Music giant HMV is on a comeback just a decade after collapsing into administration as young music lovers give up streaming in favour of vinyl and physical media, one of its bosses has claimed.
Phil Halliday, managing director of the firm, says that Generation Z is helping the once-ailing firm recapture its spot as one of the High Street’s most recognisable and dependable shops.
There has been a resurgence in the popularity of vinyl – with record sales in that format hitting record numbers for the 21st century last year – which comes as many suffer from ‘streaming fatigue’.
But it is this, combined with more demand for CDs from the ever-growing audience of K-pop and J-pop fans, as well as a surprising surge in cassette sales, that Mr Halliday says has left HMV ‘really optimistic’ about the future.
The company, once forced to close stores and lay off staff, is even planning an ambitious expansion into Europe and Canada as a result of bumper sales.
HMV managing director Phil Halliday says the reopening of the music firm’s flagship branch in London’s Oxford Street is a hopeful sign for a firm rising from the ashes of administration
‘Nipper’s coming home’ was the message in a souped-up new version of HMV’s famous dog-and-gramophone logo as the firm’s reopened in the capital city’s West End
Vinyl record sales at the end of last year hit a new UK high for the 21st century and HMV chiefs hope a resurgence in interest will help justify investment in 363 Oxford Street
Speaking exclusively to , Mr Halliday admitted bringing their Oxford Street branch ‘back to life’ after a four year absence had much to do with how the firm now felt ‘really optimistic about vinyl and CD as you might expect’.
He said: ‘This was the first HMV store to open in 1921, so getting back in and seeing customers coming back to us after our four years away is a defining moment in our return as a business.’
Mr Halliday went on: ‘Vinyl is having a well-reported resurgence over the last 16 years of consistent growth and, based on the numbers of customers buying turntables, we don’t expect that to fall any time soon as new fans build their collections.
‘CD has also seen solid growth – especially as we’ve seen a rise in interest in J-Pop and K-Pop fandom in the UK because it’s the main physical format for both genres.
‘Cassette has been, we’re not going to lie, something of a surprise to everyone and – while the percentage growth numbers are impressive – those are rises from a pretty low base.’
HMV pictured on Oxford Street when it opened in 1939
A customer looking thorough a rack of vinyls at the HMV store on Oxford Street
Two women looking at records in HMV on June 20, 1958
Queues line up for the reopening of HMV on Oxford Street last November
More than 250,000 vinyl records were sold in the final week of 2023 – a record for a seven-day period this century – with 6.1million bought throughout last year, according to trade body the BPI.
And it’s not just nostalgic older buyers who are indulging by snapping up new vinyl pressings of old favourites.
The majority of vinyl sales at Christmas appeared to be by or for Gen Z-ers.
Mr Halliday said: ‘Turntables were at the top of a lot of gift lists this year based on sales.
‘To help new fans kickstart their collections we had offers across a range of vinyl – including a three-for-£55 on some much-loved recording artists.
‘That was helped by releases from Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles and of course Taylor Swift, which were in massive demand.’
Recent album releases by Taylor Swift, here performing recently in Brazil, have helped fuel record vinyl sales – with three of her LPs among last year’s top ten bestsellers
The first HMV opened at 363 Oxford Street in London in 1921, with composer Sir Edward Elgar among the special guests attending the launch
The HMV outlet shut in 2019 and in recent years the site has been occupied by one of the many American-style sweet shops moving into London’s West End
He admitted being taken by surprise by a separate surge in cassette sales – while modern-day artists such as Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo and vintage acts like The Beatles and Queen are wooing buyers both young and old.
HMV has vowed to make its Oxford Street outlet London’s largest entertainment store – as it used to boast following its original opening in 1921.
There is the promise of live appearances and signings by renowned musicians on its ‘purpose-built performance floor’ – with James Arthur now among those signed up.
Britpop band Shed Seven have also been pencilled in, while Brits winner Dizzee Rascal has agreed to appear at HMV’s Coventry branch, Mr Halliday revealed.
Composer Sir Edward Elgar was the special guest when that first HMV record shop opened on July 21 1921 and he urged every school to buy a gramophone player.
This time around the new-look store was launched by veteran London band Madness, who were among the acts topping the charts last year with their new album – a revived interest in vinyl helping propel them to the summit.
