Greg -- thanks for checking out my piece on Best Buy and the music industry. (The basic premise is that the big distributors are kowtowing to Best Buy and their sell-under-cost ilk at the expense of real record stores -- chains and mom-and-pops -- and in so doing are not just killing record stores, but also killing off the culture of the record buying experience, which will cut into the future markets -- downloading makes young consumers view music as valueless -- and the loss of record stores further marginalizes the value as it takes away part of the music fan experience). I agree with Greg to the extent that The Thorns may help Matthew Sweet. But selling it at $7.99 still does damage to record stores who can't compete with that prices. So yes and no... Mike Bennett Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com >From: "Greg York" >Reply-To: audities@smoe.org >To: audities@smoe.org >Subject: Re: The Thorns >Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 09:13:26 -0500 > >Mike Bennett's article at fufkin.com does a good job of detailing the evils >of Best Buy, in particular the practice of pushing major label releases out >the door at below cost. > >So I see this week they are offering The Thorns for $7.99. > >Is this practice less offensive when it has the potential to bring exposure >to the kind of music we enjoy talking about here? Admittedly, The Thorns >is a little MOR, but if it is a modestly sucessful seller, could this >result in the domestic release of Sweet's Kimi Ga Suki (which today would >cost me $32 to own...)? > >I seldom shop Best Buy, but I can't help but think this has the potential >to benefit us all, including our favorite online retailers. > >greg > >_________________________________________________________________ >Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus