Did you read the AIMS "rant" this week? You should.

This week, our "rant" comes courtesy of CIMS' Executive Director, Michael Bunnell.

The chart is also attached.

To wit:

"After almost one year of the CIMS charts being hosted by Jim Fahy, I thought it might be time to add my voice to the
mix. My perspective comes from running my own store (The Record Exchange, Boise, Idaho) for 32 years and from my nearly 15-year involvement with CIMS as a member, committee and board member and now as the executive director. You'll continue to hear from Jim some weeks and from me others.

We're seeing an alarming trend creeping into the weekly pattern of our business and no one seems to be willing to do
anything about it. The issue is street date violations. In the past few weeks I have received reports of numerous
violations, many of which have been reported to the labels, but to no avail. The result of these violations is a
situation where one store's behavior results in several store's jumping street just to stay competitive, creating a
chaotic marketplace where no one wins. Street date is the great leveler and is one of the last vestiges of a truly fair
retail environment. It's bad enough that brick and mortar retailers have had to endure digital street dates in advance
of physical dates, a practice that has worked out well for a select few online retailers, but one that I believe has
hurt the industry as a whole. We all know the music business is in a state of flux but physical street dates should not
be abandoned--if we now turn our back on the practice we risk isolating power in the hands of the few. I believe we
should treat violations seriously. I also believe we should celebrate street dates as a powerful marketing tool and not
allow the concept to disintegrate.

Thanks,

Michael Bunnell"

The CIMS 200:

VINYL!!!!!!!!