Some Good News For HMV

His company is trying to hive off its live music business in order to cut debt and its core business is being hit by the Internet and piracy, so HMV chief exec Simon Fox was probably due some good news.

That good news came in the latest edition of Marketing Week, which ran a story saying the beleaguered entertainment retailer has gained market share in the first three months of the year.

The latest information from Kantar Worldpanel, an international leader in consumer data, shows HMV is catching up with online rival Amazon by increasing its market share by 1.7 percent to 19.2 percent in the three months ending March 18.

Amazon, which has lost 2.5 percent of market share since last quarter, now holds a 19.9 percent share of the total entertainment retail market.

The good news is slightly tempered by the entertainment retail barometer showing that the online marketplace increased by 2.7 percent year-on-year, which in like-for-like terms means HMV’s market share is actually lower than in last year.

Fox’s efforts to turn the high street retailer into a 360-degree music company have been stalled by trading conditions that have forced him to trim his ambitions – and even sell recent acquisitions – to keep the bank manager happy.

HMV’s put its live music business – basically the old MAMA group – on the block for about £65 million, which is roughly what it paid for it in February 2010.

The package includes about a dozen venues, festivals such as The Next Big Thing, The Great Escape, Lovebox, Global Gathering and High Voltage, and what’s left of a couple of management companies.

MAMA’s venue management team, backed by U.S. private equity firm Oakley Capital, AEG Live, Academy Music Group and German ticketing giant CTS Eventim, are believed to be interested in owning at least part of it.