AfterDawn: News

AC/DC album to be Wal-Mart exclusive

As CD sales continue to decline it's become harder and harder for brick and mortar retailers to compete with iTunes. In fact just this year Apple's online music store became the largest US music retailer. One of the few bands whose music isn't available on iTunes, AC/DC, will reportedly be selling their next CD exclusively through Wal-Mart this fall.

Although there's certainly interest in AC/DC's popular catalog of titles among online retailers, currently only Verizon is authorized to sell downloads of their music. Even if that weren't the case it's unlikely iTunes would be interested. That's because the band has so far resisted selling individual tracks, preferring to require that entire albums be downloaded instead.



While it may seem somewhat old fashioned for a band to avoid iTunes, depending on the terms of the deal it might not be as crazy as it sounds. Previously Wal-Mart has made exclusive deals to distribute music from artists like Journey and The Eagles, allowing them to bypass labels entirely and deal directly with the retailer.

It will certainly be interesting to see whether the lack of legal downloads has any impact on CD sales. Their last CD, 'Stiff Upper Lip,' sold 930,000 copies, but was released in 2000 when online music services were still in their infancy. Subsequent years have seen both an increase in legal music downloads and a steady decline in CD sales.

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 11 Jun 2008 6:15

• Previous article

• GAO report highlights potential for trouble in US DTV transition

• Next article

• Swedish political party votes for legal piracy

• 10 comments

• ZippyDSM

  wallmart eh? is it edited?

  11.6.2008 08:26 #1

• 7thsinger

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: wallmart eh? is it edited?Lol. Good point.

  11.6.2008 08:44 #2

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: wallmart eh? is it edited?Lol. Good point.I have gotten to the point edited=PC,PC =zero thought, zero thought bad, we need the cusssing and uneditedness of life in all tis fasscets to remind us life is real not a fcking edited sound bite.....

  11.6.2008 08:48 #3

• BcMester

  I can somewhat understand that the band took off in the heyday of record labels and no digital music whatsoever and that's what they're used to, but if they continue to live in the past while the world is changing around them they'll end up like the dinosaurs: failure to adapt to the changing circumstances means decline. I'm an admirer of AC/DC and a big fan of their music, but not endorsing digital downloads in this day and age could mean the difference between a successful album and a failure.

  11.6.2008 16:32 #4

• atomicxl

  This is cool to me because I remember a few years ago in a intro to music industry class our teach was saying that someday a band will get so big that they won't really need a record label, they can hire their own marketing, printing CDs has been cheap for years and is only getting cheaper so they won't need distributors. All they would need is retail support. He said one day you'll probably see a group basically "signing" to a store and only releasing an album there.
  
  I wonder how well this will sell. If it does well I think we'll see more of retail store exclusives.

  11.6.2008 17:30 #5

• 7thsinger

  Quote:I wonder how well this will sell. If it does well I think we'll see more of retail store exclusives.
  I doubt it, honestly.
  
  The digital age is upon us. Like comedian Mike Birbiglia said once: "My cd's are for sale out in the lobby. I hope one of you buys a cd, and the rest of you have computers."
  
  Let's face it, a good majority of people come across their music of choice by other means than retail, brick and mortar purchasing.
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  "Sir, i would not harm thee for the world...but thou art standing where i'm about to shoot."

  11.6.2008 18:48 #6

• jony218

  I never thought I would see the day. AC/DC use to be the best of the best. How the mighty have fallen. They use to salute those that were about to "rock". If I walked by them, I would have to avert my eyes. I want to remember them how they use be.

  11.6.2008 22:19 #7

• davidrose

  Originally posted by BcMester: I can somewhat understand that the band took off in the heyday of record labels and no digital music whatsoever and that's what they're used to, but if they continue to live in the past while the world is changing around them they'll end up like the dinosaurs: failure to adapt to the changing circumstances means decline. I'm an admirer of AC/DC and a big fan of their music, but not endorsing digital downloads in this day and age could mean the difference between a successful album and a failure.They have had failed albums in the past truthfully AC/DC doesn't need to keep up there as old as that they will be just fine with or without downlow digi. My thought is TOUR YEAH I'm ready

  12.6.2008 11:20 #8

• chankx

  Makes sense because every time I go to Wal-Mart and look around at the people there, I pretty much assume that they're into AC/DC.

  12.6.2008 13:33 #9

• loubat

  Quote:Previously Wal-Mart has made exclusive deals to distribute music from artists like Journey and The Eagles, allowing them to bypass labels entirely and deal directly with the retailer.
  I think this may be their main point. No labels to deal with, AC/DC deals directly with the distributor and keeps more of their hard earned money.
  
  That said, couldn't they have struck the same kind of deal with an online distributor? Someone like Amazon, where they could have sold the physical and the digital downloads.

  12.6.2008 20:33 #10