Editorial: An Exclusive Protest

Few things get a retailer's goat like album or track exclusives.

Much anger has been expressed over exclusives in recent years. Retailers' boycotts and protests—aimed at the major labels that grant exclusives—have fallen largely on deaf ears.

Now virginmega.fr, the online portal from Virgin Megastore France, has added an intriguing new chapter to the saga (see page 24). The site has taken the radical step of selling an unauthorized download of the track "Hung Up" from the upcoming Madonna album. The offer is in response to a Warner Music France deal providing a prerelease exclusive window on the track to France Telecom's Wanadoo online platform.

By going over to the dark side and offering an unauthorized track, Virgin Megastore France is making a pretty strong statement. The intention: To underscore the pain retailers feel when they cannot offer desirable product from a top act.

For the most part, those who are affected by exclusives are the specialty stores that for decades were the market leaders. Today, their share of the traditional CD market has been eroded by discounters, big-box stores and alternative outlets like Starbucks.

Specialty stores still play a major role in the retail food chain for the industry. Unlike the big guys, they are strong on catalog titles. More importantly, they support developing artists, the lifeblood of tomorrow's business.

Every exclusive pokes another hole in the specialty stores' market position. Once they were magnets where music fans could find all the music they desired. Now these dealers are deprived of access to the hits and unique content that drive traffic.

Specialty stores are already disadvantaged. They cannot compete with online sites for convenience or with the big boxes on price. But they still attract hardcore fans.

Exclusives only drive a fresh nail in the coffin of specialty retailing. It is ironic that it took a Web site in France to make the most outrageous statement yet about this threat to traditional retailing. But its boldness is a balm for every retailer who has felt similarly stung. ••••