Irving Azoff vs. the independent retailer

From an interview which can be found here...

Q: A NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT RETAILERS VOICED THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE EAGLES MAKING A DEAL WITH BEST BUY TO SELL EXCLUSIVELY FOR A LIMITED TIME A DVD SINGLE OF "HOLE IN THE WORLD." WERE YOU SURPRISED BY THE REACTION?

A: No. What the idiot independent retailers fail to understand is this is an audio visual device. a 5.1 music video, a stereo music video, a behind-the-scenes of the making of the video and making of the tour. It's not a record. It's an audio visual DVD. I took the first 30 days to have Best Buy pay the initial marketing costs. We have orders through Bayside of over 150,000 that we're shipping right now on the "Hole in the World" DVD. I couldn't care less. They don't understand. They're actually making themselves look really foolish.

Q: ARE YOU GOING TO RELEASE THE EAGLES' ALBUM EXCLUSIVELY TO ONE RETAILER?

A: What album? It's not done. I haven't contemplated that, but I can't imagine a scenario where we would. But I wish I could find a way to not give it to the independent guys. Forget about giving it to one -- I wish I could think of a legal way not to sell it to the jerks that complained. You can quote me.

 

Aggressive guy.

 

Aren't we an EXCLUSIVE society? Just watch the News and you'll hear the word "EXCLUSIVE" a few times indeed! It's just a show of POWER...If you have fame, wealth, etc., the better you are to most folks...Not me! I value souls not skin or wealth! It sickens me to no end!

 

Dig up a copy of Hit Men - interesting look at some industry folks...

 

Just what we need.......screw all the independents..and keep giving the breaks to the big guy.......the big guy that could care less about me and you....and our special needs...hell...the Best Buys by me still don't have the latest round of DVD-A releases...(Chicago & Donald Fagen). If it was'nt for the little guys out there were would we find our imports and other special releases...even the vinyl releases that we buy.

Nice attitude.....I'm sure the new Eagles will have a nice new list price also.......what's next $20.99....

 

Hey, they're milking it for as much as they can get! I'm amazed they still have this kind of selling power in todays times...They're all wealthy business men now and it's all about the bottom line. It's the Music BUSINESS...and I do love The Eagles! Best Buy is know for their exclusive DVD extra bonus discs...They had one in the Xena First Season Box Set and I believe a few others...

 

This trend has been going on a for a few years now (I remember an Aerosmith CD that featured "Best Buy" bonus tracks) and I find it disturbing. Any outlet that gets exclusive rights to a product is disturbing to me - it defeats effective competition.

This trend has been going on with Japanese imports for over a decade - several Japanese copies of releases feature bonus tracks that are not available anywhere else. The reasons that have been stated for doing this are:

1. The Japanese music fan is avid, purchasing more titles per person than anywhere else in the world.

2. The high tariffs imposed on Japanese product make imports into that country more desirable. They literally can get US/Euro imports cheaper than their domestic product. Adding "value added" material to their domestic releases encourages domestic sales (while creating a nifty export business).

Well - - #1 is bunk. Oh, it may be true, but it's not the reason they do it. #2 is the crux of the biscuit.

Bottom line: in this age where we're encouraged to compete on global scale, this is an example of a government that is not competing globally. If your taxes are too high, and that encourages imports - so be it. We don't have to many household with domestic television sets here....

(I always am amazed that the record companies let this happen. If I was Warner's US/Euro, I would tell the Japanese to shove it - no bonus tracks, let 'em import OUR discs.)

By the way, my independent retailer sells DVD's as well....

 

Irving Azoff!!1 LOL

 

Is he supposed to assume that independent and small chain retailers don't sell DVDs? This guy is a jerk. He spent decades in powerful decision-making positions in the music business on the label side and now all of a sudden hates the record labels and is all for the artists. The guy is a hypocrite. He personally is probably responsible for many bad decisions made at the labels he's worked at. This is just another on his list.

BTW, Hitmen is a great book.

 

He states elsewhere in the interview that the consolidation of the radio industry is a bad thing, and implies the same for the video and retail industries — "it would be great if we could unconsolidate every area of the business and start over" — but then he makes a deal with one of the few big retail outlets and expresses contempt for the little guys. Put your money where your mouth is, Irv...

 

Nobody takes that guy seriously. Hes on whatever side he can make money with at the moment.

 

Azoff is at least partially to blame for the fact that there is still no comprehensive U.S. single-CD best-of on the Eagles. (In 1985, there was an Anthology of the Eagles scheduled for release on Elektra/Asylum 60422, which would have been similar to the like-titled Bread and Harry Chapin packages, but it was canceled.) The two greatest-hits discs that exist were programmed and timed for LP. A good 79-minute-or-so best-of would be a welcome thing.

 

How the Eagles feel about Azoff.

"He's an ass****. But he's OUR ass****!"

 

Not to mention he's really short!! Obviously your classic "reactive compensatory factor"!!!

 

Irving's non-statement (that's all it really is) just makes me shake my head in disgust. I love shopping, and I loved working in an indie store. Who wants to buy their records in identical "Sam Goody" stores in the mall?

It seems that he's slightly out of touch. What indie store doesn't sell DVD's?

 

Best Buy is pretty agressive. I like that, in as far as the consumer gets "extra" stuff a lot from them. The ST:TNG DVD sets had extra DVDs, the McCartney release had extras, even the last Julian Lennon release had a CDV with it. (Photograhic Smile)

The best part about these "extras" is that they are usually sold for less than the local stores can sell the product without the extras. Good for the buyer, bad for the little guy.

Where do you draw the line, I like the extras, I feel for the little guy.

 

Excellent book. Compelling. Irving was an arsehole back in the 70s and 80s and it appears nothing's changed.

 

Re: Re: Irving Azoff vs. the independent retailer

What's it about, and who wrote it? It must have slipped under my radar.

 

Re: Re: Re: Irving Azoff vs. the independent retailer

Fredric Dannen. It came out in the early-90s. I think Irving Azoff HATES that guy. I read an interview with him a few years ago where he threatened to beat Dannen up (if I recall correctly) and also a former high-ranking music exec with a name very similar to mine! Several people have actually asked if I am related to that exec and I say no. No wonder it was hard to move up the ladder in this biz.... With a bad rep like that and I don't even know the guy...

I'll see if I can find it somewhere and post it...

BOB