Post by rlhamil on Feb 5, 2019 5:26:48 GMT -5
An exclusive distribution deal must be worked out with Target or Walmart.
It is no help to anyone, least of all Jackie, to be utterly unrealistic about the state of today's music industry.
I think the most promising thing that's happened to Jackie is this gig at Feinstein's. It has sophisticated entertainment, and will get her into the NY cabaret circuit (with Cafe Carlyle) and if Jackie's is willing to read her audiences and understand what works and doesn't work, by next year she may be ready to try for musical theater, particularly if she's taken some acting lessons in her spare time.
Walmart's is indeed tiny now; one I was recently in had half of one side of a small aisle (and maybe an end-cap somewhere). I don't recall Target's, they were always more professional IMO in their entertainment and media department(s), but I suspect they're shrinking too. A list of places still carrying CD's said Best Buy mostly doesn't anymore, but of course online (Amazon) and a few physical (Barnes&Noble, FYE) still do. And presumably such independent or smaller chain music stores as survive (not to mention Christian book stores, but only albums of mostly religious music...for Jackie, perhaps Christmas albums and maybe DWM, even though it wasn't particularly religious, but probably no others).
I suspect that exclusive deals these days, if they still exist (and keeping in mind that an indie probably couldn't negotiate them), consist of maybe a week early for one digital outlet, and that's about it; although some (on the scale of Taylor Swift) might exclude an outlet that they had issues with. Stuff moves so fast, and one of the reasons that physical media is down is probably that something WITHOUT INVENTORY has a huge advantage over something with inventory in such a fast-moving environment.