10.24.07 - DEATH OF CHAINS; FACEBOOK PIXWhat the hell? Tons to bitch about. Multiple versions of the same records everywhere. Customers who still demand physical goods are getting very confused. Labels are stressed out. Retailers wondering if the Amazon/Best Buy/Target price wars will finish us all off before anything else.
Now comes the news that the big boxes are telling folks that they are either discontinuing catalog or cutting inventory by 20% or more come 2008! Imagine that. I remember well the killing off of those great regional chains.
In the south we had Record Bar, Turtles, Peaches and the like. Then the labels got fat feeding rapidly expanding square footage at stores that were, well, not record stores. These guys introduced price wars and drove many great regional guys to sell or close. Many indies felt the pain of that time and that is when CIMS came together. Many indies went out of business.
Here it is, a short 12 years later. Now the customer has the upper hand. They have options they did not have 12 years ago including free if they desire. Now that the big retailers have killed off most of the competition and the customer is in control, they are letting everyone know they are tired of playing. Surprise, surprise.
Next week, I will write about what our guys are doing to super serve their customers and thrive amongst the chaos.
Read about it here. Holy Jeebus.
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/10/how-much-will-t.html
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On a more pleasant note, I have some more pictures posted for those of you who want to screw off for a few minutes.
First set: Allman Brothers Band from 1972 and September 2007. There is a short story there also:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9424&l=42196&id=501042772
Second set: An all consuming hobby for me is street photography. This is a September set taken running between meetings in NYC. You have to be careful in NYC cause they will kick your ass if you do this wrong:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9352&l=cc0a7&id=501042772