The days of walking into a Musica store, browsing through their music collection, listening to an album in the store is officially nearing their end. This week Musica which was purchased by the Clicks Group in 1992, has been South Africa’s leading music and entertainment brand for decades and will close the music retailer’s stores countrywide.
In the 2021 financial year, Clicks has closed 19 Musica stores and is currently trading at 59 outlets. The remaining stores will close when the leases expire over the next four months.
The Clicks Group will be absorbing some of the staff members from Musica, however, it predicted that there will still be job losses in the process.
Changing with the times
Musica is one of the last surviving music stores in the country following the closure of other players such as Reliable Music Warehouse.
Commenting on Musica’s missed opportunity to evolve with the times, Kaya Bizz’s Gugulethu Mfuphi says there was a great opportunity for Musica to have their own streaming platform: “That was a huge mistake, and maybe them sticking to what works for them didn’t work. Another missed opportunity is the experience… it’s a big lesson for others that as times are changing with behaviour changes of consumers you also need to adapt with the times. You also need to make sure that you remain relevant and profitable.”
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Streaming Platforms and COVID -19
The Clicks Group cites streaming services as the key reason for their decline in sales; in their statement, they admit that changing tides in consumption of traditional content has changed. “Musica has been operating in a declining market for several years owing to the structural shift globally to the digital consumption of music, movies and games from the traditional physical format,” Clicks said.
Lockdown restrictions,and the economic recession also contributed to the retail chain’s downfall: “The inevitable demise of the brand has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the rapid decline in foot traffic in destination malls where Musica stores are typically located.”
