NEW YORK, 12:09 PM, TUE OCT 14 | 17 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@idolator.com | SUBMIT A TIP | RSS

Posts Tagged “Wal-Mart”

the new model

400,000 People Really Don't Care About AC/DC Holding Itself Back From The Internet

Yesterday's New York Times had a story on how AC/DC is standing up against the digital age: The band is putting out Black Ice via brick-and-mortar outlets only next week, with Wal-Mart getting the CD exclusive and indie stores being allowed to sell it on vinyl. Angus Young told the Times that his band's resistance to going digital was rooted in the idea of iTunes selling chunks of albums instead of full-length records: “It’s like an artist who does a painting... If he thinks it’s a great piece of work, he protects it. It’s the same thing: this is our work.” Well, someone in the chain of getting the album to stores didn't quite get the memo on AC/DC's analog ways, or maybe they just found it hypocritical that AC/DC was OK with selling single songs as ringtones, but not as 99-cent downloads, because Black Ice leaked last week, and according to estimates, it's been downloaded some 400,000 times from BitTorrent alone. More »

12:15 PM on Mon Oct 13 2008
By Maura Johnston
471 views, 16 comments

Latest by The New Rockstar Philosophy: We all knew this would happen. What AC/DC should be focused on now is (as mentioned) get their album on Itunes immediately. The hardcore fans will still buy the physical copy and even the digital copy. The torrent copy will more »

reversals

Wal-Mart Leaves The Light On

Retail giant Wal-Mart has had a change of heart (or at least a panic attack about bad PR in a time of economic crisis): After threatening to shut off its online music store's DRM servers on Oct. 9—you know, yesterday—it's decided to keep those servers up and running, so people who bought protected audio files before the whole enterprise switched over to an MP3-only operation can keep on listening to those songs without burning them to a CD. And it's all because of "customer feedback"! Not to mention the idea that asking people to truck out and buy CD-Rs ($14.88 for a 50-disc spindle!)) in the current economic moment clashes a bit with the company's overall "always low prices, even though the result is basically you shopping yourself out of a job" mandate. [Engadget]

9:30 AM on Fri Oct 10 2008
By Maura Johnston
36 views, Comment

upcoming releases

Are Indie Record Stores Sidestepping Wal-Mart By Going Down Under?

An Australian news outlet is reporting that the number of trans-Pacific orders for AC/DC's forthcoming album Black Ice has gone way up, and that there's one culprit: American independent record stores, which apparently have the capital to bank on Ice being in-demand enough to result in people willingly paying import prices for the record, just for the sake of supporting indie record stores! Yeah! More »

11:30 AM on Thu Oct 2 2008
By Maura Johnston
328 views, 9 comments

A Trip Down Rock Band Memory Lane

Remember Rock Band's "No Exclusive Deal" Policy?

It seems like just a few months ago when we complimented Harmonix audio director Eric Brosious for his company's stance against artist exclusive deals. Back in those halcyon days of August, Brosious said of the possibility of bands signing exclusive deals with Rock Band, "We prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive 'business' thing to do, in the long run, it's really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people." Well, August was a long time ago, and when Angus Young calls, you pick up the phone. More »

12:00 PM on Tue Sep 30 2008
By Dan Gibson
480 views, 8 comments

Latest by westartedthis: i think their new single is shit. utter shit. is my logic flawed? more »

playsfornotsure

Wal-Mart Pulls The Rug Out From People Who Actually Bought Music From Its Web Site

Retail giant Wal-Mart have notified customers of their digital-music store that, come Oct. 9, they won't be able to play any files purchased before August 2007 and many of those purchased before February, thanks to those files being protected by the Microsoft-crafted digital-rights management software Playsforsure. In the wake of Microsoft stopping development and support of that nasty little bit of DRM, Wal-Mart switched its entire digital-music store to MP3s in February. So now, the higher-ups there have decided that the time is right to shut off the "license key" that allows those files to be played by people who purchased rented them. The Bentonville-issued missive to customers after the jump. More »

