Supermarket sweep.

As Westlife, The Beatles, Oasis and U2 fight for albums chart supremacy, Richard Branson lashes out at labels for giving supermarkets the power to control who will bag the Xmas number one

By Ben Cardew

Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson has launched an impassioned assault on record labels, accusing them of endangering the independent music retail sector by failing to stand up to the supermarkets.

Sir Richard, whose group last week underlined its ongoing commitment to music retailing with the launch of a flagship Megastore in Manchester, believes inaction by labels against the grocers has resulted in them being allowed to dominate the music business as they have done in many other industries.

"The industry, I suspect, should have stood up to the supermarkets years ago - but they didn't and as a result independent record shops that sell large quantities of back catalogue are starting to disappear," he says.

"What we are left with is an inhuman beast that is selling butter and marmalade and bread and green peas, throwing in a cheap album as a loss leader to attract you in to buy your groceries and I think that is very sad."

His attack was launched last week in the busiest week of the year for new releases, ...