Dear Pitchfork:
It's called <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-02/23.shtml">capitalism</a>.
9 times out of 10 I'll shop at a mom and pop for knowledgable sales staff, better independent selection, a selection of print zines, books, etc.
but come on: Im expected to pay approx $4 extra USD per disc to support indies on each album I buy?
Indies and moms and pops stay competitive with the attributes listed above, and will continue to do so.
It doesn't mean Best Buy is trying or going to kill indies. As a mediavore, I aquire media wherever and however I can, and for the best price I can find.
Pitchfork can hardly accuse NP of not supporting the scene by occasionally picking up discs @ Best Buy.
If the indies want to compete, which they do and will continue to do so, they offer stuff you can't get at Best Buy. For an example, I will <strong> always </strong> have a higher expenditure through <a href="http://www.twistedvillage.com">Twisted Village</a>, <a href="http://www.dischord.com">dischord.com</a>, <a href="http://www.insound.com">insound.com</a>,<a href="http://www.dtmgallery.com">dtmgallery.com</a>, and <a href="http://www.newburycomics.com">newbury comics</a> than I will @ Best Buy or target or whatever, but am I going to pay over $45 USD for the Nirvana box set @ someplace like Newbury, or on the day of release @ Wal Mart for $25 USD? $65 USD for the latest Johnny cash or Miles Davis box or $99?
Doing my economic homework so I can get as much music as possible is not something Im gonna feel guilty or apologize for.
<b>[sarcasm]</b> Can't wait to start buying my Jandek, Peter Brotzmann and Feast whisperpants albums @ Best Buy <b>[/sarcasm]</b>
The box sets you mention are emphatically not the type of material that's being offered for $8 at Best Buy.
"Don't take your local independent record stores for granted." Seems to be a gentle reminder; not a blazing denunciation of your procurement habits.
These cartoony morality plays of Best Buy being the man in black and the corner store being the man in white are trite and annoying. If the indie has nothing to offer the consumer but "scene points" of being someone cool who pays more for their cds at said cool place, I can deal without that.
Paying in excess of $3 higher for a cd to prove your loyalty to an indie record label that in most times wont be getting a huge amount back to the band anyways doesn't make any sense.
If you cant compete in a (sort of) free market, you are regulated by the marketplace.
waht Im saying is the indies always have and always will exist because they compete by offering niches not available at BB.
If the mom and pop store does not provide a niche and does nothing to compete in the market, then let the market force them out of business.
Pitchfork describes the program as not "intrinsically a bad thing". Doesn't sound like they are being overly moralistic. Pitchfork is reporting a hoopla that has been spinning around the indie world, should they have ignored it instead? The article notes that those beating the drums the loudest are the label owners, Carrot Top Distribution in particular. Shouldn't your ire be addressed there, instead of at the messenger? In fact, the article carries many more quotes from Merge and Matador representatives that support the program.
The problem, as CTD et al. sees it, is not the price of the albums but that Best Buy did not inform distributers of the price point when negotiating for the co-ops. Who is undermining free markets? The news source for reporting an issue that is affecting the indie rockers or the company that is not conducting transparent negotiations?
At least when I used the "edit" function it was on a blog that a small number of people read...
<b>Best Buy to Indies: Drop Dead</b>
"I don't deny for a second that using hot indie titles as a loss leader is a total sucker punch to mom and pop record stores. But without diminishing the significance of such an event, <b> cool record stores should have something else up their sleeves besides using Best Buy as the bogeyman</b>. <i>(null protocol's emphasis, not Cosloy's or Pitchfork's)</i>
"We've used Best Buy for years, but the vast majority of our time and energy has been devoted to selling records through independent retailers. To date, we've yet to do any instores with Best Buy or any exclusive titles with a chain store or non-music retailer, and we continue to come up with specific releases [like the 99¢ Cat Power seven-inch and Interpol remixes] that you can't purchase anywhere other than indie retail."
This whole story, now that I've reread the altered post, is pretty much verbatim taken from the sakistore blog that Pitchfork links to at the bottom, which is another reason I feel like it is not music news as much as it is a friend @ Pitchfork helping out a friend @ Saki Store by dressing up a "morality message" as a piece of reporting.
hmmph.
Obviously we don't need legislation to help the mom and pop stores. A discussion on the music and art in the marketplace helps educate people that without supporting the smaller indie stores, your area becomes a less interesting place.