<<In a message dated 11/4/2003 3:02:10 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
  Yeah, that's very true and is a good point.  Although, In my mind, I HAD
paid attention to what I bought but the CD was a scam in the first place.
It even took him a long time to find the "disclaimer" regarding it being a
new versions of the songs. Granted, it's presentation is not really his
issue.
   What really irked me more then anything (and I didn't make clear) was his
attitude.  I won't belabor this, but a "sorry for any inconvenience" goes a
long way with me rather then being schmoozed in a condescending manner.  You
had to be there I guess. >>
No, you're exactly right (we actually make it a POINT to tell people 
beforehand if we know a product is substandard or if it contains "imitations" like 
what you're describing), and being polite about it is a key issue. I just suffer 
from knowing too many of the ins and outs of this very specific job and 
dealing with lots of people who just want to return a CD for little to no reason at 
all. For the record I would actually always allow a return in the type of 
instance that you're describing...

So in other retail news, and since I haven't seen it mentioned yet, has 
anyone heard about the new Rolling Stones scandal? Mick and co have decided to sell 
their upcoming 4DVD live document EXCLUSIVELY through Best Buy, and 
independent retailers (such as my own) are deciding to fight back. When the Eagles did 
this a few months ago, there were some repercussions--such as prohibitively 
expensive pricing on their entire catalog--but for this many indies are actually 
united and pulling out all the stops. Many CIMS merchants (which we are not, 
we're too big) and related retailers have pulled a *substantial* amount of 
Rolling Stones CDs and merchandise from the shelves and returned it to their 
distributors; in much of Canada indie retailers have stopped selling RS CDs 
entirely. At my store (which is a large indie--the biggest indie in the USA) we've 
pulled all but the most essential RS titles--the greatest hits comps, the 
acknowledged classic albums (Beggars Banquet, Exile), and we've priced what we kept 
at astronomical rates--in many cases they go for $20, which is much higher 
than our standard $12-$16. In addition nearly all Rolling Stones merch--shirts, 
bobbleheads, posters, calendars, etc., is being discontinued indefinitely.

What does everyone think? There are clearly two schools of thought here--one 
is that the retailer is shooting itself in the foot and hurting no one other 
than the consumer, and the other is that such a bold move NEEDS to occur to 
stop this bizarre and damaging new marketing technique before it rages out of 
control. It is VERY dangerous when the biggest acts align so closely with the 
biggest retailers, and if it continues then the biggest merchants--Wal-Mart and 
Best Buy in particular--will wind up having a corner on all "popular" music and 
courting them will be necessary for all top-tier acts.

I believe the official CIMS party line is something like "We're sorry, but 
the Rolling Stones have decided to sell their music exclusively through large 
multi-national retail chains and not through locally owned merchants"  --J