January 30, 2007

I checked my Blackberry to find that iTunes has an exclusive with the Decemberists. It is an in store recorded at the swank (with all due respect) Soho location a few months ago. Now, this is a band that has LIVED at indie retail forever. Even at Capitol, we have made a very important contribution to the sales of The Crane's Wife. Our Capitol folks have been very supportive. We have been pounding the Decemberist's management and label for the same type of cool product for the past two years. I even cornered the lead singer, at LaGuardia for a few hours to explain our game. Guess what? Seems EMI UK has this policy that exclusive content only can be granted as DIGITAL content. Oh, I see. It is easier to deal with the retailers who are paying a small increment of your income instead of the retailers who are paying the bulk. It is also amazing that you would grant exclusive content to the very channel that is NOT replacing your lost income dollar for dollar. Keystone Cops indeed.

On the digital side, we fully intend to sell music. However, we have watched one idea after another throw tons of money at the concept with only one winner -- Apple. We are only interested in launching a digital service that is DRM free. Hopefully we will get on the map in the coming year with our ideas. One thing is for sure; we have amazing brands in many parts of the country. Trusted brands that will continue to be a filter for fans of music. Even though the Internet is world wide, we find that many people are using it locally. I hear constantly from owners who report amazing response to their email blasts about what is happening in the stores and from customers who actually check stock levels online before driving to their favorite music emporium.