11:00 AM on Mon Sep 29 2008
By Maura Johnston
422 views, 13 comments

Latest by Reidicus: OK, I know I'm an outlier here, but I keep my entire music library on a 500 GB external hard drive, then I back it up once a week on another 500 GB HD, which I keep in another place. more »

format wars

Major Labels Still Trying To Be Creative With Physical Media

Undaunted by the lack of success seen by the ringtone/CD-single hybrid known as the Ringle, the four major labels have decided to dive back into the brick-and-mortar world with a new format that brings together one-gigabyte memory cards and full-length albums. The new format, which will supposedly be compatible with both mobile phones and home PCs, has been given the unwieldy name SlotMusic*; the Wall Street Journal says each album in the line will cost $15, while the New York Times claims that the format's price point will be in the single-digit range. More »

9:30 AM on Mon Sep 22 2008
By Maura Johnston
336 views, 2 comments

Latest by okiedoke: I'm still thrilled with SACD and any other high res 5.1 content. It's always a revelation compared to conventional two dimensional stereo mixes. But, granted, the industry muffed much of this opportunity. more »

the new model

AC/DC's New Album To Be One Of The Few CDs Left On Wal-Mart's Shelves

AC/DC's first album of new material in eight years, Black Ice, comes out Oct. 20, but if you don't live near a Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, forget about leaving your house in search of a copy. The CD will only be available at outlets of the Arkansas-based chain of megacheapness, although those of you who don't live near a Wal-Mart (or just don't feel like standing under the store's super-unflattering fluorescents) can also purchase the album via the band's official site. Wal-Mart's most recent exclusive music deal comes at an interesting time for the store, which is the No. 1 music retailer in the country, as it's planning on going ahead with a long-planned revamp of its music section in the near future. From the Wall Street Journal: More »

11:00 AM on Mon Aug 18 2008
By Maura Johnston
3,292 views, 8 comments

Latest by cheesebubble: I have to hop up on the soap box. Wal-Mart is the No. 1 music retailer in America? That is so so sad. And I'm confused by the notion that they may cut the number of music more »

retail revelations

Wal-Mart Brings Us The Most Beautiful Media Player Of All Time

The ZVUE company may be running out of cash, but they can still turn out one awesome MP3 player. More »

2:00 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Dan Gibson
1,010 views, 4 comments

the new model

Wal-Mart Talks Money With AC/DC, Prepares To Slash Shelf Space Even More

Ubiquitous American retailer Wal-Mart got a fair amount of press for its status as "one of the few remaining chain stores selling music" today, with stories in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal about its upcoming music strategy. But the WSJ gets the scoop: Wal-Mart's next store-exclusive release will be the upcoming album by AC/DC, which is slated to hit stores in the fall. Unlike the two other classic-rock stalwarts who had chart-topping exclusives with the Bentonville behemoth, the Eagles and Journey, AC/DC's album will come out on a major label (Columbia). The Journal notes that "Columbia's decision to sell a major new release at only one chain has the potential to alienate retailers left out," although those alienated retailers can at this point be counted on one person's digits. And how is Wal-Mart going to celebrate its music mogul status? By demanding lower wholesale prices and cutting floor space even more! More »

8:53 AM on Mon Jun 9 2008
By Maura Johnston
876 views, 3 comments

Latest by StuntKockSteeev: And as always, hip hop stays losing. They can repackage every dad rock band under the sun and fit it into the WalMart corporate vision, but there's no way they could do something similar with Trick Daddy, Common, or more »

push th' little daisies

Universal Music Group And Wal-Mart Present World With Another Reason To Bury Its CDs

"The insert in more than 20 Universal Music Group (UMG) titles available now at Wal-Mart as a part of Wal-Mart's "Earth Month" promotion is so earth-friendly that, when properly planted, the special seed paper will actually bloom into wildflowers. From the uniquely organic insert to environmentally sustainable packaging for new albums from Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Counting Crows, and the effort is further proof that green is growing fast in the music industry." More than 20 titles? That makes it sound like Wal-Mart is expanding its music section! Full list of albums that can double as mood-brighteners after the jump, and no, Ween's Pure Guava isn't one of them. More »

1:15 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Maura Johnston
441 views, 13 comments

Latest by owenmeany: Most of those acts are already six feet under more »

cross bentonville, sleep with the fishes

Wal-Mart Not Thrilled With Pepsi's Free Downloads


Perhaps someone at Pepsi should have through through their promotion with Amazon a bit further before signing off. Wal-Mart and Target—who have been selling music a little bit longer than Amazon and not coincidentally, also sell a lot of Pepsi—are reported to be a little miffed with Pepsi for spending their ad dollars driving sales to an internet competitor, instead of sending customers into the racks at their brick and mortar establishments. On the other hand, if Amazon finally complete their research into the direct download of caffeine and heavy processed sugars, who will need to go to the store anyway? [Financial Times]

