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WH Smith to stop selling CD singles


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Old 22-02-2004, 19:24
Thanhuk
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Is this the start of a Start for the death of the CD Single?

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Old 22-02-2004, 21:48
DWT
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Considering single sales have been falling for a couple of years it's not surprising.

Also WHSmith has a very small singles selection anyway, in a made-up chart usually shoved in the corner, so they can't have been selling many for sometime.

I don't think their album sales are particularly good these days either - not surprising when you look at internet and supermarket prices. They don't have much of a range beyond chart stuff so pretty crap all round!
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Old 22-02-2004, 22:11
DryHumper
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Online single sales will be outstripping CD single sales by the end of the year, I'd say
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Old 22-02-2004, 22:44
MJS
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My WHS hasn't been selling singles since last October. They still sell albums - just, but everything seems to have been turned over to DVDs.
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Old 23-02-2004, 08:03
metafis
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well. now there will be nowhere in my town that I can buy singles from. Over to amazon for me then ..
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Old 23-02-2004, 13:43
DWT
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Even shops like HMV and Virgin have dramatically reduced the amount of space they devote to singles - you used to see entire floors now it's just a chart-wall and one rack section.
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Old 23-02-2004, 19:20
goody2shoes_23
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I have seen my local WHSMith slowly cut the room they have given to singles over the past five years. From an entire wall of the shop to a small rack. It was something waiting to happen.
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Old 24-02-2004, 00:27
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It's a really interesting news story. I've read several conflicting versions of it.

Reuters said that WH Smith has delivered a string of profit warnings and its new CEO is conducting a full-scale review of operations, but the W.H. Smith spokewoman said the decision to stop selling singles was not part of that review. Whereas The Register said that the decision followed a review of trading by Boston Consulting Group and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

The Scotsman said that WH Smith is also cutting all its stocks of entertainment products. Whereas Reuters and The Register said that they are reallocating all the shelf space to albums and DVDs.

Still, if you're not at all interested in the travails of W.H. Smith, I suppose the really interesting bit is the fact that the BPI reported singles sales fell 31% in 2003 (31% !!!!) while CD album sales rose 5.6%. That's an astronomical tumble. If tumbles can be astronomical...

Apparently the BPI is piloting a project to count songs downloaded from legal download sites, and the data will initially be used to help promote those sites and then it will be incorporated into the existing charts.

So, although we may be about to see the beginning of the end of singles marketed as physical CDs, that doesn't suggest to me that singles are about to disappear altogether. The singles chart and the chart shows are still powerful marketing tools. The industry will probably continue to promote specific tracks with videos and radio airplay and front page space on legal download sites. That's my guess anyway.
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Old 24-02-2004, 17:21
goody2shoes_23
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I think basically downloaded songs are the future of the singles chart. It should count alongside CD's and tapes.
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