JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Industry Message Forum Would you pay $250 to have your CD sold at Best Buy?

Best Buy now offers the option of indie musicians having their CD stocked in their stores. The cost? $250

Check it out.

http://www.regionalcd.net/

RegionalCD.net is offering the option to have your CD's sold at Best Buy. I am not sure what the exact connection is between Best Buy and RegionalCD, but they seem to be separate companies.

Caveat Emptor!

Kevin

What is your marketing strategy? Why would you pay a company to hold your CDs on their shelves? Will they offer any kind of marketing for your money? Why would people buy it if they do not know anything about it? I would think the normal procedure is that a retailer would purchase products for resale, rather than charge a maintenance fee holding the product on their shelves. However, if you have a solid marketing plan that generates enough interest, then maybe it is a workable idea.

That said, it sounds like a bad idea to me.

I agree with Jack. $250 shelf rent for a stack of CD's sounds a little steep to me. Is that for one Best Buy store or all of them?

John

I doubt you would make back the $250 investment.......sad to say but no name indie music just doesnt have the magic of big brand name singers and bands.......I have never purchased indie music online or in a store and probaly never will.......I am trying my best to get stuff picked up by the biggies......sorry if thats too honest but thats my personal goal...I would rather put the $250 toward a new song demo instead of trying to rent shelf space in the far reaches of a Best Buy store...........for songs the majors have passed on......my opinion anyway........

Tom

I'd do it if Best Buy let me play a live Saturday gig at their store...

First things first though...I have no CD.

Like most things, I think it depends on the aspirations of the person concerned. If a person has $250.00 to spare without it hurting their budget and would like whatever recognition they get from friends and family by seeing the CD at the store, then why not? Not everyone has the aspiration or the self-ascribed talent to get a cut, or have a hit single, from Nashville, or the center of whatever genre the person performs in. Personally, I have wasted $250.00 on things just as, or less "worthwhile".

If a person is scraping up every spare dollar (don't I know that feeling!!) for a pro demo or some other venture that might forward a serious attempt to succeed, then no, it's probably not a good idea.

I'll be 63 years old in a few weeks. Chances are slim that I'll ever have a successful cut out of Nashville or anywhere else. If I had $250.00 that I could spend with no second thought, I might do it just for the satisfaction of saying I had a CD on the shelf of a major outlet. Stroking my own ego by doing so? Yep, probably so. For those who can afford it, $250.00 is pretty cheap for a real satisfaction.

Everyone has a different venue for their personal satisfaction. If this is their route for that satisfaction and can afford it, go for it. It's not me to tell anyone else that their choices are good or bad, unless I am specifically asked by that person and know what their goals are.

So, my answer to the original question: Given my situation and having a realistic overview of what my future is in the music business, yeah, I'd probably do it if I could afford it with no second thought about the money. My future holds little in the music business except for self-satisfaction. My past in the music business has been very, very lucrative. I'd spoil myself with $250.00 if I could.

But, to each his own!

Alan

Me with Mark, I think. Having your CD in every Best Buy store in the country does no good if you don't have some name familiarity to go with it. I would like some investment on the part of the Best Buy folks in that name familiarity--otherwise what I'm doing is making them a $250 donation. And I don't do that even when I have money.

I would want a display, with posters (happy to provide 'em the posters--it's one of the things I can do), and I'd want my songs in that li'l thingie that plays on demand cuts from records. And yes, I'd be wanting to do play-some-songs-and-sign-records appearances at some of their stores, and I'd want them publicizing it as well as me. I want some indication that *they* think it's neat that their stores are carrying my stuff. Otherwise, as noted above, it's a donation--and I've got a lot more worthy causes that them.

Joe

If your a young band or artist then this is GREAT thing. First of all you would most likely have all those requirements they mentioned as far as your own fan base, and working on exposure.
The more you do yourself it seems the more stores they'll stock you in. This goes along with another thread here about the current #1 song in Billboard. This is at least more motivation to work so hard.

Normally you would have to have a deal or special distribution to get on the shelves of a big chain store like Best Buy.

Okay stores are closing and the internet is where the music is.
I DON'T like that. Anyway,where I live there used to be about seven big stores to buy music from. ALL of them are CLOSED now except one, Best Buy.

On Christmas week alone COUNTLESS people shop there, more people then would EVER visit my website or look for my My Space page.
People sill take whats put on TV and radio as gospel. And the shelves of big stores is right there behind that.

