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Ode to Wal Mart

#44
Jazzbo, (if your'e still looking at this thread0 - I think your comments are dead on!

I watched/taped the PBS "Frontline" progaram, "The Day the Music Died" and it included exactly what you are saying. Wal-Mart and its subsidiaries, like Sams Clubs, won't stock any music with any "explicit" content. Plus, they allot so little floor footage to music. They only offer what is selling on the Billboard charts.

Wal-Mart will NOT offer any music that doesn't have proven sales quotas,
Moreover, WalMart comes into small town areas and establishes a store that wipes out the valuable "mom & pop" stores and the WalMart stores never contribute a single dime towards any sponsorship/promotion in the community where they do business. It's all "take" and no "give back" in that organization.
 
#45
MJ5150 said:
Hehehe....Wal-Mart has pull in the music industry? What kind of pull are you talking about exactly? They certainly have ZERO pull when it comes to what kind of music bands/artists are putting out.

That link for Coop America is a joke. You can help stop sweatshops by giving us money and becoming a member of our stupid club? Puh-leeze! When Americans decide they are not too good to work these type of jobs, sweatshops will thrive. Corporations all over the USA use them, and it is silly to ask them to regulate it. They are about making money, just like you and I are. The bottom line is what matters baby, nothing else. Don't kid yourself.

-Mike
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They have made a quantifiable difference, eg: Dunkin Donuts espresso and latte drinks. they are also highly rated as a non profit in terms of what they accomplish and how they use people's contributions. Yes, it's a needle in a haystack or whatever, but IMO something done right is better than nothing done right. If you find it a joke then, hey, at least I got a laugh out of you. :eyebrow:
 
#46
In re: to exactly how much "pull" they have, it's not in regards to them dictating what bands are putting out, and I never implied that. BUT, beyond the advent and eventual demise of the PMRC, where it was deemed "enough" to have a parental warning on the cover art or having the cover art changed if it itself was too risky, there was no motivators for artists (and it really STILL isn't the artist's decision) to actually edit their music, except in circumstances of getting radio play.

Enter Wal Mart, and their highly visible rant against Sheryl Crow and the edit to her lyric about "buying a gun at a local discount Wal Mart store" on one of her previous records, and that was pretty much the start of this malarky. Seeing as Wal Mart sells quite a large share of the sales of music cds, actually a commanding share, they are in a position of being able to say to labels 'we will not sell your artist's title if this phrase is not somehow audibly obscured' in some fashion.

This does and has happenned. That is where they have pull. You really think a label, who ALSO isn't in the best interest of the artist, and moreso for themselves is going to RISK potential sales and product visibility over a swear word? If you do, you have WAAAAAAY too much faith in labels, and you're hopelessly deluded.

So, yup, Wal Mart has a whole lot of pull in the music industry.
 
#48
I'd like to add a bit to this conversation. I worked at a wal-mart store for a year and recently got transfered to one of there warehouse's(Much beter work enviorment). I worked partially in lawn and garden but most of my time there was spent working the electronics department. After seeing how management there and supliers and so on is about it I'll put in my 2 cents.


Wal-mart states it will sell the unedited cd's if they come up with a beter rating system then parental advisory. The music industry pretty much responded with a no and so only edited cd's are sold at Wal-Mart.

Anouther thing I find very odd is that they refuse to sell Manson, Eminem, ICP, ect. Because they feel that they are "Unwholesome and not the image they want" but they sell the 8 mile soundtrack, King Diamond(I am not kidding), and some more obscure but very "Unwholesome" bands/artists.

Also on a side note at working at the store's. Don't. It's not worth the BS they put you through threating your job, keeping you long after your shift while threatening your job, Not responding when help is needed. Great place to shop, horrid place to work.

Most of the wal-marts I've seen are run like a joke, the management doesn't seem to grasp the concepts of worker's rights and so on. But there brainwash orientation video's are funny to watch as they justify intresting actions. Such as if you are caught talking to a union rep, even if you do not know who they are, there is a good chance you'll be fired.
 
#51
And, really, though enough is enough already, I realise I have the power to choose. I realise this wholly. But this was a case of them being a convenient option.

But, that being said, a statement like "If you don't like, don't shop there" while correct in every way, is a rather convenient opt-out to a much larger problem.

Either way, since I have the ability to be patient, I bought the VR CD at a local Mom and Pop shop in my hometown when I got home. No harm no foul.

Yikes, you make one little rant.... :D
 
#52
Mon Rominee said:
And, really, though enough is enough already, I realise I have the power to choose. I realise this wholly. But this was a case of them being a convenient option.

But, that being said, a statement like "If you don't like, don't shop there" while correct in every way, is a rather convenient opt-out to a much larger problem.
Click to expand...

It's not an opt-out at all, it's exactly the solution to the larger problem. Do you really think that Walmart is governed by a higher morality? Walmart is governed by a higher quarterly profit margin. We are the consumers. We are the ones that choose Walmart's inventory. If we do something as simple as not shopping there, either individually or organized as groups, we diminish their power. This is capitalism. It's a company driven on profits, they really could care less about the morality, otherwise these hypocrisies people site, (carrying one band but not another, carrying movies with explicit content, etc.), would not exist.

To me, it has always been so painfully clear. If you don't like Howard Stern, turn off the radio. If you don't like Michael Moore, don't watch the movie. If you don't agree with Walmart's censoring practices, don't give them your money. It's convenient?! Well, so what. Amazon is convenient but I don't shop there because I live in SF. San Francisco has a wealth of independent booksellers. Tully's is excellent coffee, but I'm going to the one that is mom and pop owned. Old Navy has good prices, but I'm going to the store on Haight St.
 
#55
Mon Rominee said:
My comment, as I should have clarified, is that even if I don't shop there, there's 100 more to take my place... we all know this, so the larger problem will remain.
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I'm not trying to add to this pissing contest, but do you really worry about what 100(00)'s of other people are doing with their time and money? Business is business, and businesses will do dirty deeds to get the extra dough, simple as that. And there is not much you can do to counter these instincts that many businessmen/women have naturally.
 

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