Idolator
If you're planning on moving away from Florida, you might do well to prune your CD collection after you relocate, as the state recently passed "second-hand goods legislation" requiring those selling CDs to hand over a copy of a government-issued ID and get thumbprinted before trading in their wares—and, in turn, requiring stores to hold on to the goods for 21 days before they were put back out on the shelves. Billboard.biz took a look at the effects laws like Florida's will have on the used-CD market across the nation:
In the states where pawn shop laws are getting more restrictive, it practically makes it prohibitive to sell used CDs, says one merchant. In fact, one music retailer — who operates stores in Florida but is not headquartered there — reports that one of the chain's stores has already had a visit from the local police enforcing the law. As a result, the chain stopped dealing in used goods in that store.
Laws that result in the curtailment of used CD sales likely would be considered good news to record labels and music distributor executives who have long abhorred the growing strength of the used CD market. In fact, until the mid-1990's labels used to put pressure on merchants who bought directly from them not to carry such merchants. At the time, some majors attempted to kill the strategy by initiating new policies to withhold cooperative advertising from retailers buying directly from them but selling used CDs, a move endorsed by some artists including Garth Brooks.
But that effort triggered a revolt from independent stores and consumers, highlighted by barbeques of Garth Brook CDs, in some places called a "garth-eque." It also served as a catalyst for a Federal Trade Commission investigation of the music industry practices, forcing those majors to back down from its anti-used CD stance.
Since then, merchants who buy direct from majors who participate in the category say that used CD sales have grown from about 5% to sometimes 10%-20% of overall CD revenues. Also, those sales are more profitable.
As Coolfer notes, the growth in used-CD sale revenues could be attributed in large part to the overall decline in CD sales; still, we're sure that the record labels aren't looking Florida's gift horse in the mouth. All of a sudden, we feel even worse for any music critics living down there than we already did.
New Laws Threaten Used CD Market [Billboard.biz, via Coolfer]
Comments
Those types of laws are more common than one might imagine. In Arizona, selling a CD is classified as a "pawn" transaction, with laws varying by municipality. Tucson required the disc to be on hold for fourteen days, with a ridiculous form to be filled out as well.
Bet the majors are toasting this while they are crying into each others Crystal at NARM.
Anybody remember Garth Brooks's insane battle against used-CD sales in the mid-'90s? This was even before he went all froot loops with that Chris Gaines thing.
Half.com makes a good proxy for used cds stores. Patience is required.
All Garth managed to prove with that little public relations fiasco is that he's a businessman first and a musician second, at best.
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@dennisobell:
Garth was/is obsessed with selling more copies of albums than any other artist..which is why he packaged them all in a box and sold it for about 20 bucks at Wal Mart along with "exclusive content" (i.e. leftovers) a few years back... if I remember correctly, each disc in the box counted as an individual number towards his "goal" of selling more lps than the Beatles.
In terms of juiced-up phony numbers, he's the Barry Bonds of the music world...
So, how will this stop Floridans from selling used CDs online? Isn't that generally a better way to go anyway, provided you don't NEED THE MONEY LIKE REALLY SOON, MAN?
@mackro: Well, yeah, you're right--#1, it is a better way to go. And #2, at a secondhand record shop, probably one eighth of the people who want to sell you "their" old music for cash are obviously drug addicts unloading discs they jacked out of someone else's car. They're not gonna put that shit on eBay.
@Jupiter8: Oh, you don't have to tell me. I pitched an editor at SPIN this exact story back around 1998 or so, when the Beatles' certifications (post-Anthology) were temporarily dormant, and Brooks was releasing bullshit like his $10, two-disc Double Live comp and five-disc Limited Series to pump up his certs. For a brief while at the end of the '90s, he was up just over 100m "certifications" and threatening the Fabs' career total, which at the time was somewhere around 110m.
(The editor liked the story idea but said I'd never get anyone to talk, either on or off the record, because of Brooks's power and influence at the time. She was right, so I gave up on it. Frankly, it would've been the perfect story for blogs, had they existed in any meaningful way at the time.)
The happy ending: in 2000, EMI released 1, which "went diamond" within a year and put the U.S. sales record completely out of Brooks's reach (especially as he was beginning his "retirement").
To be fair, both Brooks and Beatles have benefited from the RIAA's bullshit multidisc certification rule. The Fabs have several double-disc releases that are counted twice for no good reason; the "red" and "blue" hits albums are especially egregious as each could fit on a single disc but were released as doubles.
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