Desperados - The Eagles team up with Wal-Mart. How dare they.

OpinionJournal.com ^ | November 25, 2007 | The Editors

[gpapa]

One of the most popular rock bands of all time has finally managed to offend--not for its songs, but for how it sells them. There's a lesson here in technology, new business models, and hidebound "progressives."

The first new album from the Eagles in over a decade, "Long Road Out of Eden," has already sold more than a million copies, hitting Billboard's #1 in its first week. It's the kind of blockbuster that used to pay Christmas bonuses at the big record companies, only this album wasn't produced by a big record company. The Eagles released it themselves and are selling it exclusively through Wal-Mart.

This isn't going down well in certain elite precincts. Music blogs accused the group of selling out, while a review in Rolling Stone opined that there is an "inevitable contradiction in buying a record that attacks corporate greed . . . from a superchain with a bleak record on employee rights and health care." A piece in the Boston Herald noted that "The deal will make the Eagles richer. But it could cost them cool points (if the aging rockers have any left)."

[b9]

So let's applaud Mr. Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and the other Eagles for some creative capitalism, however politically incorrect.

Good for them!

[Blind Eye Jones]

Wal Mart should start its own record label.

[Lancey Howard]

Ani DeFranco came up with the idea over a decade ago.
It’s getting a lot more common to cut out the “labels”.
I think Radiohead did something really cool very recently - - they offered their latest CD by on-line downloading ONLY. Essentially for FREE.

[madconserv]

They have probably started a new trend. How many new exclusives will come out of this not only at wal-mart but other stores as well? Shopko,Target, etc.

[dixiechick2000]

Yes ma’am...high fives and huge applause all around.

God love ‘em.

It’s good to “see” you. ;o)

[End Times Sentinel]

I love my Eagles, but they’re gonna need a whole lot more than you can find at a WalMart to beat the Patriots tonight.

[rawhide]

In cutting out the record company, the band cut itself in for a bigger share of the per-album profits. While it might have expected fewer sales from restricted availability, that doesn't seem to be happening. Wal-Mart's retail price of under $12 for the two-disc album has allowed smaller retailers to stock up on the album at Wal-Mart and then resell them with a markup.

[Caipirabob]

"from a superchain with a bleak record on employee rights and health care."

Translated: "They won't let unions completely destroy them from within"

[Caipirabob]

I love my Eagles, but they’re gonna need a whole lot more than you can find at a WalMart to beat the Patriots tonight.

LOL! I have them as my fantasy team DST. Man, Tom Brady is smokin' this season! Who knew? Everyone was saying it would be Peyton Manning...

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Music blogs accused the group of selling out

LOL - yeah those Eagles used to be such outlaws. But good for them, bypassing the record labels and making their own distribution deal. The RIAA members aren't just parasitic and unnecessary, they're an active menace to technological advances and the concept of sane copyright law.

[singfreedom]

YES! It really is time the “progressives” realize that Walmart is the largest employer in the country and, to date, I’ve heard none of the employees here complain. If it were so bad, do they really think Walmart would be the biggest employer in the country? Employees can always quit.

I think “progressives” just have problems with anything that really works (unless it happens to be THEIR personal business). They’re hellbent on “breaking” everything.

[SamAdams76]

The recent Radiohead album reportedly made the band more money than all their previous albums despite the fact that most people (including a band member) downloaded it for free - which is a sad statement on the recording industry.

Radiohead essentially put their album online for free but allowed downloaders to "set their own price." The result was that many downloaders paid at least a couple of dollars, which was more than what any record label would have paid them had they been selling copies for $15.98 at some shopping mall record store.

Some downloaders paid as much as $100 (obviously well-off fans who wanted to encourage the process).

As for those who paid nothing, the band has an opportunity to win more fans, especially since traditional radio isn't playing it (they are still too busy playing "flavor of the moment" acts like Timbaland, Britney Spears and Beyonce).