The latest version of the HMV outlet offers plenty which might bemuse Sir Edward and others turning up when doors first opened more than a century ago.
It now stocks more than 4,000 pop culture merchandise lines, at least 8,000 4kUHD, Blu-rays and DVDs – and also some 20,000 vinyl albums and CDs.
The reopening seems well-timed, amid sales boosts for physical albums and singles despite the modern-day dominance of people streaming and downloading music online.
Shoppers of all ages have been thronging to the new-look store, according to HMV directors – as they hope a resurgence in vinyl and CD sales should point to a brighter future
Camden band Madness posed for photographs promoting their latest album while also guest-starring at the Oxford Street branch’s grand reopening last November
Harry Styles was also among of the best-selling acts for the newly-relaunched HMV in 2023
The relaunched HMV store is now offering 20,000 vinyl and CD albums as well as 8,000 4kUHD, Blu-rays and DVDs, as well as at least 4,000 more pop culture merchandise lines
Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman, pictured inside the new store, has led a rescue of HMV which had previously gone into administration in 2013 and was facing closures and job cuts
Yet Mr Halliday also suggested many more pop culture items were doing good trade.
He insisted: ‘Our Oxford Street store now offers a lot more than just music with one of London’s widest ranges of merchandise from the biggest film and TV franchises as well as hot imports including Japanese plush.
‘Our T-shirt range – we now have over 500 designs in-store – must also have found their way under a lot of Christmas trees this year judging by our sales figures for December.’
But he also predicted sales surges ahead for movie releases on DVDs and other formats – pointing to the Hollywood writers’ strike which was staged last year before finally ending.
He said: ‘The writers’ strike meant that a lot of releases have been delayed and that in turn has meant that Blu-Ray releases and associated merchandise has also been on-hold.
‘There’s a been a strong end to the year for cinema releases, which will be coming to physical disc and major box sets being released.’
HMV’s apparent revival comes after more than a decade of uncertainty whether one of Britain’s major music enterprises might even survive.
Despite massive expansion during the rock and pop boom of the 1960s and 1970s, then the advent of CDs in the 1980s, the new millennium’s opening up online downloads hit high street sales.
The firm announced 40 shop closures in 2011 and two years later went into administration, risking 4,350 UK jobs.
Some 141 stores and 2,500 posts were saved thanks to an April 2013 buy-out by restructuring company Hilco Capital, but the 150-154 Oxford Street store was among those closing.
HMV again went into administration in 2018, prompting Canadian entrepreneur Doug Putman to put together a rescue package.
The first in-store appearance by a recording artist is believed to when composer Sir Edward Elgar helped launch the new HMV store at 363 Oxford Street in 1921
The store was already well established in the 1950s as a popular attraction for music fans browsing vinyl albums – before John Lennon and Sir Elton John became regular 1960s visitors
His Sunrise Records shop chain bought HMV from Hilco for an undisclosed amount.
The 363 Oxford Street store closed its doors in 2019 as part of enforced cutbacks and in the four years that followed, the site was operating as an American sweet shop – one of many to spread across Oxford Street and nearby Leicester Square.
But HMV moved back in after sealing a deal with the landlord last April, in what the retailer’s boss hailed as a ‘great moment’ for the chain’s recovery.
Mr Putman has also suggested the shop can begin again to attract crowds to live signings and performances, evoking memories of previous appearances by stars such as Sir Paul McCartney and the Spice Girls.
Mr Halliday said of the company’s current owner: ‘When Doug Putman took on HMV in 2019 he was desperate to keep 363 Oxford Street open.
‘A combination of high rents and – at the time – even higher business rates meant that it just wasn’t viable.
‘But times have changed for both HMV and the wider economy which has meant that we could get the shop open again.’
And he suggested the Oxford Street reopening was just the start of further expansion, both home and abroad, saying: ‘We’re planning to continue to expand into Europe.
Doug Putman, outside the new-look store here with a dog named Holly, invested to save the ailing company in 2018 and vowed to put vinyl at the centre of recovery efforts
Chart-topper James Arthur is among the artists lined up to make live appearances at the reopened HMV branch in Oxford Street, according to the firm’s managing director
HMV now has 120 shops across Britain, including a West London location in Westfield in White City, the specialist Fopp shop in Covent Garden, and the 25,000 sq ft Vault in Birmingham – Europe’s largest entertainment store.
