The Null Device

EMI to independent record shops: screw you

Struggling major record label EMI (you know, the one whom a venture-capital firm bought out a few years ago) has come up with another plan for snatching defeat from the jaws of slightly more prolonged defeat: to cut costs, they are now going to distribute records only to big "one-stop" retailers like Wal-Mart. Independent stores wanting to carry EMI-signed artists (like, say, Sigur Rós or M83) will now have to send someone down to Wal-Mart to pick the records up at the retail price. Of course, anyone wanting non-current back-catalogue material not likely to be found on the shelves of a big-box retailer is out of luck. Way to go, EMI.

There are 4 comments on "EMI to independent record shops: screw you":

Posted by: Peter Hollo http:/www.frogworth.com/utilityfog/ Fri Jul 31 02:10:32 2009

I thought this was probably a bit of a beat-up, and it is. It's still <i>slightly</i> outrageous but here's what Cheap Thrills, an awesome indie record store in Montreal, says in the comments: <br>this really isn’t such a big deal. First of all “One Stops” DOES NOT mean Wal-mart and Best Buy. A one stop is a distributor that buys from the labels and sells to retailers. Most indie stores get their product from one stops anyway. Some labels do sell directly to larger indie stores that have a large volume, but this, and only this, is what EMI is halting. I should know, as I am an indie retailer. We have always used a one stop distributor, and will continue to do so. And F*CK Wal-mart!

Posted by: Peter Hollo http:/www.frogworth.com/utilityfog/ Fri Jul 31 02:11:16 2009

ARGH. Your markup stripping makes any kind of detailed commenting horrible! :(

Posted by: Bowie Fri Jul 31 05:40:07 2009

It's not completely fair to call EMI "struggling" as in the last financial year they made a lot of money, primarily due to the massive changes and cost cutting brought about by the new owners. [http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/17908.cfm]

That said, many of the cuts they've made will lose their money in the future (dropping artists, artists leaving).

I also don't know how well they're doing this year.

Posted by: Greg Sun Aug 9 03:38:21 2009

Radiohead should cover the Sex Pistols song "EMI" for their next web release