Wal-Mart stirs CD pricing pot with multi-tiered plan
NEW YORK (Billboard) - The major music companies have been resistant to lowering their price on CDs, but now they may be dragged to that point: Wal-Mart, the largest retailer of music with an estimated 22 percent market share, has proposed a five-tiered pricing scheme that would allow the discounter to sell albums at even lower prices and require the labels to bear more of the costs.
According to sources, the Wal-Mart proposal would allow for a promotional program that could comprise the top 15 to 20 hottest titles, each at $10. The rest of the pricing structure, according to several music executives who spoke with Billboard, would have hits and current titles retailing for $12, top catalog at $9, midline catalog at $7 and budget product at $5. The move would also shift the store's pricing from its $9.88 and $13.88 model to rounder sales prices.
Executives at the Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounting giant wouldn't comment on the specifics of their promotion, but Wal-Mart divisional merchandise manager for home entertainment Jeff Maas acknowledged the proposal. "When you look at sales declines with physical product, and you have a category declining like it is, you have to make decisions about what the future looks like," he said. "If you have a business that is declining and you want to turn it around, it really takes looking at it from all angles."
Gogol Bordello gave great concert last night. They played for almost two hours, and the friend I dragged to the concert, who had never heard them before, announced afterward that she was going to buy all of their CDs.
I put the new Bauhaus on when I went to bed and I really like what I heard of it. I did fall asleep, but with headphones and in bed I can fall asleep to hardcore.
Can anyone rec a good country complation album or albums? I was watching clips from Johnny Cash's tv show last night and suddenly find myself lacking lots of of older country - Merle, Hank, Loretta, Carter Family, Carl Perkins, etc.
Email me your address, Aimee. I have a copy of a classic country comp I made years ago for a friend just lying around. I'm going to mail out a bunch of DVDs on Monday, and I'd be happy to send you a disc, too.
Hey Jon! (and other cool indie rock fans)
I accidentally tivoed a music show off the Mexican channel and saw the band Austin TV. Check our their album Fontana Bell. I think you'll like it.
Can't say it's doing much for curmudgeonly ol' me, but funnily enough I know the mixing engineer, Tim O'Heir. He used to work at Fort Apache studios.
I "get" them. The video is lovely and fits well with their cinematic sound. I'm just not a big fan of the oeuvre in which they are working. They seems like a poor man's Explosions in the Sky.
In other news, FAQWife informs me that the Harvard music library acquired the Swordfishtrombones book yesterday!