‘We opened a first store in Antwerp to test the market in October last year and that’s been going well so we will look at growth,’ Mr Halliday said.
‘We’ve opened HMV concessions in Canada and those are going well so far.
‘As for the UK, there are definitely some cities that we want to be in where there isn’t yet an HMV but the timing and the economics have to be right.’
But retail experts have urged caution about the prospects for HMV and the high street.
Dr Michael Heller, a business history expert at Brunel Business School, called HMV’s Oxford Street store ‘an institution’ and said reopening it was ‘certainly a good idea’.
He told : ‘Its restoration could restore a vintage brand and indeed the flagging fortunes of Oxford Street.
‘The revival in vinyl bodes well for both the revival of the brand and a physical presence which has always been HMV’s strength.’
Yet he also warned there were ‘huge risks with this’, describing HMV as ‘still a recovering brand’.
Dr Heller added: ‘Its downfall wasn’t just technical – the shift to streaming – but more importantly the failure to capture and hold on to a young demographic as it had in the past, which I’m not sure it has resolved.
‘The danger is that older people go to the flagship as a form of nostalgia and young people continue to shun it.
‘For this to succeed HMV needs to follow some form of retro strategy like what Mini did for example – they need to combine the past with the present with some form of vision, a ‘sweet spot’, for the future.
‘This needs to have something to do with the experiential, a reason for visiting the store which goes beyond the mere transactional.’
Gennaro Castaldo, from music industry body BPI and who used to work for HMV, was more positive about their prospects ahead.
He told : ‘HMV has long played an important role in the UK’s music market.
‘The brand lost its way a little as music became digital, but it’s found its mojo again as music consumers – including younger fans – have fallen in love with vinyl albums once more while also appreciating CDs and even cassettes alongside streaming.
‘HMV is well placed to cater to this demand.’
Young adults and teenagers – members of so-called ‘Generation Z’ – have been using TikTok to show off their Christmas vinyl ‘hauls’ – including special edition releases
Cassettes have also been staging a comeback, according to figures from music industry body the BPI – while CDs sales have slowed their decline
Mr Putman has promised more live events as well as putting records to the forefront.
And his MD vowed: ‘We’ve got an active programme of live appearances – Shed 7 are going to be performing, James Arthur is also going to be joining us for a signing event – we want a live performance schedule that has something for everyone.
‘We’ve got artists including G Flip, Neck Deep and D-Block Europe at stores across the UK as well as in-store signings in Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham followed by a performance from Dizzee Rascal at our HMV Empire Coventry venue.
‘One of the great things about our stores is that they’ve become the places where fans get to meet the artists they love and where artists can engage with the public.
‘It’s the magical things about music and a lot of those who make appearances tell us the buzz they get is why they got into the business in the first place.’
New industry figures show vinyl sales at their highest level in 33 years after declining in the 1980s and 1990s with the birth of the compact disc.
CDs themselves are also enjoying a resurgence after losing out to MP3 players and services like Spotify, while there has also been recent spike in cassette sales.
And business chiefs say younger audiences are responsible for buying the majority of LPs, especially bestselling releases from the likes of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and Lewis Capaldi – as well as classics from vintage acts such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac.
Mr Halliday told how ‘2023 belonged to Taylor Swift’, before adding: ‘But customers are as likely to buy Queen, Oasis or Harry Styles.
‘A lot of the growth in physical music – and the success of HMV and Oxford Street – has come because physical music is no longer the preserve of rockers or indie kids buying the music of their youth.
Reformed Britpop-era band Blur, pictured here playing at Wembley Stadium last summer, were among the artists making the top ten best-selling lists
Another of the year’s most popular purchases on vinyl was the latest LP by Lana Del Rey
‘The breadth of appeal is what is driving growth now, rather than one or two artists dominating sales.
‘Music fans come in all shapes and sizes and we’ve learned not to judge any book by its cover when it comes to customers.
‘They will always confound our expectations – from six-year-olds who want Jimi Hendrix to 55-year-olds demanding the latest grime release.’
Seven of last year’s ten most popular vinyl LPs were released that year, led by 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) by Swift, the Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds, Did You Know There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey and The Ballad Of Darren by Blur.
CD sales continued to fall, though by the slowest rate of decline since 2015 – down by 6.9 per cent to 10.8million units, with Take That’s This Life the most popular with 127,000 copies bought.