11:30 AM on Mon Mar 17 2008
By Dan Gibson
229 views, Comment

the biz

If The Music Biz Can't Kill Itself, Wal-Mart Would Like To Help

If you've purchased a compact disc, well, ever, you've probably been upset by the high price of musical product. Don't worry, music consumer! Wal-Mart's going to use its leverage as the largest retailer of music to bring down prices—and maybe the entire music business in the process. More »

11:20 AM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Dan Gibson
1,316 views, 6 comments

sales

iTunes Becomes No. 2 Music Retailer Despite Majors' Efforts

According to research by the NPD Group, the iTunes Store was the second-largest music retailer in the United States last year, behind only Wal-Mart. iTunes leapfrogged over Best Buy and Target—which came in second and third, respectively, to iTunes' fourth place the last time the NPD Group conducted their music-buying survey—as paid downloading experienced an overall spike of 50% between 2006 and 2007. Those downloads now make up 10% of all music sales, although unsurprisingly the rise in downloads didn't make up for the plunge experienced by CD tallies throughout the course of the year. Related to that, NPD is claiming that one million people just stopped buying CDs completely last year; maybe it's because of my scouring Soundscan during the year, but does that number seem a bit low to anyone else? [Reuters; HT Chris Molanphy]

1:15 PM on Tue Feb 26 2008
By Maura Johnston
304 views, 9 comments

Latest by mackro: I'm curiously what the sales for movies and DVDs are for the retailers in comparison to the CDs. Technically, this isn't music related, but it definitely is music-industry related. more »

Folio has the complete list of magazines that were recently ditched by Wal-Mart for still-undisclosed reasons. While a good chunk of the titles are publications that have folded in the past few years—CMT Magazine, holla!—there are some still-publishing music-related mags on the list, including Billboard, Spin, Paste, and Rap-Up. Between these moves and the retailer's plans to cut floor space devoted to music, it looks like 2008 might not be the best year for heartland dwellers who actually want to purchase their alt-rock-leaning music in an actual store. [Folio via Gawker]

1 comment

the new model

Is Every Major Going To Plunge Into The MP3 Waters?

In news that should give you a pretty solid idea of the music industry's control over the way its products are distributed, Billboard reports that three titans of American culture that really don't have a lot to do with music at all—Wal-Mart, Pepsi, and the Super Bowl—may be what finally pushes all four major labels out of their digitally rights-managed cocoon and into the world of MP3s. More »

5:42 PM on Fri Nov 30 2007
By mjohnston
606 views, 2 comments

Don Van Cleave, the head of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, on the Eagles' so-called Wal-Mart exclusive and its performance on his sales chart of shops that are decidedly not the Bentonville big box: ""...many of our guys picked up the WALMART EAGLES new release at Walmart to resell back in their stores. We heard stories for the past few weeks about customers asking indie stores for the WALMART EAGLES. When informed that they would need to go to Walmart to pick up the title, the customers responded "Dude, we don't go in that damn place" or something similar... (Soundscan) told me that they were obviously resales and they zeroed them out... They don't want to count them twice...Streetpulse let me know...The WALMART EAGLES come in at #22 on our chart." [hypebot]

2 comments

take it easy, everybody

"Billboard" Fusses With Its Chart Rules, Clears Eagles' Path To No. 1

Hoping to evade the possibility of an asterisk-tainted chart, the powers that be at Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan changed their rules for charting albums last night in such a way to ensure that the Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden—their Wal-Mart-only album that sold 711,000 copies last week—would top this week's Billboard 200, pushing Britney Spears' 290,000-copy-selling Blackout to the No. 2 slot. More »

8:32 AM on Wed Nov 7 2007
By mjohnston
879 views, 6 comments

lost loss leaders

Sales At Big-Box, Chain Stores Even Lousier Than Expected

They may be the only places to buy an album in person in many a far-flung locale, but CD sales at big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Target have plunged 17% from last year, while sales at chain stores like FYE and, uh ... FYE plummeted 24%. The latter decline can be explained in at least some part by the demise of Tower Records last year, but the picture still isn't a pretty one. More »

6:00 PM on Wed Oct 24 2007
By mjohnston
1,239 views, 7 comments