Wal-Mart is going devote less space to music and more space to DVD as the drop in CD sales continues to impact, a US report states.
“We believe Wal-Mart is increasing its exposure to consumer electronics, video games and Blu-ray, and reducing floor space devoted to CDs and standard DVDs,” said Richard Greenfield, analyst with Pali Capital, said in a report.With the disappearance of Tower Records, the departure of HMV from the USA and news this week that Circuit City is to close 155 of its 720 stores, the Wal-Mart cutback could be seen as yet another blow to the music industry. Or is it?
Chains such as Wal-Mart are not passionate about music. They are passionate about profits. Music in Wal-Mart is just another product to sell along with socks and underpants.
What is attractive to sectors of the music industry is Wal-Mart traffic. Exclusive deals with Wal-Mart, such as the recent AC/DC Black Ice campaign have been extremely lucrative but short-sighted for the music company that just wants to make a fast buck.
Sure, they are making the fast buck, but at the expense of their other artists and long-term developments.
By pissing of the independent stores, Sony (in the case of AC/DC) is now risking the rebuttal from the smaller but more important stores who will nurture the greater catalogue longer term.
As CD sales continue to decrease, the trend will be for the bigger chains to drop the music product completely and the smaller, specialist music stores will once again become the focus of music retail.
For fast-food purchases, music consumers will go online. For the music collector, the independent stores will become the primary point of call.
Have you ever tried to ask for information about music releases in a Wal-Mart? You might as well be speaking Martian.
Stores like Amoeba in Los Angeles or Waterloo in Austin are the kinds of stores that the Wal-Marts of the world cannot compete with for customer service and attention to detail. But these real music stores are the ones being screwed by the very people who need them most - the record companies.
For AC/DC, doing the exclusive deal is smart. They are only interested in moving “product”. For Sony, it is outright dumb. Sony revolves around a complete long-term catalogue and relies on experienced retailers to sell it. New artists will not even get in the front door of a Wal-Mart for exposure.
Now the word is that Wal-Mart is looking at only carrying exclusive product. Funny, the very companies who are screwing the independent retailer are about to be screwed by the very company they are jumping into bed with.
Maybe that's the lesson. If you prostitute your business, don’t complain when you get fucked.
