AC/DC Invades Wal-Mart Nation

With traditional brick and mortar music retailers going out of business and big box stores reducing the space slated for CDs, some artists are looking for exclusive deals to push their product. AC/DC and Wal-Mart have teamed up to create a store-within-a-store for their new album Black Ice, which the Arkansas based retail giant will sell exclusively. The Eagles were the last band to try to Wal-Mart only option with Long Road Out Of Eden, 2007's 5th best selling album (3.1 million copies). The Eagles, however, didn't have Rock Band. AC/DC's in store promotion include their back catalog albums on sale, DVDs, t-shirts, as well as the popular rock n roll video game.

Say what you will about Wal-Mart, but they have gotten retail down to a science. Hurricane coming? Stock stores with more board games and snack foods. After the hurricane has come and gone? Beer. For a music industry in decline, the exclusive deals with retailers might be the best option. Best Buy has recently announced it will be the only store to carry Guns N' Rose's Chinese Democracy and depending how both it and Black Ice sell could signal a shift in the way music is marketed and sold. Of course, you could always just pull a Madonna and try to generate interest in your failing album by getting a high profile divorce.

Wal-Mart and AC/DC Agree: Money Talks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does Wal*Mart sell that one AC/DC guy's shorts?

vicm said...

It seems like selling exclusively through just one store isn't the smartest idea but I guess that if you're going to do it only through one store, Wal-Mart is the way to go. It makes the release much more of an "event".

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