AC/DC goes Wal-Mart exclusive

There's gonna be some rockin', but not at your favorite mom-and-pops vinyl depository this time. Remember the thrill of strolling into your local record store, browsing through the classics, and finding an awesome vintage LP, like, say, AC/DC's Back In Black? Well, you can still do that, but you'd better not get your hopes up for future releases from the Australian rockers. Turns out they've inked a deal with retail leviathan Wal-Mart to sell their albums exclusively through the Sam Walton consortium, joining the ranks of artists like The Eagles, Garth Brooks and Journey.

The still-untitled forthcoming album will be the band's first since 2000's oft-maligned Stiff Upper Lip. The new LP isn't due to be released until this fall, which raises interesting questions about why AC/DC chose to seal a distribution plan this early. Actually, it doesn't raise questions so much as answer them: in the words of the sagacious Sean Combs, "It's all about the benjamins, baby."

This is bad news for independent record stores, since it basically assures that there won't be a vinyl release of the album. A move like this is most advantageous for the artist, who gets a giant sack of cash up front, and the retailer, who will pull more people into its stores. In a sense, though, it's a Faustian bargain since bands usually sell less records when they do exclusivity deals. Then again, for an act of AC/DC's size, perhaps this is a moot point. Only time will tell.

Related links:
News: Indie retailers to celebrate record store day on April 19th
ACDC.com
NYTimes: The Graying of the Record Store

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