Last week, Wal-Mart announced that they had struck a deal with country superstar Garth Brooks to be the exclusive outlet for his entire catalog. Brooks, who announced his retirement from recording and performing (at least until his daughter turns 18 in 2015) after his 2001 album Scarecrow, has severed his ties with his label, Capitol Nashville, and acquired the rights to the master tapes of all of his albums. This incredibly favorable development (most artists never get the rights to their masters) allows Brooks to negotiate an unprecedented deal that will take his entire catalog off of store shelves, websites such as Amazon or any other retail outlet, save Wal-Mart stores and its subsidiary, Sam's Club.
Even though Brooks is past the peak of his popularity, this is still a historical deal for an artist of his caliber, and one that could set a disturbing or potentially liberating precedent, depending on how things play out. Once Capitol has run through its current stock of Brooks releases, fans will only be able to buy multi-platinum releases like Ropin' the Wind and No Fences (as well as slightly less popular albums such as Brooks' rock concept piece, The Life of Chris Gaines) at Wal-Mart. Details have not been announced but word is that the deal will launch with an exclusive box set featuring numerous, previously unreleased Brooks tunes.
On the one hand, this represents a leap forward for an artist's control of his own music: Brooks, as owner of the masters, had the upper hand in negotiating this deal, and is enough of a superstar even four years removed from his retirement announcement that landing such a high-profile exclusive is worth a lot to Wal-Mart. Should he decide to return to recording anytime soon, Brooks will have complete control over choosing his material, creating his sound and packaging and marketing his music (provided, of course, it doesn't violate any of Wal-Mart's notoriously stringent decency standards).
On the other hand, this is the latest and most serious volley in a disturbing trend that finds well-known musicians allying themselves with large corporations not just for tour sponsorship or one-time endorsements, but for the exclusive sale and promotion of their material. Until now, the company at the forefront of this trend had been Starbucks, whose success in marketing albums such as Ray Charles' duets collection, Genius Loves Company, led to several exclusive deals, including a program designed to break new acts (the all-female rock group Antigone Rising is the first attempt) and rights to be the only outlet for Alanis Morissette's new 10th anniversary acoustic version of her landmark Jagged Little Pill album for a period of six weeks before its general release.
The coffeehouse chain also has a deal in the works for an exclusive Bob Dylan release, and no doubt more to come. Although no response has yet come to the Brooks announcement, it's doubtful that traditional music retailers will remain quiet. Canadian record-store chain HMV pulled all Morissette albums from its shelves after the singer announced her Starbucks deal. And past deals by the Rolling Stones and Elton John (which were for live DVDs, not new studio releases) with big-box electronics retailer Best Buy have been met with similar negative responses by record stores.
At a time when music retailers are fighting a losing battle against both the legal and illegal downloading of music online, it's an even greater blow to traditional record stores to lose the ability to sell material by popular acts. Although bands like Weezer have fought back by creating exclusives specifically for independent music stores, the situation is clearly lopsided in favor of large corporations that are willing to shell out whatever money and perks necessary to stem the hemorrhaging of customers to the Internet or just general indifference. For anyone who values the experience of shopping in a unique, well-stocked independent record store or even a particularly welcoming Tower Records franchise, the Brooks exclusive is just another in a long line of unfortunate developments.
Josh Bell's music is available exclusively in his own head. Read more of his takes on pop culture at
http://signalbleed.blogspot.com.