Best Buy - Cheap ass cds - but is there a catch?

Bingo.

Best Buy considers CDs as a draw to get people in to purchase big ticket items. They don't care about making money on them, they care about you buying the stereo/big screen TV/etc. at the same time. They want to get you in the store so you'll be tempted.

are the record companies lowering their prices because of all the downloading and people not buying enough cds?

Only one of them. Its just that Best Buy doesn't make its money from CDs, nor do they care to. They can afford to not make much.

Record companies have very little to do with any of this.

this marketing strategy is called "loss-leading", a borrowed concept from low-margin grocery stores.

I would also add to Jeanne Fury that you can get good deals on CDs from plenty of stores (even chains) that aren't a tenth as evil as Best Buy. So going there with any regularity is just lazy...

BestBuy has driven a lot of mom-n-pops out of business. This was a lot more pronounced, and more of an issue, back in like 1993/94 when they were really getting traction in the market. They also had a really aggressive buyer at HQ who was stocking a very extensive (for a mass retailer) list of titles.

The Internet has been a deal killer for a lot of independent stores, however, and continues to threaten. Hardly anyone does special order stuff, which used to be a boon for indies. And BestBuy continues to offer free shipping much of the time for web orders, which really makes it hard to compete.

The only catch to buying cheaper CDs is your conscience.

Nobody should. Vinyl is a shit format.

>The only catch to buying cheaper CDs is your conscience.

Great! I'm all set then.

our best indie store
gets what it gets and that's it.*
that's the way it goes.

and yeah indie stores
have 'world' sections: some brazil,
baobab--that's it.

mexican music
(por ejemplo) isn't 'world'--
circuit city ROOLZ

*love it dearly but that's the truth

As Bart Simpson would say, "the ironing is delicious."

(This is all in theory anyway since I no longer have disposable income; when I did have DI, I gave plenty of it to Newbury Comics/CD Spins/Second Coming Records/Nuggets/In Your Ear/etc.)

I wouldn't go that far. I realize you're not saying *completely* no overlap, but said fave local indie I've mentioned has some rather than just a random example.

For which service, they've created an expense account just for you.

It's nice to help out the little guy, but it's a little altruistic for me. I mean, why should I spend more of my money than necessary just so he can profit more?

"The little guy" isn't twisting your arm to buy, but he DOES have to compete somewhat. He's walking a tightrope (with price) as it is: too low, and he'll believe he's giving CDs away; too high, and those loyal customers will sod off to the chains and their "Buy x for $10 (or $20) sales.

And I am, actually, altruistic enough to support the places I like from time to time, even if it costs me a lotta more. Part of me is still 10 years old and running to the store with my money that I've made mowing lawns to look at every title in the store and hold it and smell the smell of vinyl.

I'm probably more noting the fact that this shopping scenario is changing rapidly and I personally think it's going to change for the betterment of consumers, musicians, and labels. It doesn't look as good for the independent retailers, as far as what the future is offering ten years down the road.

You are exactly right Stewart that selling the Outkast album for $10.99 is a way of ensuring it will be #1 on the charts. The record labels are ecstatic that Best Buy is doing this and it has been phenomenally successful in entrenching new releases to give them buzz.

This basically is a strategy the labels are picking off from the major film studios, where the first week of release is key to marketing support the rest of the way out. A bad first week for an album priced at $8.99 can spell doom in the long run as far as marketing dollars from the label.

http://www.walmart.com/a/lks/wm300x250.gif

(Admittedly, this argument held more water three or four years ago. I just can't believe what a downturn the HMV catalog has taken, and most of it is actually a result of all the horribly wrong decisions they've made in the last few years, and hardly a result at all of any perceived competition, but still...)

so i was at best buy today and i noticed that they're selling these CDs for $7.99 that are like greatest hits albums i guess except they are only 6 songs. just in scanning the racks for stuff i wanted i noticed t.i., weezer and nelly. the t.i. one was like "rubberband man", "ASAP", "top back" and i guess 3 others and there were like 20 copies there. dunno, it was weird. im gonna look on their web site now

Yeah, they've been doing those a lot recently. They've also dropped prices on "catalog" stuff.. like most of the old Steely Dan, Elton John albums for $7.99. They have this horrific green sticker on them.

i guess it's not just best buy but this is the T.I. King of Oneself EP

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9018822&st=t.i.&lp=5&type=product&cp=1&id=1914251

track listing

Track Listing:

01 - Rubberband Man (Prod. By Lavell "DB" Crump) 04:34
02 - U Don't Know Me (Prod. By DJ Toomp) 04:02
03 - 24's (Prod. By DJ Toomp) 04:42
04 - Ride Wit Me (Prod. By Keith Mack) 04:04
05 - ASAP (Prod. By Sanchez Holmes) 04:43
06 - Top Back (Prod. By Mannie Fresh) 04:40

so in summation, major labels are retarded at swindling ppl out of their money

I think those "hits" eps were exclusives Best Buy initially commissioned for Black Friday last year. Either they didn't move all the stock or it was successful enough that the program is still rolling.

Best Buy has been banned permanently

by who?

damn I was just starting to like him. ask for jason!

― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, September 23, 2003 9:52 AM (6 years ago)

!!!!

