As HMV enters into administration, we look back at the role the Inverness store has had in the local music scene over the last year.
If video killed the radio star, then the internet can be well and truly accountable for sticking the knife into the record store, and then twisting it around a bit.
Whatever your belief about the business model, or HMV itself, the Inverness store has over the last year had a growing commitment towards local music. Providing an opportunity for local bands to stock their EPs and albums has provided additional income and profile for local acts. Indeed there is something spiritually cleansing about seeing the likes of ROADWAY, Megan Blyth, Purple Divide in a record store up against the Gaga-Minaj-Bieber-malarky.
They have hosted a series of acoustic events ranging from Red Hook Rapids to James Mackenzie, even managing to fit in Rachel Sermanni, twice. Fund raising along the way, the Chusking event in conjunction with Nut Productions brought the likes of City in Surveillance, He Slept on 57 and Whisky River Band together to raise money for charity.
If music retailers are going to continue in the high street you can’t help but think that it is by building on the sense of the community, like what was/is being fostered by the Inverness store, that will help them survive.
What ever the future for HMV, and our local store, thanks for 2012.
