Do Golden Discs know what they are doing?

Multi-artist compilation albums aren't particularly big sellers compared to the old days; or particularly profitable either.

Now 111 is selling less here than six soundtrack albums, one of which is 14 years old!

https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/irish-compilations-chart/

"Compilations are dead"

I don't agree.

The numbered Nows aren't dead. Its sales have fallen quite a bit but aside from Now 115 (which peaked at #2 beaten by Barbie), they always top the compilation chart. Their Yearbook & Extra series (bizarrely mostly unavailable in Ireland) is proving very popular with new volume or Extra every month. The triple vinyl editions sell out within a few weeks - 1983 and 1984 had to be repressed (re-released yesterday) as the Ebay prices for the originals had gone over £400. They're also releasing other spin-offs.

As for genre compilations, Cherry Red, Edsel, Demon and Ace Records are putting out stuff on a monthly basis - usually on CD as these are multi disc releases and are very healthy sellers as they come with decent booklets. I've bought c.25 of these already this year (all 2023 releases).

Spotify and YouTube playlists only go so far and don't provide any background or context.

I will admit that the Irish market seems quite different to the UK one for reissues / compilations - in terms of availability and interest. We seem to be wired differently.

They're not reissues of old Nows. They're new releases dedicated to a particular year. Started coming out in 2021 and they've covered 1978-1986 and 1992 so far.

The other ones from the likes of Cherry Red aren't samplers. They're well-researched genre sets but still come under the compilation umbrella. Here's an example of the last one I bought. https://www.discogs.com/release/27809151-Various-Come-Together-Adventures-On-The-Indie-Dancefloor-1989-1992

On Saturday 23rd April 2022 (not too long after you started this thread!), Golden Discs opened up a "concept store" in Dundrum Town Centre. For a number of years, that rented space was occupied by HMV.

It has plenty of traditional CD and vinyl collections. Apart from all the merchandise, it is like going back in time.

Yes, the spin-offs got out of control in last 10 or 12 years or so.

An awful lot of them are just recycling the same pool of tracks. The Christmas re-hashes are pointless. I do think the Yearbooks and Extras are great though. The vinyl pressings are surprisingly good. I do my own Extra Plus versions on Spotify (2CD playlist for each year - https://apopfansdream.wordpress.com/words/now-yearbook-extra-plus/) for the tracks they can't / won't licence. The Millennium editions (a continuation of the 1999 series) are interesting in that they're covering two years at a time. The Alternative 80s and USA 80s are quite good spin-offs IMHO as well.

Yeah, I like the vinyl sequencing too. The hardback CD editions are very nice. It's a wild guess to where they will go next but maybe

October - 1973 Extra

November - 1987

December - 1987 Extra

Did you get the Vinyl Extra set from last Christmas - it's down in price to £78 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOW-Yearbook-1980-Vinyl-Extra/dp/B0BNKB4VN3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1SHPBWW4YVJK1&keywords=now+yearbook+vinyl+extra&qid=1693421503&sprefix=now+yearbook+vinyl+extra%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-2 - has sleevenotes too.

With my business hat on (and not music buyer hat), I would say that Golden Discs definitely know what they're doing. They managed to survive Napster, Spotify, death of vinyl, death of CDs, death of video, death of DVDs, and all that while occupying high priced retail spaces. I'm only guessing here, but from what I hear from friends in the industry, there is a real squeeze on retail space prices at the moment, with shopping centres and landlords struggling to fill spaces. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those drop-outs from stores are them exercising break clauses with a view to sourcing a cheaper lease elsewhere (or there), or alternatively if they've been promised a cheaper space to allow a new higher paying tenant take on their existing space. I notice they did this in Liffey Valley, where they moved off the main mall and into the space vacated by Starbucks (with very little refurb too, it looks like they're still using the Starbucks coffee counter!). As a music buyer, I think they're ridiculously priced, but as a business person, they always seem to be ahead of the game, so if they're backing off vinyl, you can bet they have a reason (e.g. mainstream pricing at the rates they are prepared to sell at probably aren't sustainable as disposable income is squeezed by inflation).

Yeah, I wouldn't say most of those formats died. Vinyl always had a following but obviously sales rapidly declined as CDs were introduced, and of course it has had a resurgence. Hell there's even been a smaller revival for cassettes as Coldplay and ABBA both released albums on cassettes. VHS is dead, as I believe the last commercially available release was in... 2006? CDs arent dead, and have been in production ever since they were released. DVDs haven't died and still outsell Blu-Ray and 4K.

To the thread topic, yes Golden Discs know what they are doing. While some stores are closing you still see new ones opening all over the country, and any Irish business that has lasted as long as them is doing something right.

As a music fan Golden Discs were always to be avoided.

if you like top 40 type stuff or trad they always seemed to have an abundance of stock. Or DVDs.

but if you had a wider range of musical taste and I don’t mean anything very leftfield or odd just anything not middle of the road they were absolutely beyond useless….

if you were after a Jimmy Cliff record…. Now on their website they have 1 in stock. He’s released close to 20 albums and one of the greatest reggae artists of the last 50 years…

Tower records would have a much wider selection and HMV too would have had multiples of his releases.

They have a unit in Sligo which never seems busy anytime I passed!

Funny thing on music stores.

Daughter likes Taylor Swift.

As do a million other Irish people, judging by ticket sales over the summer.

Was in HMV/ Tower Records last week to buy a Taylor Swift tshirt for a child.

Do they have such a thing?

No.

They had Doors tshirts and Blondie tshirts and Frank Zappa tshirts and Lemmy tshirts.

But the most popular artist on the planet?

No, we dont stock them...eh...maybe try amazon.

WTAF.

Sentinel are closing their bricks & mortar shop after tomorrow. They shared a basement underneath a barbers with Absys. One specialised in metal and the other in trance, drum&bass etc. but catered for lots of second hand and always had a good variation e.g., you could pick up perfect Stravinsky or Brahms classical records for €5 and had boxes of cheap pop/rock/folk/whatever.

I called it the Golden Triangle with The Rage (almost 100% second hand) and All City (cater more to hiphop/funk/soul/house) which is always hilariously chaotic.

Hopefully Sentinel/Absys will open up somewhere not far as the two lads running it are completely sound and always gave great deals and seemed to do a good trade.

For all the panning of Golden Discs - which is deserved - they occasionally have the odd bargain in their sales. I picked up Exile on Main St for a friend for €16 after Christmas and Carol King Tapestry and a few others for €14/15 last year.