Ok for starters this is just an idea and it wouldn’t just have to be The Warehouse. I want some ideas because I’m going to go and have a chat with them about setting up a point of sale merchandiser for Un-Signed New Zealand Bands. The merchandiser would include the cds, a cd player/headphones so people can have a listen and display a copy of the artists bio/photos, and up coming gigs/tours etc. What ever you might think of The Warehouse, their purchasing department and head office people are awesome and they are fully into anything New Zealand. I also think there is some money to be made for both parties as you’re cutting out the middle man (distributors) and dealing direct with a retail giant. So what do you think pros and cons? Come on people speak to the fish.
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I thought it'd be a cooler idea to ...
I thought it'd be a cooler idea to develop a package you could offer to independent record stores, but then the advantages of working with a big chain became pretty clear. Most of the smaller record stores already cover a lot of ground anyway, including some underground/unsigned/niche acts. Obviously it'd be easier selling the idea to a chain since they can absorb the cost of implementation without too much trouble. Also, it's that idea of introducing the music to a very large audience that aren't already in a record store - and aren't necessarily clued up on kiwi music.
The biggest issue I've got is that from what I've heard The Warehouse are already seriously undermining other music retailers (including some of the big ones) in NZ by selling CDs as their loss-leader. Moreover, they've never really had any kind of focus on any kiwi artists, signed or unsigned except for the chart stuff, so suddenly introducing info on unsigned bands is quite a leap. And if you remove the point of difference between The Warehouse and independent record stores you might possibly be putting some passionate music buffs out of business. Dunno, I'm probably exaggerating.
Disclaimer: that's just my first gut reaction...I should be working...
I look at the music at the Warehouse ...
I look at the music at the Warehouse quite frequently, and it tends to be the top 40 which is a loss leader - sure they sell a lot of other music very cheaply, but it tends to be music that's had its first run at the market and they've picked it up cheaply. This includes quite a lot of back catalogue kiwi music. The really great thing about the Warehouse is that they take their selection, and it is actually not half bad these days, out beyond the reach of your Sounds and CD Stores. No one was seriously serving the musical needs of the Alexandra's and Te Kuiti's and Taumarunui's of this country and so having the Warehouse come into these towns means that for the very first time, they actually get a halfway decent music store.
If this can be coupled with the suggestion made, to have a unsigned music dispenser, that can only extend the reach of such music. I actually think a solution is much closer to home, however - a site like this one, which already has facilities to allow download of music and provide information about bands, could add retailing of that music to its armoury of services, if only it was involved with a music retailing business. Wait a moment: it is.
It could be really cool to have kiosks ...
It could be really cool to have kiosks similar to the ones I think they're setting up in the states for iPods, where you could select and pay for a bunch of tracks and then get them burnt to a cd, all hey presto like. But I don't know how feasible that is.
I like the idea, but I do wonder what ...
I like the idea, but I do wonder what would be in it for The Warehouse from a financial point of view - I mean, they're used to selling cds by the truckload, not by the dozen.
I guess on the other hand if the Warehouse were to accept it as either a loss leader because when people go in to listen to a Pilot cd they also walk out with half a dozen mugs, a broom and a garden gnome, and/or they could put it under '+ Social Cost' if they were into triple bottom line reporting, which I think they're trying to, it could be viable to them.
triple bottom line reporting? what is ...
triple bottom line reporting?
what is that?
When instead of just profit, a company ...
When instead of just profit, a company examines its social and enviromental costs as well.
If you want to read an old essay I wrote about it for my corporate communication paper (in the form of a book review on Fast Food Nation):
[ external link ]
Triple bottom line reporting is ...
Triple bottom line reporting is generally only taken up by huge energy companies who want to look less evil in their annual reports, IME.
It's basically a PR exercise to establish a certain unquantifiable commitment to communities without having to change your business practices. By keeping your goals general you can keep the reporting equally vague, but then if anyone complains about what you're doing you can say "look we've done all this" and paint your business as eminently reasonable.
If you criticise someone who's reasonable you're obviously a nut bar... Complainants marginalised, your company gets to sail along without looking like the bad guy.
Not that I'm skeptical about this stuff, of course. ;) Great idea, if people are really committed to it.
Well you have to start somewhere. I ...
Well you have to start somewhere. I think people working within the system and implementing things like TBL can have a much greater effect than people sitting around bitching endlessly about the capitalist regime anyway!
//I think people working within the ...
//I think people working within the system and implementing things like TBL can have a much greater effect than people sitting around bitching endlessly about the capitalist regime anyway!
...at least, that's what you tell yourself, when you wake in a cold sweat, alone in the moonlight, shaking from your oh-too-real nightmares, knowing full well, it's only a matter of time before you must stop lying to yourself...before you can no longer hide the cold dead bitter truth...that you've sold out to The Man..
Yeah, true. I did mean it when I said ...
Yeah, true. I did mean it when I said it's a good idea. I just think it is important to stress that with PR being such an utterly pervasive philosophy it's easy for companies to put up a pretense of commitment to it. "Perception is reality" and that kind of crap... well, falsehoods.
//that you've sold out to The Man.. ...
//that you've sold out to The Man..
No no, I SELL to The Man.
Wouldn't there also be lots of costs ...
Wouldn't there also be lots of costs involved before the CD's actually get to the shelf as well? like recording something quality, putting together packaging etc. I always thought one of the bigger barriers to unsigned bands was money, (or they sucked), or is it more about distribution?
In saying that though, if it did make it to the shelves, I'd go and see if there were anything I liked.
And it'd be good to have the option of just buying the CD on it's own rather than the package.
If its gonna take someone to organise ...
If its gonna take someone to organise this, make sure the product is available bla bla bla then your'e really acting as a distributor aren't you, presumeably there would have to be some money in it for whoever is putting it together. Also as it's all unsigned bands it would quickly become quite a complicated exersise sorting out the payments side of things - ie. who collects and distributes the revenue - do you have a good model for how this would work? Not intending to pour cold water on the idea just adding some food for thought.
The warehouse backing unsigned and/or ...
The warehouse backing unsigned and/or independant label bands is the best thing since sliced bread - go stephen tindall.