Exclusively at Wal-mart

[Chris]

I have been hearing more and more about bands that sell their albums exclusively at one retailer. The new ACDC is only at Wal-mart and the long awaited Chinese Democracy will only be at Best Buy (I should note that I have no desire to own either album or to ever go inside a Wal-mart). That being said I must admit that this practice of selling albums really bothers me.

I was just curious how other people feel about it.

[John P. Strohm]

I hate it, and I also hate it when artists/labels give exclusive content to big retailers. Independent retailers have it hard enough without this bullshit. We all know the paradigm is shifting; however, in the mean time, I think most people on here understand the value of independent retailers and why this sort of thing is really unfortunate.

[suade99]

Minneapolis still has a handful of "mom&pop" record stores... it makes me sad that these "giants" cut them out of the mix...

[BURD]

I bought a Metallica CD at Walmart once. It was full of blank spots-where they had censored all the "bad" words. Fucking Pussies!

[BURD]

Oh yeah, I took that shit back and went downtown to Tracks. Got one with all the naughty stuff!!

[Ian Brewer]

While I don't have a problem with bands seeking corporate sponsorship so long at it doesn't conflict with their message, signing exclusive contracts with corporations, especially ones as evil as Wal-mart, is pretty contemptible. ACDC might as well just put the smiley logo on the front of their bass drum and replace all their gear with cheap Chinese knockoffs. Maybe Angus could get a sleeve tattoo of corporate logos down his left leg.

[Zac Burke]

Yeah there is AC/DC stuff all over the Wal-Mart here, I thought it was strange when I first noticed it a while back. I will admit I did enjoy seeing them Monday night though, besides now being half-deaf!

[John Scot Sheets]

Did they have to change any of the lyrics on the ACDC LP so they could "work" with Wallmart?

[Chris]

I read that the new ACDC sold over 750,000 copies it's first week just between Wal-mart and their website. I guess my biggest beef is that most large retailers don't have the greatest selection to begin with, but the selection gets even worse when they have exclusive rights to an album and devote such a large of part of their inventory to that particular album.

I'm afraid if this way of doing business continues to be successful for large coorperate bands it's going to be next to impossible to find the music I love (with the exception of this site of course).

[Jake Petroff]

I bought the new AC/DC album @ Vibes.

[jimpeoni]

if you shop at wallmart you might as well go to tibet and kick a monk in the head. I am glad i dont listen to those kinds of bands, if i did i would boycott them for sure. you should steer clear of walamrt and best buys. stick to independent stores such as LUNA and INDY VINYL..