I would put 250.00 down in heartbeat, this works much more like the old days. So therefore you KNOW your sending people to by those discs up so the demand drives up some. They'll carry more of your discs, so they say.

Of course compared to the big acts you would be INVISIBLE but at least your in the same store and section. This at least coincides with the whole idea of marketing yourself, gives you a little bit of game plan too. The chance to be in a big store was NEVER available to us. So... for that reason alone.

But first you have to have product, and then you must be committed to it.
This is a MUST for a band... or Solo Artist with ambitions past there front door.

Thanks for sharing this, I'll be looking into it and perhaps putting My "Brooklyn Song" in stores in Brooklyn where 5 million people live. Give it a small chance it would never ever have otherwise. Do it up with the right cover, let the people pick it and be the judge and watch it spread from there...

Absolutely not! I can have a whole store with PayPal on my website for less money, and then sell from there, not just one CD but any CD I'll ever make in the future, as well as CD's from friends and other artists too.

It would take some marketing to sell your own, but I'll bet Best Buy will sell marketing add ons on top of that offer as well, so it won't stop at 250$ anyway.

But we do a lot of things for conveniance, regardsless if they are effective or not..

It really depends on your overall marketing plan. To paraphrase a JPF mentor... " You do have a marketing plan don't you ? "

So you have a product. A good product. And cheap too. $0.99 as a download or maybe $2.50 as a physical CD in a jacket, with good cover art and a bit of a blurb, and added extras. ( we'll assume a new release single, just for the arguement )

So who knows about your product if you're not going to market it ? The odd punter stumbling over your internet site doesn't really constitute marketing.

How many stores will it be in ? What's the total dialy through traffic ? Will it get reasonable placement ? Is poster space included ? Will they they play it on rotation in store ? Can you come along and do live gigs to promote it ?

Bottom line, you need to divide the $250, by the number of potential customers who will see it, and be interested enough to listen to it, or pick it up, or buy on spec.

At the moment, as an internet musician, the only available marketing that I have is a press release, and Google Adwords, so I'll compare it to that.

The press release costs between $80 and $200, and attracts about 1500 full page reads, including a site visit. That's about 6 cents per punter, but mainly industry punters. Adwords advertising comes out a 2 or 3 cents to drive traffic to your page from the general public.

So, relative to internet advertising, on the cheapest scenario, ( at 2 cents per punter )over it's lifetime, are you going to get 50,000 people viewing your product, picking it up, and perhaps buying it ? If it were at 5 stores, would there be 10,000 people per store who have seen your product, and also the oppertunity to buy it ?

Mixed in with a whole range of promo ideas, it may not be a bad thing.

Just on it's own, it's about as usefull as a one armed wallpaper hanger.

cheers, niteshift

What marketing plan?.... LOL! I'm keeping my $250 to buy a cardboard casket if Obamacare finally passes after the closed door session between Pelosi and Reid, et al!

It does no good to have cd's in a bin if people have not listened to the songs. People do not buy a cd that they have not heard.

Got to work this way......

Hear it - Like it - Buy it.

(By the way, we got Justice's cd on the in store listening system of all Barnes and Noble stores in the US. But sales only result when people hear the songs.)

Tom

I see no reason why artists cannot contact Best Buy or other stores direct and offer their own CDs on a sale or return basis at prices and profit margins more competetive than the $5.15 the store currently offers. Save $250 and show enterprise. I am not sure in my mind that this JD distribution company are offering an ethical worthwhile service and am surprised that Best Buy are in partnership. Most distribution companies work on a percentage of sales/deliveries margin or are paid for by the retailer.

Hey Jim,

I think it's a case of volume and hitting "critial limit".

The overall margin, minus running costs, in these stores is around 2-3%, on huge volume. They need high sellers to achieve the turnover, and hence probably need to charge a fee for small indies. ( don't really know, anyone ? )

I see this one as more of exposure than sales. Like putting a billboard on an overpass of a freeway.

Is it ethical or wothwhile ? I think only as a combined strategy with other cards in the deck.

Maybe someone can be a JPF guinea pig and report back. ( not me ) LOL

cheers, niteshift

Interesting topic. One thing that might be considered is that some of the big chain stores want to be more community minded and are trying to promote a local image rather than a regional or national corporate one. For example some large stores now sponsor local sports teams and make a big deal out of buying local produce from small businesses, stocking local newspapers and becoming involved in community activities. Given that I see no reason why they cannot be encouraged to support local artists AND THEIR MUSIC.
Most stores already operate a number of loss leaders and are always looking for FREE publiity and promOting good PR. This would be a classic case of you scratch my back. They spend a fortune on advertising and a publicity campaign promoting local music is a sure fire winner.