Performing artists offering their music directly to the fans is the wave of the future. That said, I'm dubious about the Eagles decision to market their music through Wal-Mart. No serious music fan goes to Wal-Mart to buy music.

[AlexW]

“No serious music fan goes to Wal-Mart to buy music.”

Why not? It is the same CD if it comes from Wal-Mart as if it came from some pompous highbrow music store.

[JoeGar]

No serious music fan goes to Wal-Mart to buy music.

Music is a commodity to be bought at the best price. If you can buy a download you want from Wal-Mart for 88 cents, why buy from a more expensive site?

[SamAdams76]

I've scanned the CD section at Wal-Mart and the selection is abysmal. Unless you are a big Puff Daddy, Britney Spears or 50 Cent fan. Or a fan of those "Now That's What I Call Music" compilation albums.

On the other hand, you have a point about the pompous music stores although since the rise of iTunes, they've been folding up faster than the corner video store when Blockbuster and DVDs came on the scene.

My favorite place to buy music (before I started buying it predominantly online) was Tower Records because of their massive selection. Their classical music section alone was bigger than most other record stores. Even though the clerk with the nose ring and tattoos was annoying as hell blasting that Blink 182 album. But they are gone now too.

Since 1962, there have been 150,000 albums released on major labels and several times that many released on minor labels. Thus it has become impossible for even the largest record stores to have anything close to a comprehensive collection. Thus browsing the CD racks at Wal-Mart (without wanting to sound pompous myself) is akin to a fine wine collector browsing the wine selection at the local 7-11.

Putting everything online for download is the way to go.

[Caramelgal]

That’s interesting about Radiohead. Sounds a lot like “Shareware”; download the program for free but make a voluntary donation to the independent programmer if you like the product and what to him or her to develop more.

I agree that this is an option I’d be much more interested in than retailer exclusives.

It would have to be one heck of a great CD before I’d venture into a Walmart. I’m not anti-Walmart, I just hate going there.

[AlexW]

“Thus browsing the CD racks at Wal-Mart (without wanting to sound pompous myself) is akin to a fine wine collector browsing the wine selection at the local 7-11.”

Well, of course, I do not go to WalMart looking for music, but if it is advertised that they have something I want then I have no problem.
It is moot with me as I am no longer in the US, and may never come back judging by the direction the US of Hildabeast seems to be going.
But when there, I was in WalMart most every week.

All the big book chains seem to be capturing the music market for hard CDs.
Memphis had a number of music only stores, but if not gone by now, I am sure they soon will be defunct.

[Caramelgal]

Why not? It is the same CD if it comes from Wal-Mart as if it came from some pompous highbrow music store.

I don’t know if it’s still true anymore, but at one time Walmart used to “sanitize” music CD’s - having artists change certain lyrics or even cover art just to meet Walmart’s standards.

I don’t have a problem with Parental Advisory Labels and if a recording artists wants to put out several versions of their songs – “R”, “PG” and “G” versions that’s OK and if a retailer only wants to sell family friendly fare that’s OK by me too, but Walmart has so much muscle as a mega retailer that they seemed to be able to force the edits and I don’t think the consumer always knew that the CD they were buying had been altered from the original. As an adult I want to make that choice.

But my main gripe with Walmart is the lousy selection.

That, and every time I’ve been to any Walmart I fee like I have to shower when I get home – rid myself of the stench of stale popcorn and 300 pound welfare mothers and their unwashed screaming spawn. (And yes, I know, I’m a snob.)

[Caramelgal]

Putting everything online for download is the way to go.

I’ve purchased several music CD’s from Amazon in the last couple of years. I like that I can preview tracks on most of the CD’s and they have a huge selection. There are also reviews and ratings posted by other purchasers and a lot of background on the artists as well as links to other releases by the same or similar artists.

As someone with a very wide and eclectic taste in music that includes classical and jazz, most brick and mortar retailers don’t carry any type of selection in these areas.

They are not the cheapest however and shipping adds to the price, but I’d rather pay a little more and wait a couple of days to get something I’m sure I’m going to like.