Monday, November 2, 2009

FYE HAS THE RIGHT IDEA

I've never really been a FYE customer. It never really


impressed me as an especially cool retailler. I was surprised to notice that they were still around, after Virgin, Tower and every other retailer went out of business. The other day while in Philly, I stopped in an FYE and was surprised when three employees stopped me to tell me that single CDs now cost $9.99. What? Is this a "sale?" No. The company is experimenting with that pricing from now on. WOW. I guess it makes sense. When I was in college, there were some independent stores that sold CDs for $10, and used CDs cheaper, and they were always busy. I think part of what sunk record labels and record stores was the demise of the CD single, and $17.99 CDs. $9.99 CDs in 2009 may be too little, too late, (especially since iTunes has the same pricing, and of course even they compete with "free") I've been spending most of my CD money at Amazon and also Newbury Comics (I'll always support Newbury, as it is an indie retailer) but I think I'll be frequenting the local FYE more often in the future. (For the record, at FYE, I bought two albums by Drive-By Truckers, one by DBT frontman Patterson Hood, and a reissue of Funkadelic's Maggot Brain.

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