^^^OP btw^^^

ahh there was a user with that name, i get it now

Best Buy stores near me have shrunk their cd inventory. Space that used to go to Latin, jazz, country and rap, & pop now goes to blue-ray dvds and such. Was looking for last minute Chanukah gifts (it starts Wednesday night which means too late to buy online).

yup, CD space has shrunk at my locally convenient Best Buy too

in reference to the original thread question: i shop indie 90% of the time, and i prefer to buy new releases at indie stores, and will even do so for a slightly higher price. but i can't stand, for lack of a better term, the price gouging that happens for top 40 artists at indie shops. recent examples: taylor swift, best buy $7.99, while two local indie stores (which shall go unnamed) marked it at $14.99 and $15.99 on release day. i might have paid $9.99 or $10.99 at an indie, but double the price is insane.

earlier this year i checked the price on the new kelis album, release day, at an indie shop. there's a sticker across the top of the CD that says "MSRP $10.00" (these are becoming increasingly common in 2010); the indie store marked it at $12.99, a few bucks over suggested MSRP. needless to say, i bought at best buy for $7.99.

this doesn't happen for more indie-leaning albums at all; usually they will be $9.99-$11.99 at best buy (if they're even stocked) as well as the indie shops

in reference to the original thread question: i shop indie 90% of the time, and i prefer to buy new releases at indie stores, and will even do so for a slightly higher price. but i can't stand, for lack of a better term, the price gouging that happens for top 40 artists at indie shops. recent examples: taylor swift, best buy $7.99, while two local indie stores (which shall go unnamed) marked it at $14.99 and $15.99 on release day. i might have paid $9.99 or $10.99 at an indie, but double the price is insane.

I think you need to study up on the difference between "price gouging" and "loss leader" so you can correctly place the blame on the price delta here that is causing you such distress.

I've always noticed that mainstream top 40 type stuff is WAY more expensive at indie shops. Maybe this shows that my "politics" or whatever are way out of line, but my general rule is that is its Drag City or Mego or whatever, I'll either buy it from a local indie shop or direct from the label, but if were talking Sony or Warners I have no problem getting it cheaper at a big chain.

Of course there is a lot of gray area in between those two extremes that muddy up the waters significantly, but I was keeping it simple for this discussion's sake.

It'll be a moot point soon. Once CDs stop being effective loss leaders, which is happening now, Best Buy won't sell them anymore.

Nuts thinking the future holds Best Buy as being an exclusively electronics store. 3/4 of the space is just cds and xbox games alone.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/best-buy-cut-cds-dvds-as-google-apple-prep-for-mus/19635476/

kelpolaris can you plz tell the ppl of yr time to stop 9/11 cuz here in 2010 cds get about as much floorspace as books and slightly less than vacuums.

I didn't mean CD's solely, I meant digital media as a whole = as in, anything with cover-art.

also do you ppl actually think best buy pays as much as indie stores for major label releases? or needs to make any direct profit from selling them? hint: if store a can buy a cd for $9 and sustain its business model by turning around and selling it for $9 (or even $8) and store b pays $12 for the same cd and can't sustain its business model w/o actually marking it up before selling it to the public guess which store will have that cd cheaper. when i worked at an indie record store there was very little new major label stuff we even bothered to stock. loving that this is another fucked business plan biting the majors in the ass.

Best Buy wrote this on thread White musicians and "artistic" use of the N-word: A Discussion and Social History on board I Love Music on Jun 24, 2010

Hi everyone. Come in and pick up the new deluxe vinyl LP edition of Metallica's classic album "Load". If it's not in the store, I can special order it for you. Stop by and ask for Jason.

today I walked in to pick up a cd I'd bought using in-store pickup (which I usually just do for cds under 9.99, to guarantee my trip to the store won't be a waste). I do it like normal, and she puts the items in a bag in the back before I even see them, so it's not until I'm outside that I noticed that there were two items in there, including one cd I'd originally bought using in-store pickup but had the order cancelled late last week. Apparently nobody put it away after the cancellation and the employee didn't notice the order only included one item.

I went back inside and put it back on the shelf, but man, they care so little about CDs at the moment that they almost give these things away for free on accident now.

I'm proud to say I haven't bought music from a big box in at least 6 or 7 years. Looked for Dylan's Whitmark Demos when i was in Best Buy for something else (had a Caviar Black HD for less $$ than Newegg) but it was sold out (??? - week after release and no additional signage ???). Ended up getting from one of the regular online suspects.

Of course, some of the online sites are little better than big box stores, but my town is plumb out of indie record stores - gotta go at least 70 miles to find anything true.

Yeah Best Buy long ago gave up on any additional signage for new releases that aren't like Lady Gaga/Bieber levels of popular. Also, you really have to hit it the week of release, otherwise they jack up to the ridiculous regular price.

From MSN Money earlier this week, noting their fast-falling stock value:

"Who buys CDs and DVDs at Best Buy (or anywhere) anymore, now that it's much more convenient to download them or to watch or listen online?"

"There's no question that a lot of Best Buy's business is shifting to online retailers. Internet delivery of music and video is hurting Best Buy CD and DVD sales, which used to drive a lot of traffic into its huge stores, points out Stephan Hoch, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Entertainment-related revenue plummeted 13% last year at Best Buy."

yea I worked there 7 years ago, in media, I remember how big the new release days were, and how we put a lot of work into the Tuesday morning displays...but always got the same speech of trying to sell each customer music storage equipment and/or a napster subscription w/ each sale. it was kinda ridiculous. no dude who walked in to buy the new D-12 and probably only had money to buy that was gonna plunk down any more money.

their inventory is so small right now in the stores it's only a matter of time before they phase it out imo.