You have to give Garth Brooks credit for boldness. He has now signed on with Wal-Mart as an exclusive artist. As the owner of all his own masters, he will soon be available only at Wal-Mart stores and their online shop. They expect to start with some kind of box set in time for Christmas. Capitol can sell the stock they had made before Brooks signed his deal in June, and that'll be it.
This is a pretty big deal. Artists occassionally have a temporary exclusive for a big retailer, or maybe a side project, an exclusive video maybe. But a major recording artist signing up to have all their music available only through one retailer is unprecedented. What kind of ramifications will this have for the music industry?
For one thing, Billboard notes that under their standards, releases not available to all retailers are not even eligible for the main Billboard 200 album chart. But how credible will that chart be if it doesn't reflect the sales of perhaps tens of millions of Garth albums? What if other artists follow suit with similar exclusive deals through K-Mart or Best Buy?
Not many rock singers would be likely to consider such a deal just on general grounds of fearing a label such as "corporate whore" or "tool." Of course, Garth Brooks starts out so far into that territory that it makes no difference. The red state dominated audiences of a lot of country acts likely wouldn't attach any such stigma. That represents a pretty big chunk of business right there that could be spinning out in a new direction.
This sure doesn't seem like a good time to start a record store. This exclusive deal idea could easily be really tough for any kind of record store competitors. Wal-Mart cuts out all the record companies and rack jobbers and everything. Plus, they might well find it strategically useful to treat Garth as something of a loss leader, a lure to get customers into their stores even if they don't necessarily make much on his albums per se. But then those margins won't matter to independent retailers, since they won't be able to get the album at all. Maybe the local mom and pop record shop can send someone over to buy some Garth albums from Sam's Club for resale.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tan The Man
I love the guy, I don't love Wal-Mart.
2 - Randy P/Tube Pinoy
Well written article, Al B.Unfortunately, Garth is not my cup of tea especially his stance against used CD's in the 90's. I am neither red or blue so I believe the corporate whore tag would apply. But, I'd probably do the same thing.
3 - Al Barger
Well, this business move strikes me as more interesting than any of his actual music.
4 - Cerulean
This just looks sinister and wrong.
5 - Dave Nalle
I can wait forever for a new Garth Brooks CD. Maybe even longer. He belongs at WalMart - it's where his fan base shops.
Dave
6 - Al Barger
Cerulean, could you please elaborate? In what way would you say that this deal is "sinister"?
7 - BRICKLAYER
Any word on who Chris Gaines signed with?
8 - grumpca
Garth Who? As the owner of a mom and pop CD store I can't remember the last time someone actually bought one of this discs new or used. Somebody stick a fork in him cause he's done. Still this kind of exclusive deal is bad for the industry that made Garth a multi millionaire and it's bad for his fans. If it wasn't for the big evil empire of EMI spending millions promoting and selling his discs, he'd be pumping gas in whatever hick village he comes from. As far as I'm concerend Mr. Ego can crawl back into his cave and dissapear. His lack of integrity has been evident at every stage of his career and it follows him into obscurity. I will not stock any of Garth's noise in my store and will encourage anyone and everyone to download it and copy it and share it with anyone who is willing to tollerate it.
9 - Silas Kain
Brings new meaning to Friends in Low Places.
10 - Al Barger
Make that "Friends in Low Priced Places."
11 - Tan The Man
Good one...
12 - Al Barger
Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. I'll be here all week.
13 - allie
Hey to all of you Garth Brooks "haters". Get over it! He is amazing I got to meet him on Friday and he is the nicest person I have ever met! Be happy for people that have worked hard to get where they are, dont always be putting them down out of jealousy!
14 - Allie
To whoever Grumpca is, GROW UP! I can tell by the message that you wrote you have NO class! He is an unbelievable person! I met him and he is the most respectful man i have ever met! I dont think your message is going to make a big impact on his record selling since he is the 3rd biggest! And as you, being a cd saler, or whatever you wanna call yourself, you can just quit putting people who have made it further in the world than you, down! Thank you! Hope you have a nice day saling CD's!
15 - Al Barger
No Allie, I don't put Garth down out of jealousy, but only because his music sucks so horribly bad while being so omnipresent. He is, as Kinky Friedman puts it, the anti-Hank.
On the other hand, I'm sure he's a fine fellow and a great daddy. I bet he'd be a fine neighbor- so long as he didn't play guitar and sing in the back yard where you'd have to hear it. So long as he kept his playing confined to Wal-Mart parking lots, we'd probably get along just great.
16 - Allie
Hey I wasnt neccessarily talking ab you! And I really like his music! a song was actually played at my grandmother's funeral whom I was very close to.
17 - Al Barger
Allie, if ol' Garth does it for you, knock yourself out. I'm guessing that you might look at me funny to hear some of what I dig on.
18 - Allie
Thanx! Dont worry I do! I am just a small town oklahoma girl who loves country music and HATES criticism probably because that is what our town thrives on it's ridiculous!
19 - josh
No matter what anyone says Garth Rules!
He also has a new song out and a new album to come.
20 - Sandy
FOR ALL YOU GARTH BROOKS SMARSHERS AND CRIDICS OUT THERE YOU OUGHT TO RELLY KNOW THE MAN YOU ARE SMASHING. WE'D BE SO LUCKY IF THERE WERE MORE OUT THERE LIKE HIM! HE HAS A HEART AS BIG AS A MOUNTAIN AND MADE OF PURE GOLD. HOW MANY OF YOU WOULD SET YOUR CAREER ASIDE WHEN RIDING THE WAVE HE WAS RIDING JUST TO SPEND TIME WITH YOUR FAMILIES? IF WE ALL THOUGHT LIKE GARTH DOES THE WORLD MAY BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE.
I CAN HARDLY WAIT UNTIL 2014 WHEN HE COMES BACK INTO OUR LIVES AGAIN!!
21 - allie
Hey its allie again! and I agree completely with you josh! And Sandy why is it 2014?
22 - tom jeffers
he is the man if you do not like that e-mail me
23 - Al Barger
Monsieur Jeffers, it's OK if you for some inexplicable reason like Garth Brooks records. But perhaps you might reach out sometime and try, say, a Merle Haggard album, or perhaps some Little Jimmy Dickens or something.
24 - Al Barger
This is cute. "Tom Jeffers" manfully suggests that one should email him if they disagree with his high assessment of Garth- then he puts no email addy in the form.
By the way all, note that we're note displaying the emails on the page. The server emails the comments to the author- me in this case.
25 - gypsyman
The anti-Hank is rising, the end is nigh!