2008 will be remembered across the board, of course, as a year of economic breakdown. With the record industry in decline for several years now, and EMI already axing up to 2000 people before the credit crunch really hit, the kind of cut backs being made in every other sector didn't stand out quite so much in the record industry, though majors and indies have been quietly streamlining as the recession starts to take hold.
The impact of said recession, though, has been much more obvious in the world of music retail and distribution. These too are both sectors that have been in decline for sometime, of course, with a number of independent record chains and distributors going to the wall in recent years. But when ever declining profit margins combined with the collapse of the credit market and gloomy forecasts for high street spending, some big names hit the wall, bringing the future of music retail under widespread scrutiny.
Of course the biggest casualty, Woolworths, wasn't just a music retailer, and had been scaling down its CD departments for years. That said, it was once the biggest music seller on the high street, and its CD distribution business eUK was still a major player, supplying WH Smiths, Zavvi and most of the supermarkets as well as Woolies.
Though in decline for years now, the collapse of Woolworths in November is a landmark in the history of British music retail, and the fact the closure of the Woolies shops sent its stronger sister company eUK into liquidation - despite assumptions a buyer would be found - show just how precarious a position the music retail sector is in as 2009 dawns. HMV and Zavvi continue to diversify in a bid to survive, though negative speculation regarding the financial position of the latter, who faced supply issues following eUK's collapse, will surely to continue into the New Year.
Despite the Rough Trade record shops reportedly doing good business, and another iconic London indie store, Sister Ray, being rescued by some clever ownership exchange, continuing CD sales decline and other recession woes are making the independent retail and distribution sectors more precarious than ever too.
The big story there, of course, was the collapse of one of the bigger independent distributors, Pinnacle, which, following a management buy out at the start of the year, went into liquidation this month. Although many affected labels and smaller distributors (who themselves utlised Pinnacle's distribution network) quickly announced new deals with some of Pinnacle's rivals, including those owned by the major labels, those smaller indies owed money by the defunct distributor could as yet be sent over the brink in 2009.