Sir Elton John to help HMV by performing in one of its stores
Sir Elton John is to step in to help collapsed entertainment retailer HMV by performing in one of its stores.
The singer’s spokesman, Gary Farrow, told the Guardian that Sir Elton would perform but said that any show was like to be “intimate”. He added: “Elton has always been a big supporter of record shops. He will be doing something with HMV although as yet we cannot confirm what or when that would be.”
According to David Joseph, the chief executive of Universal UK, Sir Elton suggested last week that the label should get its biggest artists to perform at the stores. Joseph told the newspaper: “We’ve got lot of artist support for HMV. Last week one of our biggest global superstars [Sir Elton] said why don’t we get a lot of the biggest artists to start doing gigs in HMV, just to turn up and say these are music stores, come and get your music here.”
He added: “How HMV emerges is going to be an important factor for us, our artists and our record fans, I’m hoping, and doing everything I can with them, to make this a bit of what happened with 6 Music, which looked like it was going away and all of our artists said it was a part of culture didn’t want to lose.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“The way they survive is not to try to be Athena posters, Dixons, Apple and HMV all at the same time. They have to curate music. The conversations we have had which are healthy are about restoring it to its core values. Look at the way it works in Daunt Books or Waterstones, with recommendations on handwritten notes – that’s what I firmly believe HMV has to do.”
Administrators for collapsed entertainment retailer HMV have confirmed that 66 loss-making stores are to close during the next few months with the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs.
Earlier this month, 190 staff were made redundant across HMV’s head office and distribution network.
