Just When You Think It Can't Get N E More Fucked UP

[Big C]

Record stores will be heading for bargain bins


Los Angeles Times
Jan. 9, 2003


Record store operators are bracing for a new round of cutbacks.


Today, Best Buy Co. is expected to announce the closure of a about 150 of the roughly 1,300 Sam Goody and other stores in its Musicland division.

And the anticipated move by one of the United States' largest record store chains is only the most dramatic in a new round of closings spurred by last year's 11 percent drop in album sales.

Wherehouse Entertainment is expected to close 30 of its roughly 400 stores, company executives said. Trans World, owner of FYE and other stores, meanwhile, plans to shutter about two dozen of its 900 locations.

The new store closings accelerate a trend that was already under way, thanks to back-to-back annual declines in record sales. The problem has been aggravated by price wars with mass merchants.

During the late 1990s, the five major record labels helped bail out shaky retailers by subsidizing advertising costs for chains that agreed to price albums under company guidelines. But federal regulators in 2000 forced labels to halt the practice as anti-competitive.


Cuda

 

[servnu151]

yeah, alot figured this was coming.......i believe companys like RASPUTINS, AOMEBA, TARGET, KMART places like this are going to shine! look at there prices. people are not dumb! why go to SAMGOODY OR FYE when they can get the same product for cheaper some where else?

 

[Baller B]

The Wherehouse in downtown San Jo by my place got shut down recently...but I by all my cd's and vinyl at Rasputin's in Campbell.

 

[G-Dubb]

yeah, alot figured this was coming.......i believe companys like RASPUTINS, AOMEBA, TARGET, KMART places like this are going to shine! look at there prices. people are not dumb! why go to SAMGOODY OR FYE when they can get the same product for cheaper some where else?

My girl wanted the Afu-Ra CD a while back... At Sam Goody it was $19.99... At Best Buy or Rasputin or something it was like $12.99!

Sam Goody has the worst CD prices I've ever seen.

 

[Young Lou]

ARSEN is speakin' the truth

yeah, alot figured this was coming.......i believe companys like RASPUTINS, AOMEBA, TARGET, KMART places like this are going to shine! look at there prices. people are not dumb! why go to SAMGOODY OR FYE when they can get the same product for cheaper some where else?

You ain't neva lied!!! But right now WHEREHOUSE MUSIC has a 30% off special on everything in the store for the month of Jan.

 

[imported_MASTERED_TRAX]

i have noticed a price increase tho even at rasputans over the years, i just hope they blow up enough to get all over the country, and keep there prices low, its no wonder sales are bad at sam goody, there cheapest album is like $15.99-19.99 for a cd.... and they wont let you promote in there store unless you lucky or you a major.....

cuda, dont you think if there are less stores, cd's will actually sell more???

cuzz i know wherehouses hardly order more then 5-10 unit of a unknown new artist if even any at all, but the wherehouse down the street may order more, and the wherehouse 5 miles away from there may not oprder any.... but lets say now there is only 1 wherehouse instead of 3-4 in a 10 mile radius..... wouldnt you expect them to maybee order more product?? and even if they dont, wouldnt soliciting there store be easier, cuz you only have to hit them, you wont have to hit 5 other wherehouses in the same city???

what you think???

 

[MaddDogg]

thank god they are closing down some of these stores...if your offering a single cd for $19.99 your gonna have some problems, and of course they are gonna blame it on internet piracy too.

 

[trueazn9]

and fuck tower records for fuckin with me last time those fukcing
racist white woodstock lookin nobodies

 

[TKO]

Most of these big chain stores don't know what they buying anyways...it's just a title and a bar code to them...so let them close down....the one's who are passionate about the music and have the knowledge is the ones who should prevail...

 

[imported_MASTERED_TRAX]

^^^ you right bout that.... i go to alot of these stores to meet the managers personally and try and be real cool, but half the time, the people ordering the rap muzic, are not even listeners of the muzic, they listen to metalica or 9 inch nails or somethin, and i get this look like, they really dont care.... some of them are real coo, like the manager at cd wherehouse, he like 50 years old, but he supports the locals real well, but the majority of the people dont have respect for rap or the culture.... so how do you sell your album to someone who only knows who p.diddy or emenim is???

 

[kev ski]

ITS SAD, ALL THOSE STORES CLOSEING,ITS GONNA GET HARDER TO SELL UNITS,SOME SAY PRICES ARE TO HIGH BUT THATS WHAT DRIVES THE MARKET,PRICES NEED TO BE AT $15-19 PER CD,SOME DONT LIKE TO PAY IT BUT THATS HOW IT IS, THE 200+STORES CLOSEING =ABOUT 300 TO 1000 UNITS TO SOME ARTIST ,
I JUST HOPE PEOPLE START PAYING MORE MONEY FOR SHIT,ITS THE ONLY THE INDUSTRY IS GONNA SURVIVE

 

[Big Robb]

plain and simple the "Supply / Demand" got twisted due to the burning going so wide spead...... "Supply being there but the demand is meet through a diffrent port than the suppier".........so in the end the suppier pays the price and has top quit cuz it is being by passed...........but in the end, the label sees no money so pretty soon starts ta spend way more than it makes and it quits too, so long money shall stay afloat and short money will die, but the best ta do is factor all this in putting out ur album so u can avoid being in the "spending too much" on ur album vrs the "supplier being by passed"

 

[mafioso22]

Add TOWER TO THAT ASWELL!

Theyre having some major FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
and one of the BIG BOSSES STEP DOWN ASWELL!

 

[T-Dubb]

good shit! they need to close down all them chain stores. robbin folks, its rediculious these days

 

[Vamps]

I think Robb's the only one that addressed the problem. The stores are closing because people aren't BUYING music anymore..

Artists aren't gonna work for free and they shouldn't have to. If you like something and it's of value, BUY it or one day it will no longer exist and that day is coming..




Vamps
IX.

 

[Cranky]

I think sales dropped because music sucks ass these days......

 

[eMDe]

^
good point.

If someone is gonna pay 18.99 it should be quality product.

In rap.. Good music,lyrics, content, quality, art, n all that shit.

We need to stop making albums with "20 artists, 20 producers (beat makers) 2 panel flap with shit artwork and NO POiNT TO HE MUTHAFUCKIN ALBUM.

And start making MUSIC.

It's not the thing to do if you want to get rich. If you love music, and have something origional to do or say then DO IT.

If not...........


YOU WONT SUCEED AND YOUR HOLDING BACK THOSE WITH INNOVATIVE, CREATIVE, AND NEW IDEAS AND MUSIC!!

PERIOD!

 

[koncept]

Just thought I'd agree with all of you. The industry right now is in a weird phase. The rise of CD-R usage (more CD-Rs sold last year than regular albums) and the programs that are coming out for different platforms that make burning CDs way too easy. There's some program called "The Ripper" or something like that where it can record shows on internet radio and cut out all the ads and all the talking and track all the songs and everything! It's getting out of control.

A lot of people I know are feeling the hurt of this 11% drop. The Sam Goody store in San Francisco on Market is closed. That's a huge location, right next to Powell street and in a huge mall with amazing tourist traffic. Another Sam Goody at Serramonte mall is closed as well.

It's very troubling times in the music business. One would think why didn't the industry make a limit to the amount of time allowed on CD-Rs. Would the industry be in the same shape it is if the max time you were able to record on a CD was 30 minutes? Would priacy still be a problem? I suggest no. Who would burn 2 CD-Rs for a full album instead of just buying one REAL CD?

I'm not sure how legit this info is but one of my friends said that on DVD-Rs you can only record so much time. So if you were to try and burn a 2 hour movie onto a DVD it would need to be more than one DVD-R. Add on to that the special features and all the extra stuff one DVD would be equal to 3 or 4 DVD-rs.

