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| Boomy |
Home > News > Entertainment > Entertainment > Article
U.S. Record Stores Get No Satisfaction from Stones
Mon October 6, 2003 04:12 PM ET
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If music retailers needed another warning that their future is imperiled from slackening sales, veteran rockers the Rolling Stones have given it to them.
The British band snubbed U.S. record stores late last week by anointing mass market electronics chain Best Buy Co. Inc. as the only seller of its new DVD, "Four Flicks," for four months, and independent record store owners are seething.
From Nov. 11, through the holiday rush, traditional music retailers will be forced to watch as potential customers flock to Best Buy to snap up the 4-disc package being sold for $29.99.
As the music industry reels from plunging sales due in part to Internet piracy, they also are facing heightened competition from mass merchants like Best Buy and Target Corp. that control about 55 percent of U.S. music sales.
These giants often use their muscle to sell music as loss-leading products in hopes that customers will walk out with a newly released $9.99 CD and a $1,000 TV or refrigerator.
Increasingly, the mass market vendors are entering into exclusive deals with top bands such as U2 and the Eagles, though the exclusive sales windows for those acts lasted weeks rather than months.
Such deals are short-sighted and hurt not only traditional retailers, but the music industry as a whole, said Clark Benson, chief executive officer of Almighty Institute of Music Retail, which helps record labels work with music stores.
"The more that a mass merchant like Best Buy ends up having an exclusive, the more it hurts these pure-play record stores," Benson said. "Those stores are the ones where people are really getting turned onto new stuff, not the mass merchants."
Benson said over 1,100 chain and independent record stores have closed in 2003, making it hard for consumers to stumble upon the new music that is the industry's lifeblood and future.
Torrance, California-based Wherehouse Entertainment Inc., which had 339 stores a decade ago, will soon be down to 111 after filing for bankruptcy protection in January. The 95-store Tower Records chain of Sacramento, Calif. is flirting with bankruptcy.
Industrywide, in North America, first-half 2003 music sales fell 11.7 percent to $5.1 billion from the year-ago period.
NO SYMPATHY FOR DEVILS
Some retailers are not only angry, but are plotting revenge.
"The mistake some of these guys may be making is that a lot of retailers are like elephants that don't forget," said Mike Dreese, co-founder of Boston-based chain, Newbury Comics.
Best Buy's two-week exclusive in 2001 for a U2 concert DVD caused Newbury to retaliate by doubling the fee it charged U2's record label for marketing any of its acts. Newbury ended up with about $15,000 in extra income.
"In essence we issued a speeding ticket to them and they paid it," Dreese said.
With the Rolling Stones, Dreese expects he will mark up the band's extensive CD catalog by a few dollars. He expected to lose some customers but said, "we're basically not going to make it easy for them (the Stones) to easily profit off their brand if they're favoring a competitor in a permanent way."
A spokeswoman for the Rolling Stones said the members and their advisors were traveling and unavailable for comment.
Retailers kicked up a fuss earlier this year after the Eagles released a DVD single exclusively through Best Buy for one month, but received no sympathy from the band's manager, Irving Azoff.
Gary Arnold, Best Buy's senior vice president of entertainment similarly shrugged off concerns about its exclusive deals, and said he expected "Four Flicks" would be the company's best-selling music DVD ever.
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| steel driving hammer |
I think it all stems from Marko's bootlegs! LOL!! |
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| Steel Wheels |
Screw what these smaller store say.
I only care about how quickly I can get out of work and rush to Best Buy. |
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| Nasty Habits |
You and most of the country, Steel Wheels!
Yet another reason why the music industry, rock and roll, and culture in general is in such a terrific state of quality in the USA today!
[Edited by Nasty Habits] |
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| Mr T |
any store that has full control over a product & still sells it for a kick ass price is OK with me. good job best buy
you'd think an "exclusive" would be more expensive - when Gimme Shelter came out on DVD I remember that costing like 5 bucks more |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I'd like to take the high road here. I'd prefer to walk into City Lights or Arboria and buy Four Flicks from them. I don't particularly care for big chains squeezing out guys like Nasty Habits. I think it sucks.
HOWEVER!
I will be heading straight to Best Buy from work on 11/11 and I will buy Four Flicks from them. What other choice is there? I'm not going to wait for 4 months to get my hands on those discs. It is just that simple.
Sorry Nasty. If it was up to me, I'd go to one of the indies. But the way I see it there is simply no other alternative. |
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| UGot2Rollme |
what about us folks in Europe? There ain't no Best Buys in Switzerland! |
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| steel driving hammer |
Could of sworn there's a Best Buy in Zurich.
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| BILL PERKS |
THERE'S BEST BUYS ALL OVER ETHIOPIA AND HAITI |
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| Nasty Habits |
quote:
Sir Stonesalot wrote:
I'd like to take the high road here. I'd prefer to walk into City Lights or Arboria and buy Four Flicks from them. I don't particularly care for big chains squeezing out guys like Nasty Habits. I think it sucks.
HOWEVER!
I will be heading straight to Best Buy from work on 11/11 and I will buy Four Flicks from them. What other choice is there? I'm not going to wait for 4 months to get my hands on those discs. It is just that simple.
