Like they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Brick and mortar music retailers out there are reacting to the drop in CD sales with some wild ideas. But, with figures indicating an additional 7% drop in sales last year to add to the five year slide, we can't blame them for wanting to stop the bleeding. Even more alarming, they also see a 30% increase in digitally downloaded music. Yikes!
So what
to do? Well, Musicland and soon Tower Records are trying (stealing) the same model as Starbucks is testing. They intend to begin setting up CD burning stations in select stores. Just like at the coffee giants shops, you can design and burn compilation Cd's whilst you sip your extremely expensive cup of Joe. Actually, this is kind of convenient or amusing I suppose, especially if your bored. Odds are, if you are not on your way to work and stop in to grab a quick cup, yet you are at a Starbucks, you're bored silly.
However, Starbucks has made quite a name for themselves in music distribution lately. With hit Cd's like the Ray Charles, "Genius Loves Company" that was way up in the Top Ten at Billboard. But, they are clever and they offer music that matches their demographic. Plus, they already have you as a customer with their main product, if you burn a disc, this is just icing on the roll. How c an these record stores pull off the same trick? They sure don't have any coffee and apparently, they don't even know how to make it.
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'I'd love to be a partner with Starbucks. ... I'd love to get their coffees in our stores," said Rob Willey, senior vice president of corporate development for Musicland stores. The Minneapolis-based chain, which includes Sam Goody and Suncoast stores, is meanwhile testing its own touch-screen CD burning stations. Willey said more than 20 stores will get new stations by the end of the year. The cost is a hefty $25,000 each. The systems are so expensive in part because of record labels' copyright protections, and quality-control restrictions about how the music is stored and burned. Most labels require super-premium blank CDs, which can cost more than five times the price of a basic blank disc. The process could easily be done with cheaper materials. Such costs have prevented the systems from being instantly profitable and widely adopted. But Willey and other retail executives hope labels will loosen their restrictions so that CD burning can spread. |
Imagine if the music stores were able to entice Starbucks to locate within their shops, only to see them set up their own CD burning Kiosks, further undermining Musicland sales! In additional Musicland think tank sessions, there is some thought being given to doing away with the burners and allowing the music to be downloaded to MP3 players instead. Good luck with that one!
Frankly, it's difficult to imagine why anyone would wish to travel to a music store to do something they can do in their own homes. At least at Starbucks, the coffee is there to drink and you might even get a little hyper after you down a triple shot latte with 2 pumps of chocolate.
Analysts agree, they feel there are just too many hoops to jump through, siting that there are "still too many issues that have got to be solved from an industry perspective, to bring together standards where customers can easily access content". They also predict that the process would have to be "fun" to get people to partake in such a service.
Source: Cantonrep