I personally have an issue with Best Buy ever since they chose to send me a notice that my BB credit card interest rate was going to 29.9% even though I only purchased one thing on it and never had a late payment. I decided at the moment I got that letter, that I would never buy anything from them again. I would rather pay a little more and go to an independent local business for anything they might offer. Sorry, but it is a current hot topic in my frizzled brain.

Jack,

I can see your point. I have no issue with BB. But, I never, never buy Mobil gas unless I'm nearly empty and I know of no other gas station reasonably close (I ain't stupid!). I used to use Mobil almost exclusively

In November of 2005, we had a real heavy snow storm here in St. Louis. I stopped at a Mobil gas station to fill up. The total came to $20.93. I handed them my credit card. They said they couldn't run it because the lines were down due to the blizzard. They wouldn't accept a check because I bank out of state. I live in Missouri and bank in Oklahoma. I had a twenty-dollar bill and 6 cents in cash. I offered them the info off my driver's license and promised to come back the next day and pay them the eighty-seven cents I owed them. They refused and told me if I left the station they would call the cops on me for not paying for my gas. I had to call my son to bring me eighty-seven cents. He had to drive eighteen miles in a treacherous blizzard to bring me that eighty-seven cents. It took in an hour and ten minutes to go that eighteen miles due to road conditions and traffic. There was one other customer in the station. She refused to loan/give me eighty-seven cents, stating it wasn't her issue and that she was in a hurry.

I don't use Mobil products under and condition unless there is absolutely no other alternative. So, I empathize with you.

I have put up with corporate B.S. for far too long, and I am at a stage in my life where I won't take it anymore. It has cost me a small fortune over that time. If they screw with me I won't give them any more of my money, not a single dime if I can help it. Most of the time it is my only recourse.

The short answer is NO.

However, if they were going to place it on an End Cap listening station in all their stores, I would say definitely yes. Being on the end cap is exponentially more valuable than simply being available for sale in the store. The end cap is the only place in Best Buy that can break a new act. That's probably worth $2500 dollars. Just being in the store? Maybe $25 bucks.

Brian

By the way, how many stores? Keep in mind that you'd have to supply product for the stores you'd be in. So if it was all their stores, not sure how many they have, but lets just say they were going to put you in 1000 stores for discussion purposes, you'd probably need to supply them with 5000 copies that would then be sitting on the shelves. Would they keep them there indefinitely? Nope. So what happens when they are done with them? Well, you'd need to pay for them to ship them back right? At best, that would essentially mean you'd be eating the cost of all 5K with little chance of any recoupment, let alone profit.

Seriously, so many things would have to happen for that to ever be a good idea that it's a ridiculous service to offer without a long list of other things happening first. BUT.. if you were 100% assured to be on the end cap where someone might actually notice it and better, if they had a listening station and you could be heard by that traffic that was curious, then it has great value. Something tells me that they aren't offering any of that, at least not for $250 dollars and certainly not across all their stores.

Brian

I did a quick check on Best Buy and it made interesting reading. It seems that they are no strangers to controversy. There have been several incidents involving them and their dubious sales and marketing tactics leading to many court cases and complaints.
As I said in my previous post I have grave doubts about the ethics of this offer not to mention the fact that simple mathematics make it unattractive.

Hunh. Somebody who's way bigger'n you, with an absence of ethics, may not be someone you can do business with profitably.

Joe

Another ripple.

Someone who works at best buy told me they have "Best Buy Radio" and that they will add your music to the radio playlist in the store.

Also, you can perform live in the store!
Check out:

http://www.liveatbestbuy.com/

I think I agree with what's been said here, it's a steep price and it's most probably a loss unless you can really push for sales in the store. If I had a ton of money to blow I would do it, but only if I were going to perform in the store where my CD was stocked.

As it is for now, I don't have that much to blow.

No. Try going through all the CDs in Best Buy and notice any 'unknowns'.

For those that bothered to look into it, how many stores do they put you in? And how many copies do you need to supply for each store? 1? 5? Did anyone even get that far?

As for being on "Best Buy Radio" that sure doesn't sound very useful. Perhaps if the radio stations plays on a loop in each store and plays the music of those who paid to be on sale there, then it would be valuable. But if it's just a station that people need to tune into to hear, who would actually be listening?

