Jim Carrollon music
Branson pulls out of Virgin music retail
The Virgin Megastore brand is the latest marquee name set to vanish from the streets in what has been an eventful year for the music retail sector.
This week's management buy-out means that Virgin's 125 outlets across Ireland and Britain will be rebranded as Zavvi stores in the coming months, with four new stores also set to open in Ireland.
The new owners, led by current Virgin Megastore boss Simon Douglas, are not planning to rock the boat too much and will continue to sell entertainment products of every stripe. Douglas says he sees Zavvi as "an independent entertainment specialist that puts customers, product, service and personality at the top of the agenda."
Many other stores had similar high hopes, but changes in music consumption have scuppered any such ambitions. The disappearance of the Tower Records chain in the United States and the Fopp and Music Zone shops in Britain in the past 12 months, as well as previously reported losses at HMV and Golden Discs, are all indications of challenging times for those who sell music for a living.
Here at home, the latest shop to close its doors is the hugely-respected Mulligan outlet in Galway. It joins Black Spot (Limerick), Synthetic (Cork), Carbon (Dublin) and Selectah (Dublin) on the growing list of Irish casualties, with other shops downsizing, cutting the size of their music catalogue and diversifying into DVDs and games in order to survive.
Branson will no doubt harbour some personal regrets at seeing his Virgin brand disappear from the high street. However, he and his advisers are in no doubt that they're getting out of the entertainment retail sector in the nick of time, with even Branson's reported £100 million investment in the stores over the past few years failing to stop the rot.
The stores contributed only 5 per cent of the Virgin group's turnover in 2006 and incurred a pre-tax loss of £82.2 million in the year to March 2006.
As with his disposal of the V2 label, Branson knows that business is no place for sentiment and was happy to do a deal with management.
For the sake of Zavvi's 2,500 employees, you really hope that Douglas and his team know what they're doing in what are increasingly difficult retail conditions.
The Paddys prefer Fiddy
Who's the man? Well, in hip-hop blockbuster terms, Kanye West is the man, shifting 957,000 copies of his Graduation album in one week in the US, compared to the 691,000 sales accrued by his rival 50 Cent for Curtis.
It's a sales pattern which is repeated worldwide, with West trumping Fiddy amost everywhere else. Ireland was one of the few territories where the order was reversed. Proof then that we really do prefer the more po-faced, stodgy, unimaginative gangsta posturing variety of hip-hop.
But the contrived battle between the two rappers did lure buyers in the shops. Ironically, both rappers were flogging below-average records, yet this had no bearing on the hype surrounding the tussle.
Kanye West plays Live at the Marquee in the Phoenix Park, Dublin on November 30th and the Odyssey, Belfast on December 1st.
Cash boost for Irish bands
Gigonomics present plenty of difficulties for Irish bands seeking to haul their asses around the country and play to the people.
While singer-songwriters can simply stick the guitar in the boot of the car and head off, bands face other problems and costs.
Music Network's performance and touring bursary, then, may be just the ticket.
It's intended to help Irish and Ireland-based musicians realise performance and touring opportunities.
So far, 19 applicants have received funding from 2007's fund, and Music Network want to hear from rock, pop and indie acts looking for a dig-out.
Interested parties should apply online - www.musicnetwork.ie/myc/cms/pages/development/musicians_opps.php- before October 8th.
Cane 141 no longer lost at sea
They're coming home. Earlier this summer, Galway's Cane 141 took their Lost at Sea collaborative installation with artist Róisín Coyle to the GraceSpace gallery in New York.
The installation will feature at Nimmo's in Galway on October 4th, along with a live performance from Chequerboard and a DJ set from Cane 141's Michael Smalle.
in the month, it's at the Some Days Never End festival in Imma in Dublin.
Meanwhile, Cane 141's Lost at Sea CD goes on sale from all record shops still open for business from November 2.
Ticket Gig Of The Week
For those who found his I Created Disco album a tad unremarkable, young Scottish electro-popster Calvin Harris convinced us that there was indeed something a bit special going on when he banged and bleeped his way through a stormer of a gig last Sunday night in Temple Bar's Meeting House Square.
There, a punter takes in the nice balmy night, great atmosphere and Hi-NRG renditions of the chart hits Acceptable In The 80s and The Girls. It was a Beck's Fusion event, meaning it was free in and there were tons of groovy arty visuals to accompany the music. Nice one Calvin. - Brian Boyd.