Meanwhile, there were six-figure sales for cassettes for the fourth year running – with 136,000 tapes crossing the counters, Guts by Olivia Rodrigo the bestseller.
So-called ‘streaming fatigue’ has been suggested as one motivating factor for the boost to physical sales.
Mr Halliday said: ‘We’re seeing more and more artists embracing physical as a means of getting their music to fans and more fans keen to own their favourite artists’ music rather than rent it from a streaming platform.
‘Artists and their labels have embraced vinyl and CD as formats and we’re also seeing exclusives, additional material and artwork coming out on physical formats that you can’t get your hands on anywhere else.
‘Of course, the fragmentation in streaming has also meant that more fans want to own films and TV show box sets so they can watch them when and where they want.’
Many youngsters have also been seen unwrapping and showing off their treasured new vinyl possessions on TikTok, especially over the festive season just gone.
The long and winding road: HMV’s rise and fall and rise
TikTok clips are a far cry from that HMV logo, taken from an 1898 painting named His Master’s Voice by British artist Francis Barraud.
The model for the dog in the picture was a part-terrier mongrel named Nipper, who lived in Bristol with his owner Mark Henry Barraud – Francis’s brother – and is now commemorated with a small statue near the city’s Prince’s Theatre.
The rights to the image and the words ‘His Master’s Voice’ were bought for £100 by HMV’s forerunner the Gramophone Company.
That was one of the world’s earliest recording firms, at the start of the 20th century – commissioned by Emile Berliner, who had invented the gramophone record.
It built a new dedicated record-printing factory in Hayes, Middlesex, in 1907, ahead of taking over a men’s clothing shop to open that first record store on Oxford Street 14 years later.
The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, pictured centre, was boosted by a visit to HMV’s Oxford Street store in 1962 when trying to win the band a recording contract
That traded under the name HMV, one of the Gramophone Company’s spin-off brands which was also used for the sale of radio and TV sets.
In 1931 the Gramophone Company merged with English Columbia Graphophone Company to create Electric and Musical Industries – better known as EMI, and whose record labels would later be home to The Beatles, David Bowie, Queen, the Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and many more.
In November that year the company opened what was then known as the EMI Recording Studios in St John’s Wood, north-west London – better-known now as Abbey Road Studios.
There was turmoil later that decade when the Oxford Street store was badly damaged by fire and shut up shop for two years while being restored.
The rock’n’roll boom of the 1950s and soaring sales in the following decades saw the retail arm HMV massively expand across the country, doubling in size in the 1970s.
Another West End outlet – at 150-154 Oxford Street – opened in 1986, billed as the world’s biggest record store, and a first US opening followed four years later in New York.
But CD-fuelled sales in the 1980s, and the expansion of home entertainment products including computer games and DVDS, were followed by dwindling profits in the new millennium – as online options dampened demand for physical releases.
The 363 Oxford Street branch was first shut down in 1999, with the firm focusing attention on a bigger site across the road at 260 Oxford Street – but was reopened by new investors Hilco Capital when lifting the firm out of administration in 2013.
Among the special guests for that relaunch a decade ago was Sir Paul McCartney, who can trace a significant step in The Beatles’ success to that same store.
This was there the then-unsigned Fab Four’s manager Brian Epstein took their earlier unsuccessful audition tapes to be transferred on to acetate discs.
Jim Foy, manager of HMV’s in-store recording studio, was impressed by what he heard and suggested linking Epstein up with music publishing company Archmore and Beechwood’s boss Sid Colman.
This led to a meeting with producer George Martin, who signed The Beatles to EMI’s recording label Parlophone before overseeing their hit singles and albums to follow.
John Lennon was among the regular 1960s shoppers at HMV in Oxford Street, along with Sir Elton John – who later made a personal appearance at the store in 2016 promoting his new LP Wonderful Crazy Night.
The recording studio at HMV’s 363 Oxford Street branch was also where a band then calling themselves the Drifters taped their first demo in 1958, later changing their name to the Shadows – just as their singer went from Harry Webb to Cliff Richard.
He too has made repeat visits to the store to meet fans, along with ex-Shadows bandmates Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch – although the acts accompanying Madness for last November’s reopening included the more contemporary Hard-Fi, the Reytons, Baby Queen and Rachel Chinouriri.