There's a lot of people out there trying to figure out how to make money in the music business. Labels and others people who made money from sales are desperate for any nickle or dime they can make from any source. And they always seem to come to the same ridiculous conclusion and that is that they can make significant and sustained money from the music creators themselves. That's such a terrible business model and idea. Sure, there's a lot of hobbyists who would love to pay $250 dollars so they could show their neighbor that their CD had made the big time and was for sale at the local Best Buy store. It's serves the vanity market pretty well.. but even that market is severely limited. For the actual working musician it's not sustainable and it would be really hard to recommend anyone spend money on that without some significantly meaningful additional exposure so that someone would even think to look for it. It's like being on iTunes. Even that is a waste of time unless you have someone looking for you. And why would someone look for you at a Best Buy store? Your fans already have your CD. And if you aren't going to be noticed/discovered by new people, then it has zero value.

But still.. they try it anyway.. for every 4000 desperate musicians, that's another million bucks on the bottom line at Best Buy.

Brian

Brian, I'd expect that "Best Buy Radio" would be like the "Wal-Mart Network"--beamed in by satellite and playing 24/7 through the loudspeakers in every store. Proprietary Musak. Your song would be in rotation on that thing, along with the songs of all the other people who'd paid their $250--plus whatever other music the Best Buy Inc. people wanted to promote. Your song might not come up that often.

It wouldn't help sales much (in my opinion) *unless* each song were prefaced (or--ideally--followed) by an announcement like "That was [INSERT SONG] by [INSERT AUTHOR], and his/her/their album [INSERT NAME] is for sale in our record department." Would they do that? I don't think I'd be holding my breath. Even real radio stations don't do that much any more--not that it matters a lot, with the songs sounding the same.

Joe

Brian, you just preached a sermon of truth right there. Thanks for smacking us with the reality stick, we needed it.

If you had developed a local following in a region, it could give you a feeling of legitimacy. If it would be putting you in stores where you have no radio or local venue presence, you are wasting your money.

Music is an impulse item and unless people really know you and are fans of your music, your sales are going to be non-existant if done in a random nature.

Best Buy's Target, WallMart, K-Mart, are now the biggest retail music merchandisers. But all of that product shares space with all the video games, the clothes, hardware, car supplies, and food. So they only stock the largest sellers. On things like this they might be doing what Jim is suggesting, buying local.
But Rack space is at a premium, so getting something like posters, stand up displayes, etc,. is out of the question. That is reserved for the people spending millions in advertising revenues nationwide. That is what makes the costs of national major label releases so expensive.

About 70% of a budget on a new major release is advertising. Indies cannot compete with that. They have to build smaller more grass roots marketing.

MAB

I can attest to having stock on a shelve at a local store with no advertising. Doesn't work well.

Maybe it would be a better idea to give 5,000 CD's to Best Buy to be placed in a "take one" rack. Have your website listed on the CD. Maybe it would start generating a fan base.

Then again; maybe they would just be used as Frisbees or target practice. At least you wouldn’t have to worry about paying postage for the return of $5,000 CD’s as Brian mentioned.

It’s just another one of my great ideas that I’d never embark on myself. Talk is cheap. Music is cheap. My ideas are cheap - actually free.

Good luck, John

I'd say no in my case for two reasons
I'd need to provide a big stock to take the chance for that to be useful and be instore, on the other hand, i'm foreign so shipping cost are really expensive. I'm selling the cd from my website myself (i mean the physical cd, the digital is itunes and digitally distributed) and it goes fine that way, i've approached several stores wthat work with my kind of music and only ask for deposit, or small ammounts of albums, thus I can keep them "nourished" with the album with no extra cost for me.
I've seen friends signing for paid or for exclusive distribution and having their cds returned with no sales after a year cos they simply don't make any promotion and people let's face it only purchases when they khow, you're putting a prodcut to then randomly be found by people, which can work I tell, but it's a risk.

I think they're preying on people who want to be able to brag to their friends by saying, "MY CD is on sale at Best Buy!"

For a lot of years I figured I'd know I'd achieved success when I could walk into a local music store and ask for ME and they'd say, "Yeah, we've got that." ;>)

bill renfrew
www.writethismusic.com

I think the opportunity to play live in the store is probably far more valuable then stocking your CD there. Only issue is if you play in the store and dont have your CD in stock there, it kinda defeats the purpose (unless of course you can sell it from the stage)

I would only play in a store if they paid me.....Come to think of it except for charity gigs and an odd guest song with bands as a bit of fun at open mics I won't play anywhere unless I am paid.