One thing that’s been piquing the interest of those who see next week’s Beatles remasters as a sort of last gasp for the recorded-music industry: Where will people in record store-lacking areas of the country (a.k.a. 92ish% of the populace) buy the albums? Mall stores are an ever-rarer breed thanks to the slash-and-burn strategy of Trans World; meanwhile, big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Target have decimated their selections to the barest minimum. Apple Corps has decided to market these reissues through a throwback strategy of its own: Grocery stores!
According to Brandweek, the Beatles remasters will be in stock at retailers like Starbucks, Whole Foods, 7-Eleven, and Blockbuster, in a strategy that, according to EMI catalog honcho Bill Gagnon, “will allow us to reach the everyday places people shop… We’re bringing the music to where they are.” Not only does this little bit of market-blitzing prove that the Fab Four are one of the rare bands out there who can unite the Cheeseburger Big Bite crowd and strictly organic shoppers, it allows the label to get its foot in the door at those outlets. At least, for what Gagnon calls “pretty significant [projects] to get these outlets’ attention”—which, uh, at this point will I guess include a remastered version of the Beatles’ 1? Yeah, OK, maybe we need to rethink that portion of the strategy.
7-Eleven, Whole Foods Come Together for Fab 4 [Brandweek]
[Image via cereal-box.net]
Gosh, that’s depressing.
Has no one listened to Art Brut’s admonition to “stop buying albums at the supermarket?” I infer from this lyric that this is a familiar practice in the UK.
In related news, the Walgreens near my house just put up a display at the checkout featuring “Number 1s” and “Thriller.”
@Audif Jackson Winters III: That’s totally true. I picked up “Best of Blur” at Tesco when I was studying abroad in Scotland. Also randomly stumbled upon a kickass punk/new wave compliation at their equivalent of a dollar store: http://www.cyberspike.com/clarke/compile.html
Very odd to a 20-year old American girl that you could purchase Britpop CDs, absinthe and digestive biscuits all in the same place.
Sure it’s depressing, but when music’s thought of as something to “listen to” while you’re dusting the house or picking up the kids, it makes sense to get it along with the spaghetti sauce and floss.
I love record stores as much as the next idolator commentor, but I fail to see how this is depressing. We go to record stores because we enjoy looking as what’s around and maybe picking up something new. Because we find new music exciting. But there is nothing new about these Beatles remasters. And I would doubt that most people who end up buying these albums at Whole Foods (the only real grocery store listed above) would otherwise have turned over the money their local record store. They would either have bought them on Amazon or not at all. And if someone is inclined to buy an album at a record store, they are most likely going to do that anyway, and not pick this up at 7-11. (Mmm, slurpees.)
I was buying CDs at a Staten Island Pathmark in 1988.
And to think I felt bad about buying a CD from Starbucks the other day.
@Chris Molanphy: Yeah, I was going to say — this news actually made me kind of nostalgic! I used to buy records and books at Pathmark (remember when it had its own Barnes & Noble section?) all the time.
In towns where there are no record stores, this seems okay to me.