From the always invaluable Hits Daily Double:
- AN OPEN LETTER TO DON HENLEY AND THE EAGLES
We in the independent music retail community just heard the bad news that you guys are giving your new DVD/single exclusively to Best Buy for the all important first 30 days of its release.
While we understand the lure of working exclusively with huge corporations and the marketing clout this mega-venture affords your band, this seems like a serious compromise in principles. How is it that you, Don, can rail against the consolidation of power in the radio industry, and amongst large record labels, and at the same time make a conscious decision to stop anyone except the biggest of the big guys from carrying your single/DVD at the time when all of your fans will want it? We respectfully ask, where has your integrity and sense of fairness gone?
Put yourselves in our shoes. We’ve catered to, and helped to build, your fan base for the last 30 years. What do we tell our customers when they ask us for the new Eagles DVD/single? "Sorry, the band says that you can only buy it from very large corporations and we don’t happen to be one of them." And if you are successful with this mega-corporate venture, what does it mean for music as an art form? Will Wal-mart begin to throw their weight around and demand that only THEY be allowed to sell a super-star’s new singles, albums, and DVDs in the future? It appears you are creating that future with this action and the rest of us will suffer for it.
Please reconsider your actions. We implore you not to create a world where only the biggest corporations are allowed to participate in the creative marketplace.
You’ve seen yourself what has happened with radio. Why kill one of the last few remaining human voices in the music business: the voice of the independent music retailer. Please allow us to buy and sell the new Eagles DVD/single upon its release. It is the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
Scott Perkins & Bruce Carlock, Cats Music/Pop Tunes, Nashville, TN
Richard Ellis, Aron's Records, Los Angeles, CA
Ronn Jackson, Benway Records, Venice, CA
Mike White, Glenn Forbes, & Ed Taylor, Boo Boo Records, San Luis Obispo & Grover Beach, CA
Pat O'Connor, Boogie Records, Toledo, OH
Brett Wickard, Bull Moose Music, Portsmouth, ME
Quinn Bishop, Cactus Music & Video, Houston, TX
David Lang, CD World/Streetside Records, South Plainfield, NJ
Dilyn & John Radakovitz, Dimple Records, Sacramento, CA
Eric Levin, Criminal Records, Atlanta, GA
Bernie Hackett, DCCD, Washington, DC
Allan Miller, Disc Exchange, Knoxville, TN
John Timmons, ear X-tacy, Louisville, KY
Keith Covart, Electric Fetus, Minneapolis, MN
Karl Payne, Face the Music, Eugene, OR
Rand Foster, Fingerprints, Long Beach, CA
Joe Nardone, Jr., Gallery Of Sound, Wilkes-Barre, PA
John Huffman, Gem City Records, Dayton, OH
Erik Courson, Good Records, Dallas, TX
Steve Gray, Graywhale CD Exchange, Salt Lake City, UT
Rick Galusha, Homer's Music Stores, Bellevue, NE
Steve Wiley, Hoodlums Music, Tempe, AZ
Jim & Mike McGuinn, Hot Poop, Walla Walla, WA
Judy Negley, Independent Music, Colorado Springs, CO
Jon D. Harvey, Jackpot Records, Portland, OR
Steve Wilson, Kief's Audio and Video, Lawrence, KS
Karl Groeger Jr., Looney Tunes, West Babylon, NY
Lou Russell, Lou's Records, Encinitas, CA
Carl Singmaster, Manifest Disc And Tapes, Columbia, SC
Eric Howarth, M-Theory Music, San Diego, CA
Terry Currier, Music Millennium, Portland, OR
Adam Walker, My Generation, Westlake, OH
Mike Dreese, Newbury Comics, Boston, MA
Govindan Kartha, New World Record, Buffalo, NY
Sandy Bitman, Park Avenue CD, Winter Park, FL
Jim Bland, Plan 9, Richmond, VA
Kevin Stander, Record & Tape Traders, Owings Mills, MD
Alayna Hill-Alderman, Record Archive, Rochester, NY
Michael Bunnell, Record Exchange, Boise, ID
Don Rosenberg, The Record Exchange, Charlotte, NC
Phil Strang, Record Service, Champaigne, IL
Mike Himes, Record Time, Roseville, MI
Chuck Oken Jr., Rhino/Mad Platter, Claremont, CA
Bill O’Keefe, Rock-A-Billys, Detroit, MI
Nancy & Jim Salzer, Salzer's Records, Ventura, CA
Mike Phillips, Schoolkids, Cary, NC
Don Watson, Sounds Like..., Riverside, CA
Paul & Jill Epstein, Twist and Shout, Denver, CO
Lisa Teger-Zhen, Uncle Sam's, Miami Beach, FL
Lee Wolfson, Vinyl Fever, Tallahassee/Tampa, FL
Steve Pick, Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis, MO
Rob Roth, Vintage Vinyl, Fords, NJ
John T. Kunz, Waterloo Records & Tapes, Austin, TX
Michael Crandell, Pure Pop, Burlington, VT
That's a lot of pissed off retailers - does Don, the voice of the music community, care?
