p2pnet - rss feed: Cash and Burn retail sales
p2p news / p2pnet:- “What I’d like to see happen is this: in X number of years, you’ll go into a record store, choose high fidelity song tracks you want from the bands you want, burn them onto a disc, pay at the counter according to the number of tunes you’ve selected, and that’ll be that. Artwork will be a separate thing and you’ll mix your own covers, choosing from samples associated with the bands you like. And you’ll automatically get an mp3 of each track that you’ve bought.”
That quote came in our story on a band called The Sun who’ve decided the Net is the place to be.
H-Fi, or even low-fi mp3, burns may be a way off yet, but the owners of a store in New Jersey thought downloads may have been responsible for a drop-off in trade. So they’ve come up with an unusual idea that brings offline retail sales a little closer to the concept of p2p: Share It.
Brothers Jeff and Gary Scotti, co-owners of Scotti’s Record Shops, “didn’t want to simply ignore the changes digital music was bringing to their business, says the Wall Street Journal, going on:
“So, earlier this year, the four-store chain announced its new ‘Buy It, Burn It, Return It’ policy. Customers can buy a used or new CD, take it home, listen and, if they want, burn a copy to a computer. Within 10 days, they can return the CD for 70% store credit.”
Their best customers are in the 30 to 50 age range but, “A kid could grow up now and never set foot inside a record store,” says Jeff is quoted as saying. “We want them to think record stores are cool places” not only to buy a track or two at a time, “but to listen to new artists and albums, tune in to popular culture and hang out with friends”.
However, says the WSJ, the scheme may have to be revised “for legal reasons”. Jeff Scotti says he and his brother are now discussing their policy with RIAA.
Meanwhile, “In the next few months, the Scottis are planning to upgrade their Web site and in-store technology to allow online and on-site downloading and to sell music for cellphone ringtones,” says the WSJ, adding:
“They’ll be unhappy if they have to take a step back from the ‘Buy It, Burn It, Return It’ policy. Not only has it increased sales, says Jeff Scotti, but he also sees customers trying new music because they know they can return a CD they don’t like. And stores’ selection of used CDs - another growing business - is better.
“It may not make the RIAA happy, but the digital generation appears to be responding. Instead of the awkward whispers, says Jeff Scotti, now the kids are saying, ‘Wow, I love it. I’m going to tell all my friends’.”
For now, “Lots of extras with every purchase” says the Scotti’s site. “and - Up to 70% cheaper than ITUNES.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
See:-
Wall Street Journal - If You Can’t Beat ‘Em …, September 19, 2005
the place - The Sun chooses The Net, August 26, 2005
September 22nd, 2005 at 3:31 pm
This is the way to do things. Despite my boycott of record stores, I would do business with this one if I lived near it. Unfortunately, the RIAA will most likely try to quash this innovative business simply for trying to adapt.
September 22nd, 2005 at 4:40 pm
Isn’t this what we have been doing at Blockbuster and Netflix for years?
September 23rd, 2005 at 2:46 am
When everyone has Korea-like 15 MB+ as the standard download speed, the need for physical product will go the way of smart US government spending. Sorry, that was never a reality. Insert “the Dodo Bird” instead.
September 23rd, 2005 at 2:49 am
They better be careful. The guys that really pirate CDs & DVDs may “buy, bootleg, return.” That would be ironic.
September 23rd, 2005 at 9:16 am
So instead of ppl buying a cd, burning it, and having to sell it to a second hand music store, they can do it at the one place? Well it’s more convenient i guess. Unless the riaa wants to ban the sale of second hand cd’s i don’t see what they can do about it.
The smart thing of course would be to ask for a small (hah! as if!) percentage of second hand sales as well, so they’re always getting something every time that one cd gets sold 2nd hand, 3rd hand, 4th hand, 5th hand, etc etc etc. Knowing that the cd’s will get sold and returned over and over means they could ask a lot less for it each time and still make money.
Of course noone’s ever accused them of being smart. They’ll probably demand the same percentage for 2nd hand as for new cd’s thus killing the market completely. The cartels are like the idiots who found the goose that laid golden eggs, killed it and cut it open, thinking there must be a lot of eggs still in the goose that hadn’t been laid yet. Duh!