I posted a short piece yesterday about the news that HMV has gone into administration and I started thinking that maybe this could be viewed in some respects as a good thing for music and I make a distinction between 'music' and 'entertainment'. Let me start by saying that the potential closure of so many stores is a tragedy for the employees and their families, there is no underestimating the profound effect that it is going to have on them. There is of course still some hope that some of the stores will be bought out, and I think that this will probably happen with some of the flag ship stores (e.g Oxford Street, Market Street Manchester), but a lot of the smaller ones will disappear.I have thought for about the last 10 years that HMV was loosing it's way, it wasn't a music shop any more, it was an entertainment shop which didn't understand it's own customers, and I for one am surprised it lasted this long.  HMV  didn't really cater for me any longer (so what I hear you say), but I don't think it knew whom it catered for. The store used to be a treasure trove of music, vast different sections, world music, Jazz, metal, singles, albums...you could lose yourself in the music (to quote Eminem!), if you felt brave enough, you could venture into the Blues section or the classical section. I loved how this was in a different glass enclosed room, with sofas, you could surprise yourself with new music, sometimes you'd come away with some rubbish, or a complete magical find. But latterly, the DVD took hold, then the computer games, then the accessories....where was the music? Oh at the back of the shop...where was the Jazz section or the world section...usually just one stand with a few of the big names, and even then a very few! Admittedly, this coincided with the demise of the 'music' industry as well, the blame squarely laid at the feet of downloading, when perhaps some of the blame should have been the fact that content was only targeted at the teenage market place, a changing market place where new products vied for the pocket money of youth (video games, DVD's, iPod/pad/phones), music became product, tied in with reality television shows, where the proven songs were churned out by wannabes and then resold to the masses. I class this as entertainment, and yes it does have it's place. But it is not music, music is personal, music is heartfelt, music is secret, music is haptic, music is life, but where has it gone? It is being pushed underground, real music that is, why would you want to go and see a great new band, when you can sit at home on your laptop, immersing yourself in a digital landscape, where if you get a bit uncomfortable, or don't like something you can change it. I think with the possible closure of HMV, music will return to the hands of the music lover, small specialist shops will open (or flourish), musicians again may find a place to sell their wears, ironically perhaps in the run down ghettos that might represent the high street in the next 3 years, music will be grimey again, music will be real, music might speak to a generation again......rather than being ambient wallpaper used to sell the latest product by in. The 50's, 60's,70's and 80's (and early 90's at a push) had their rebels, the ones your parents didn't want you to listen to, the ones that spoke to the youth, that changed things.....now we have Justin Beber!Also, where is the music for my generation? where is the music for my parents generation (yes we all know that the Rolling Stones latest last tour won't be their last)? We have cash, we might want to spend it on product that we like, but it doesn't really exist....a missed opportunity? Jessie J isn't for me and I already own all of the Iron Maiden back catalogue in a variety of formats....so where do I go?Amazon do have something to answer too though, they do offer a cheaper alternative, but they also haven't been tax in the UK, now I think the government really has to do something about this issue. Now love or hate HMV, at least they created jobs on the high street, kept a presence on the high street (preventing it from falling into a potential deserted wasteland) and paid tax. So this could be seen as anti-competative practice on behalf of Amazon (yes we know what they will say....they have large factory thus creating jobs), but their offshore tax dodging and importing electronic equipment from Jersey does put them at an unfair advantage.....Time for a revolution?PeaceNeil