Unfortunately the continued decline in CD sales started to really take its toll on certain parts of the music business this year - and it was the independents who suffered. Right at the start of the year indie record chain Music Zone announced it was going into liquidation. Fellow indie Fopp stepped in and took over their stores, but it proved to be a very bad decision, and sent Fopp out of business too. They started suspiciously only accepting cash in mid-June, and had closed down by the end of the month. HMV have since taken on a handful of the Fopp stores and will continue to operate them under the Fopp name, but basically speaking, two indie record brands went under in 2007.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes in the indie retail sector, CD sale declines took their toll on certain independent distributors too - and in the latter part of the year both Amato and Goya announced they were closing down. Things ain't good for independent distributors and retailers. Though, in a bid to end this section on an up note, let's remember that iconic indie record store Rough Trade opened a new store in East London this year. An indie in expansion mode - hurrah!