Sorry Nasty. If it was up to me, I'd go to one of the indies. But the way I see it there is simply no other alternative.
Seriously, this is no skin off my back. And I too will be drivin' to Best Buy on the 11th to scoop up what is a terrific deal for four DVDs of live Stones. No worries there. The Rolling Stones as a band releasing new product are not really a viable factor in my business anyway, and haven't been since I started. I sell tons of used Stones LPs, and consistently sell key pieces of the catalog (can you say Exile?) on CD again and again, and posters, pins, t-shirts, and certain nefarious classic compact discs have helped form the backbone and identity of my business for over a decade, but no one goes into a tiny independent record store looking for the new CD by the Rolling Stones. They might come in looking for the new LP by the Rolling Stones, but that is largely irrelevant in a situation involving four DVDs (or 40 licks).
Corporate stores tend to support corporate product. The more independent the store, the more independent to the product. This is simple math. It is sucky math, and it is probably the road to hell, but we're all on it together, so all we can do is see where it leads. . . |
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| steel driving hammer |
I wonder why their selling it so cheap? I wouldn't bitch if they raised the cost 10, 20, even 40 more. Are they going for high volume?
Can't wait to see Mick do THSMLI.
So deep and so wide! |
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| jb |
This will not be a big seller like the Zep dvd...it will sell very poorly.... |
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| Nasty Habits |
I dunno, JB -- it's an interesting series of gimmicks. I think it will sell better than their last few DVD/Video Packages, and one hopes it will sell better than No Security.
But it won't sell as well as say a Ladies and Gentleman/Paris Aux Abbatior/Fort Worth '78/Let's Spend the Night Together Four Flicks super set at 30 bucks would, that's for damsure.
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| Joey |
" I think it all stems from Marko's bootlegs! LOL!! "
.................................everything stems from Marko's ( that mad frigging bastard ) bootlegs .
Joe Sea Scroll !
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| gypsy |
I will also be purchasing said DVD at Best Buy on November 11th...hope to see you guys there! What? Yeah, I suppose we could take Joey on his Rascal scooter, sporting the Tardrite 2003, have him create a scene, and I'll stuff a few of those discs in my purse.
Givin' it to 'the man!'
[Edited by gypsy] |
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| steel driving hammer |
Nov 11 will be the time when the Stones are playing in China.
It should be good.
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| Joey |
" Yeah, I suppose we could take Joey on his Rascal scooter, sporting the Tardrite 2003, have him create a scene, and I'll stuff a few of those discs in my purse.
Givin' it to 'the man!' "
Gyps. , my " Nut Sack " was very shriveled this morning .
Developing .............like a raisin
J. Fly !
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| Jaxx |
i'm an advocate of the small business guy and i think this policy sucks. the band has recently pissed me off with their VIP bullshit, ticket gouging and now this "one hit to the body". my boycott continues.
4 licks for you more BOOTLEGS for me. |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
I certainly respect your decision Jaxxy...but why punish yourself? You not buying Four Flicks from Best Buy is a meaningless gesture. It is NOT sending any sort of message to anyone. Jaxxy...they don't care if you buy it or not because plenty of the rest of us WILL buy it.
Look at Nasty Habits! The guy owns a mom & pop indie record store...and he is going to go buy the thing from them.
You are not depriving the corporate machine one iota Jaxx. You only deprive yourself. If that is what you want, have at it. But it makes me sad to know that on the 11th we will all be watching our new DVDs, and you will be missing out.
Don't you remember how happy it makes you feel to buy the new Stones product fresh off the rack the day it hits? I love that feeling. |
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| Factory Girl |
They should have released a companion cd set with the dvd. |
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| egon |
30 usd is a steal.
of course it will cost at least 150.000 euros here in europe, like pretty much every dvd |
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| marko |
They should have released a companion cd set with the dvd.
Only if,all the songs are different whats on dvd.But,you
can just listen DVD as well,so cd isn�t necessary. |
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| Joey |
Hillary loves Puss Puss ! |
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| marko |
Actully,thats a tough one,dvd box set is fine.But i would
prefer a new album,you know,i watch videos only 2-3times,or
maybe only once.Then i forget it.Only lets spend the,,,
was on heavy rotation when i got it 20years ago.But that WAS
the only one i had!But now,with all boot videos,was pro shot
or not,i really don�t watch them,i rather listen music.If i
watch something,thats movies. |
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| Nasty Habits |
One of the great things about the Rolling Stones is that they force you to disregard your morals, ethics, beliefs, and inhibitions in order to revel in pure hedonistic pleasure. Ultimately, that is the message of the Stones. You disregard it at your own peril.
As our good friend Bob Dylan taught us in his great hack song "Silvio":
"I can tell you fancy
I can tell you plain
You give something up
for every thing you gain
Every bit of pleasure's
got an edge of pain
PAY FOR YOUR TICKET AND DON'T COMPLAIN!"
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| jb |
Can someone list all the C10's again...nanker, Max, Joey, SS, Nasty, Marko, FPM, SS, ...whose missing? |
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| steel driving hammer |
My drunken ass and 2000 Man. |
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| marko |
And Maxmaister! |
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| steel driving hammer |
And Sirmoonie. |
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| jb |
So was it 10 or 11..Was nasty a c10? |
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