Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Now talking to an international audience

The slow attempt to turn round HMV continues, with the International Herald Tribune being invited to look at the new look HMV interactive hub stores.

Yes, they've still only got round to doing the one in Birmingham and the one in London, which at this painfully slow roll-out means they'll just about be ready to sell computer games nationwide as the first download-only megagames hit the market.

Gennaro is on hand to explain the changes to the world audience:

"HMV has been around for nearly 90 years, we have been faced with challenges before and we have always responded to help move things forward," said Gennaro Castaldo, public relations manager at HMV[...]
But even with the new approach, Castaldo said he believed that compact disc sales would continue to prove a commercial success.

"If you're a music fan, you like the idea of owning the physical album - that will never change," he said. "The media likes to build up the expectation that we are on the dawn of a new digital age, but the reality is far from that."

Well, that's true - although it remains to be seen if the consumers being forged for tomorrow will even associate music with the concept of there being a physical product - but, of course, just because you like to own CDs doesn't mean you're going to tramp into town only to discover that HMV don't stock what you wanted anyway. Especially if you're going to have to fight your way through an interactive hub full of children to find the hidden CD racks.