I'm Tired of Exclusive Albums

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Ok, I am so tired of this new trend in country music of releasing special songs or special features to only certain chains of stores. Come on, this is crazy. It is not fair to those that may have not heard about the special album at a certain chain store like Wal-Mart or Target.

Brad Paisley's newest release (which was one of the last artists that I thought of participating in this type marketing) has been released in Target Stores with a bonus 4-track CD. Wal-Mart doesn't have the songs, but does have a special DVD. The others, including Amazon.com and others that offer pre-order options don't have the special features to them.

So what is a fan to do to get what I think of the whole CD if they 1- pre-ordered the basic CD or 2-didn't know about the special features? Buy 2 albums? Money is so hard to come by these days for music and other items of luxury. Not many fans can do this, especially shouldn't have to. If you are a dedicated fan of an artist, there is a pretty good chance they will pre-order it ahead of time just in anticipation of the release.

I understand its trying to get the competitive edge. How about compete on the basis of your company's reputation, policies, customer service, prices, and location of store instead of special features that cheat the fans out of the full album.

In Brad Paisley's new album case, some of the best work is the 4 bonus tracks, its such ashame some listener's wont get the chance to hear them.