> And now you've hit on the real reason why the industry would consider me a
> theif. I do buy most of my CDs used nowadays, both because there have been
> few CDs I felt I *had* to *run out* and buy and because the money's tight.
My
> store didn't used to sell used CDs, now they make up a massive portion of
our
> business.

Last week I had a fairly lengthy conversation with an indie store owner who
owns two stores and has survived for about thirty years. He is surviving
because of used CD sales and other peripheral items (used clothing, DVDs and
videos, etc.) and is so tightly squeezed on the margins he gets on new CDs
that the stores are now about 75% used. He said any greater than the
condensed area of new product than he has now and he's go under. He is a
member of the Independent Record Store Coalition, and this gaggle of indies
(which includes peripherals like Newbury, I believe) does try to pool their
resources and their buying power. But his traffic is what it is because he
sells used CDs for $5 every day (up from once a week).

He told me that the majors and large distributors cater to Best Buy and Wal
Mart for sheer volume, then its a large dropoff. Reminds me of the scary
Clear Channel "sign 'em / book em / record 'em / play 'em / sell 'em"
exclusive closed-loop scenario I talk about too often.

b