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Aftershocks: Wal-Mart, AC/DC and Digital Distribution |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Bidness
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 |
Here at Dycern World HQ, Research and Development Division, we pride ourselves on our catholic tastes. We track news and trends that might appear, at first glance, to wander far afield of personal consumer electronic concerns. But it is here that we often find stories that turn out to be the most telling indicators. (Our prescience is enhanced, we must concede, by the platoon of genetically modified, precognitive rhesus monkeys we keep in Lab B.)
It is in this spirit that we have been tracking a recent news story
concerning a venerable Australian rock band and a certain high-profile
retail chain The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AC/DC, that
most excellent of classic power rock bands, will sell its next CD
exclusively at Wal-Mart. The world's leading retailer has been down
this road before, with increasingly successful results. Previously, Wal-Mart has struck similar distribution deals with the likes of Bryan
Adams and Journey. Most impressively, The Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden
-- a two-disc CD set sold exclusively through Wal-Mart -- became the
third best-selling record of last year.
Read between the lines a bit here, and what you'll find is more
evidence of the slowly dying breed that is the traditional music record
label. Squeezed by the exponentially expanding digital distribution
scene, legitimate and otherwise, the major labels are narrowing their
focus to a remarkable degree. Aiming for the teenage and American Idol
markets, they are no longer interested in generating the promotional
muscle to sell "classic rock" acts.
Other graying heavyweights, like Madonna and Paul McCartney, have also
opted to eschew the music label route, signing long-term deals with
concert promoter Live Nation and Starbucks, respectively. So the
veterans are going for a more old-school direct-to-retail model, while
the up-and-coming contenders continue to mine MySpace, iTunes, etc.,
figuring these are the most efficient routes to your iPod.
All of which leaves the major labels stuck in a narrowing middle,
trying to peddle the latest from Hannah Montana and last season's AI
runners-up. But with the young people getting their music online, the
old folks at Wal-Mart and Starbucks, and dedicated music retailers
dropping like flies, who are the labels going to sell to?
You can expect the digital music revolution to continue producing
weird, distant aftershocks like this: We're witnessing the death of an
industry, after all.
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