The father-son duo that built the biggest music retailer in South Africa

At its peak, four in every ten CDs in South Africa were sold through the music retail chain Musica. However, the surge of popularity of online music resulted in the death of this beloved franchise in 2021. 

Musica had 78 stores when it was forced to shut down, after the COVID-19 Pandemic put the final nail in the coffin for the already-struggling business. 

Now, Musica is only a fond memory for many South Africans. “To this day, I bump into people who recall their experiences on Saturday morning, going into a Musica store,” said founder Derek Goosen. 

“They remember putting on the headphones and getting a slice of the music they were looking for and the new releases for the week.”

Derek, speaking during an interview with 5FM Radio, recalled how he and his father, George Goosen, built Musica from humble beginnings and a passion for music. 

“My dad’s career was in admin and finance, but he had a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and he always wanted to own his own business,” Derek said. 

George bought an old Bedford truck and opened a business moving furniture with a small office in Cape Town. After a few years, in 1963, the family decided to use the space to sell music. 

They originally called the business Fleetway Record Bar, a name that was taken from the transport company.

Derek explains that this was a natural progression for the Goosen family, who were all passionate about music. 

“Music was part of our everyday lives. My mom was a vocal teacher and choral trainer, my father loved music and ran a music society, and we all played musical instruments, so that was the core passion in the family,” he said. 

From Fleetway Record Bar to Musica

George was fond of classical music. His son believes his expectations for selling music were not met, as he expected to promote his favourite classical composers, but quickly found that South Africans had an appetite for pop music. 

At the time, two major suppliers, Gallo Records and Teal Records, held the distribution rights for most of the global brands and supplied records to the family business. 

The first record sold by the business, Derek recalled, was the seven-inch single of Jeremy Taylor’s Ag Pleez Deddy.

Derek said that the 1960s were an incredibly exciting time for the world of music. The emergence of the Beatles and the “Liverpool sound” created an era in music that has “not been seen since,” according to the founder. 

The Business did not take off immediately. In fact, the family did not open a second store until 1967. 

However, when the father-son duo prepared to launch the next record store on St George’s Street in Cape Town, they decided it needed a more universal name. George came up with the name Musica.

Even after the second store opened its doors, the business continued to grow slowly. “It was an experiment, because we were up the stairs on the first floor, you know? Who walks up the stairs to buy music?” said Derek. 

By 1980, Musica had about eight to ten stores. The company opened its first store outside of Cape Town in Durban in 1981, a “big decision” according to the founder. 

“So it was a very slow process at first. After opening in 1963, it was twenty years before we had 10 stores. Then t it ballooned after that,” said Derek. 

Musica continued to grow in popularity during the shift from records to CDs. Between 1982 and 1992, a further forty stores opened across the country and became a national success. 

The day the Musica died

It was at this point that the music retail franchise was bought by the Clicks Group. For many further years, the business continued to cement its place as the music retail outlet of South Africa.

Musica’s turnover, according to Moneyweb, peaked at R952 million in the year ended August 31, 2010. 

Six months before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the business was still profitable, although it had declined to 60% of the size of its peak. 

The shift to online music, combined with the global pandemic, ultimately led to a dire situation for Musica.

“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,” the Clicks group said in a statement announcing the Musica closure. 

The Clicks Group said that the brand’s “inevitable demise” was hastened by the pandemic, which resulted in the rapid decline in foot traffic in malls where Musica stores are located. 

“I think we can be very proud of what we achieved, growing the family business to the size that it was, and later within the Clicks Group, becoming a real powerhouse of retail music,” Derek said. 

“It was quite a remarkable story of growth,” he said. “We are very proud that we served the music lovers of South Africa for over 50 years.”

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