Music

Warner Music's new move could kill independent record stores

by Richard Howard

The stark realities of the business world have hit the music industry with another bummer. This time, the affected parties are smaller record stores who recently found out that to buy vinyl directly from Warner Music’s distribution and marketing arm, WEA, they will need to have been making an annual order of at least $10,000 through their account.

While this policy has been in existence for a while and clearly stated in its terms and conditions, the shutting down of their accounts with WEA still caught a few retailers by surprise. WEA addressed the situation which affected “about a hundred” retailers in a statement:

“WEA proudly supports hundreds of independent vinyl retailers across the country with direct distribution, and many more through other channels. Last week, in accordance with our long-time policy, we recommended that a limited number of retailers would be better served by working with one of the many vinyl wholesale partners that carry all of our artists’ releases.”

Basically, that’s a really nice way to say “You guys aren’t making us enough money, you’re going to have to go to third-party resellers and pay more now.”

On the face of it, it certainly seems like a fair and logical business move: WEA pointed out the fact that a number of the retailers either don’t carry vinyl anymore or haven’t ordered in over a year. Still, this could have serious repercussions – most directly for smaller record stores but also for, you guessed it, the buying public.

One Oregon-based record store owner who discovered his WEA account had been closed after prepping a $1,400 order said that now having to go through intermediaries will mean higher prices for him, and as a result, for the customer. Rick Wojcik of Dusty Groove, meanwhile, pointed out that with the death of the large retailers, he was surprised WEA would “shaking loose [retailers] who were small, but important” and helping to drive “the bigger business of these companies.”

The fact is with Warner Music’s immense catalog, the relatively high $10,000 minimum for stores and the availability of often cheaper vinyl online, this could turn out to be another big hit for your local record store – especially if other large labels follow suit.

[h/t Pitchfork]