I worry most about new artists and new labels. We'll see how this will affect us smaller people in this large scale problem. I hate when people say " It doesn't matter if I burn this CD, so Tomy Mattola and Clive Davis can't get their 10th Ferrari." What about the rest of us when burning and piracy do hurt us financialy? We're the ones really getting hurt.

But I digress...

Oh and check this out:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,75046,00.html

Big news, folks.

Koncept

 

[Big Robb]

Mottola Leaves Sony Music

The 14-year reign of Tommy Mottola at Sony Music is over.

According to sources at Sony Music, where the phones have not stopped ringing, Mottola only found out he was leaving when he arrived this morning at 550 Madison. "He was told to go see Sir Howard Stringer, and when he got there they handed him a press release," my source said. Mottola was then given a couple of hours to clear out his office. A deal for a record label was, according to sources, Sony's resolution of the last year of his contract.

Also swirling around 550 Madison: the news that Epic Records' beloved chief Dave Glew will retire, and that veteran Columbia Records exec Mel Ilberman will as well. Now the big question is who will replace Mottola, and speculation is already pointing toward Bob Bowlin, already part of the Sony corporate structure and a friend of Stringer and Kevin Kelleher, will assume Mottola's duties. Another rumor has it that former Warner Bros. Home Video head Warren Lieberfarb, who left his own post suddenly last month with no explanation despite much success, may be headed for the job.

Earlier it was reported that Mottola resigned this afternoon as CEO, although it is more true to say that Sony refused to give in to his contract demands. His contract was said to be ending in 2004.

The Japanese owners of Sony had a lot on their minds when it came to Mottola's future. The talented but volatile music executive personally forced out two of Sony's major stars, Mariah Carey (his ex-wife) and Michael Jackson. In the case of the former, the embarrassing story of Mottola allegedly stealing music from Carey's Glitter album and passing it to Jennifer Lopez didn't help much. Carey was able to use that information as leverage to leave her Sony contract one album early.

In the case of Jackson, the complicated goings-on regarding his finances and the Beatles catalog culminated last summer in Jackson riding around Manhattan with a megaphone calling Mottola a racist. If there's one thing companies like Sony don't like, it's public humiliation. And Stringer, who runs Sony Entertainment, and is a class act, was never amused by Mottola's antics.

There was also the very public fight over royalties with the Dixie Chicks, and the company's inability to make Celine Dion's recent album more than a middling hit.

But in the end, Mottola's ouster is more a result of bottom line numbers. Sony Music is No. 3 on the list of music companies and Columbia Records is third on the list of labels. The failure of the company to market albums by Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and other acts sent their bottom line into a tailspin, and in the end it doesn't matter who likes you or who you don't like. It's about the money.

Of course, Mottola's hot temper didn't help. If you fell out of favor or seemed to be disloyal, bada bing — security guards escorted you to the door. With Mottola gone, there will now be rampant speculation about the future of his group including Don Ienner, Polly Anthony and most especially Michelle Anthony (the two are not related). There are going to be massive changes at Sony. One can only wonder if they'll end with the return of Michael Jackson. Stranger things have happened.

And what of Mottola? He'll start his own label, he has zillions of dollars, and still strikes fear into the hearts of strangers. He has always had a percentage interest in his own management company and that will be a place from which he can draw talent. I'll say this for him: for a long time, longer than most, Tommy Mottola made Sony/Columbia and the record business really interesting. Even when he was tough or seemed out of control, he was kind of brilliant. And he loved the music. That's not a bad legacy.
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jus ta show u we all doing bad in da business, sharkz is gonna try ta eat all the lil fish this yr, so yall lil labels like my self better swim fast and smart

 

[Tooper]

i agree with the quality of the music also.at least with the music we buy.i know rap music has gone to shit but with rockstars and all the pop stars i can't speak on that.as for chain stores too many of them charge too much and stores like kmart,target and best buy has them cheaper with more deals.