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
These bots do occasionally do some good, and reminding us that Don Henley must die is one of the great services they have provided.
Now, where are my Mojo Nixon records?
2 - Tristan
This is really an issue all of us need to help support!
The rise and attempted monopoly of the free market system by the mega-businesses will do nothing beneficial for us- the individual consumer. It is almost like the old-time Soviet Russian State system in the business world.
We in the Western Free-Market Democratic countries must take a stand against the ever-reaching influence these super-corporations are attempting to consolidate and help the "mom & pop businesses" survive and prosper-- or we will end up with spoon-fed items and no diversity and no competition and no FREE MARKETPLACE !!!!
Don Henley: you should be ashamed of yourself! I used to like him but will never buy or listen to any of his music from now on. Let your voices be heard in the marketplace where it counts!!!!
3 - Eric Olsen
I think it's actually the scourge of the solo Henley that must be purged from the ecosystem
4 - Tristan
Makes me think of a new movie to produce:
The Passion of the Don Henley ~~~
and we scourge HIM for being such a talentless SELL-OUT !!!
Yikes! Eric is on target here: he was ok in the Eagles but solo---what a non-entity!
5 - SFC SKI
Where did I put those Mojo Nixon cassettes?
6 - Dave Nalle
It's 2006 - who the hell wants to buy a new CD from the Eagles? They sucked 30 years ago and they'll still suck now.
Dave
7 - Eric Olsen
actually, it's 2005
8 - Rodney Welch
Yeah -- and your post is two years old.
9 - Dave Nalle
May I submit that the Eagles sucked in 2004, continue to suck today and will suck just as much next year in 2006?
Dave
10 - SphinxMontreal
The guy knows his days in the business are numbered. Like a lot of other aging artists, he pimped himself for his retirement nugget.
11 - Eric Olsen
the post could have been written 20 years ago and wouldn't be substantially different - we all agree Don Henley sucks solo. But I disagree about the Eagles - I wouldn't mind seeing them live at all
12 - Rodney Welch
Eric, your article is about a business deal between the Eagles and Best Buy that happened in the summer of 2003. It has nothing to do with Henley as a solo artist.
13 - adam
The richer you get, the easier it becomes to be hypocritical.
14 - Elaine
Actually, Don Henley has done a lot to save Caddo Lake--an incredible biome-- from total ecodisaster. Clearly it hasn't helped his musicianship nor his broader ethical conscience, but he did do, like, that.
15 - DJRadiohead
Well this is great! Now I don't have to help Don save Walden Woods. The money he got from this sweetheart deal ought to more than cover my meager contribution. What a dicksmack.
16 - vince brooks
The fact is that Don Henley is the greatest singer/songwriter that ever lived with or without the eagles and the owner of this stupid blog shows the internet world that he is an idiot.
17 - yankee doodle blondie!
blah blah blah. i hear your mouths yapping, but nothing but ad hominem tu quoques coming out.
melissa barberree, henley advocate, who thinks it's funny that this has been circulating for so long, yet has garnered so few names.
18 - melissa barberree
listen, dumbasses. i work for a fortune 500. i am attempting to get into a Neurosci program. i haven't even TRIED to get names. nor, did i ever say i would.
christ.
19 - RANDY MIESNER
DON HENLEY BLOWS W/OUT THE REST OF THE BAND HE,S TOTALLY GAY
20 - DON HENLEY ROX, THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT
I hate all anti-Don sites. Go die in a hole, creeps!