is legally cheaper or illegally free elsewhere.

"Secondly, the great bulk of the store is taken up with titles from established commercial artists/bands of the past few decades. Now OK, I know sales of Bob Dylan and Beatles albums will always continue to tick over - but how many do those stores sell each week? Many of those albums just sit their in the racks month after month, year after year.

"Thirdly, there's simply no excitement in entering these stores because there is so little hope of the customer making any new discovery."

Peter Ulrich: What other retail sector would have the same stuff sitting in the same position on the same shelves all the time, with nothing new?

Peter Ulrich: "If clothing retailers or furniture retailers did this, they'd be out of business in months. Even provisions stores move the location and change the displays of their baked beans from time to time to re-enliven customer interest! If high street music retailers want their customers back, they need to strip out their stores and completely re-design them. Their stores must become places where customers can make new discoveries on each visit, where they will be 'tempted' to buy and try new music."

The copyright of the article Peter Ulrich on Music Retail in Alternative Music is owned by Coral Andrews. Permission to republish Peter Ulrich on Music Retail in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.