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Wal-Mart deal goes highway to hell
The AC/DC Wal-Mart exclusive is about to be thunderstruck as US stores prepare to bring in stock of Black Ice from outside the USA. One independent chain told Undercover News that, “we have been able to order Black Ice in from Argentina for $8.25 per unit and will be able to sell it for less than the Wal-Mart price”. The ease of buying from anywhere in the world makes a farce of the “exclusive deal”. By forcing the real music stores to shop internationally for their stock, SonyBMG America will be the loser in the deal. “We can buy from anywhere,” the store source said. “With technology and international accounts, if a major like SonyBMG America decides they don’t want to do business with us, we will do business with other territories. Why should we allow them to disadvantage our businesses and piss off our customers” And that's very good news. I hate this kind of deals...Just a minute to get my knife...Ok..Die wal-mart DIEEEEEE!!
Highly intelligent post, Sap. I honestly wasn't expecting it. What the record companies do not seem to understand is that everytime they try to control a person's enjoyment of music, up to and including where they buy that music from, it pushes people that much more to find a way to hack the system. Really, the record industry is creating its own rebellion and has been for over a decade now. It's really too bad that Angus and Malcolm are so out of touch with reality, from the relevance that would have come if they had consciously agreed to the Eminem and Beastie Boys samples of their tracks to their idiot dumbfuck agreement to only sell CDs in America through WalMart. Like Metallica, who have mixed their new, somewhat not-bad CD to unlistenable and extremely muddy levels (to find a good mix of it since you've bought the CD anyways, do a search for the Guitar Hero III mix), they do it to themselves. I will be buying a CD, but it will not be through WalMart and the chances that it actually becomes anything other than a museum piece on a shelf wrapped in 50 000-years-to-biodegrade-plastic are very, very slim unless, of course, it becomes a Christmas gift to someone who still uses that ancient and outdated technology. To actually listen to the album, though, I'll keep a digital copy at 320 kbps (hey, I bought the fucking CD! Back off, RIAA!) on my iPod.
PS - Sapator - you should post the link to where you found that article. You have to give credit where credit is due, man...
Well yeah i can be intelligent sometimes :P Anyway the source is on the article itself "Undercover news Australia" And here is the final deal but i highly doubt that other stores will only sell the Vinyl record. That's up to you USA guys to inform us. Anyway the article from Undercover news `The Battle of Black Ice` is over. Stores across America have reached a happy compromise over the exclusive situation with Wal-Mart. Independents outlets will now have the exclusive vinyl release of the new AC/DC album and the `Rock and Roll Train` single. `Black Ice` is without a doubt the most eagerly awaited album on 2008 and who gets what has certainly been a hot topic. Earlier this year, a deal was struck with Wal-Mart for the exclusive release of the album in the United States. Independent stores rallied to dilute the impact with the threat of flooding the market with cheaper, imported goods from South America. Now a compromise has been reached giving the 700 Indie stores across America the exclusive vinyl release of the album as well as a 7” vinyl release of the single ‘Rock and Roll Train’ backed with ‘War Machine’. While America has lost many of the major chains such as Tower, HMV and Virgin in the last couple of years, the owner/operated Indie stores have been thriving because of their product knowledge, customer service and diverse range. The impact and value of the Indie store was felt nationwide this year when, for the first time, the stores combined for Record Store Day, an event held last April that drew national attention. AC/DC’s ‘Black Ice’ will be released in the USA on October 20 and in Australia on October 18. The Black Ice world tour will kick off in Wilkes-Barre, PA on October 28. P.S. America has so many laws on copyrights that in the end you will end up calling RIAA to listen your cd at home. Anyway i'm from the other side of the Atlantic so i don't really care, it's cool here :)
I was at the Exclusive Company a while back and they said that they would have the CD.
Just an observation. Angus and co (well Malcolm and co to be exact) have done a deal with Wal-Mart so that it (wal-mart) will PRE-ORDER 2-3mil copies? So they have been paid in advance. So do you really think they give a rats ass if indies will buy from SONY argentina? It's Sony here Sony there.They get the wal-mart deal even if noone buys the cd's from wal-mart. Ok exclusive, so? They cd's will be bought from other country but from the SONY of each country.The money will flow for AC/DC but wal-mart maybe get screwed...Do you see my point?Who is the dumb and who is the clever here?