Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Taken surreptitiously with my cruddy cell phone.

Okay, I meant to come back to this about two weeks ago, but only because the whole affair had been pushed back so many times I was beginning to doubt it ever happening. But as of Thursday, the wheels have begun to chug clunkily in motion: From here on out, all CDs in our store, excluding double-disk sets, will be permanently $9.99. This, allegedly, is in light of a recent deal cut with several major music distribution companies who will be selling their catalog to our parent company cheaper in order for us to sell it at a more reasonable price. I had read something in a recent industry trade magazine about how Walmart was considering dropping certain catalogs from their music departments unless the record companies cut them a better deal. And Walmart being the country's leading music retailer, that's rather a big threat. Does this have anything to do with that? Did our own company demand a similar deal cut with Walmart? Either way, it's done. And it's permanent.

And it's not just my store, either. A couple of our chains are doing it locally as well. I talked to a guy I know who works at our chain in Blacksburg and they are doing it there already. I just got off the phone with Mike who is currently in Nashville attending the Summer 2009 NAMM and he told me that their area location chain is doing the same change as well. Whatever's going on, it's not just a few stores, like I was initially told it would be.

But here's the thing: Working in this industry for a long as I have, the only thing I see looking around me is "soft liquidation". Am I being cynical about this? Let me see:

Item one: $9.99 new CDs means fewer people buying our used CDs, most of which are already marked down to $9.99. Given a choice between a new and used CD for the same price, it stands to reason one would choose the fresh, virginal packaging. Used CDs are practically 100% profit for our store, since we pay barely a $1.00 to buy them back and we eliminate that unnecessary distributor. Why spend all those years putting our focus on selling used, only to now turn around and encourage customers to buy new? Unless of course, we want to get all that new out of the store.

Item two: And this is HUGE. A few record companies are still hold-outs on this deal, the biggest of which is WEA. Which means that we are shipping back every artist on the Warner Bros. label from our store. That's right. So that means the new Seal album, a cover of classic soul tunes that is selling like hotcakes, we no longer carry. The new Jason Mraz album with that hit single "Lucky" that everybody wants? Gone. No Linda Ronstadt. No Eagles. No Cars. No early Prince catalog. No Metallica! Can you imagine a music store that can stay afloat in this day and age without Metallica? Granted, it's not UNI or Sony, but still. And who knows, maybe WEA might cave eventually. But for right now, wouldn't it concern a music store to not even attempt to carry the Eagles or Metallica, even if they weren't $9.99? Unless of course, they weren't concerned. IF you knowhuttamean.

Perhaps I'm being cynical. But given what I've seen within the industry in the last few years, I think I have every right to be. Well, for now friends, pop on in to the store and snap up lotsa cheap new tunage. And be sure to ask for a lot of Warner-Elektra-Altantic artists as well, just to aggravate our staff. ;)

Oh, and the DVD prices may be going down too, in the next few weeks. Mm-hmmmm...