Everyone's favorite mega-coffee-selling corporate behemoth has started to annoy some independent record sellers as they become more and more of a force in the music retail business.
The latest Beck CD was available at many Starbucks a week before it was in stores. (Granted, it was available on the internet months before, but what can you do.) While this is most likely due to baristas not paying attention to the giant 'DO NOT SELL UNTIL MARCH 29' sticker on the box, since, frankly, they are baristas and not record store employees. This is especially annoying to independent record stores who did not even get a copy of the latest Beck CD until the day before it was to go onsale.
More troubling to independent record sellers than ignoring release dates, Starbucks signed everyone's favorite irony-ill-defining singer, Alanis Morissette, to a deal where her new CD is available exclusively at Starbucks for 6 weeks. (Unfortunately, there is no word about whether or not she'll be changing 'Would she go down on you in a theater' to 'Would she go down on you in a Starbucks'.)
Granted, Beck and Alanis no longer sell 50 Cent-style numbers, but they are the kind of acts that independent stores rely on. With their big name recognition and their loyal fan base, they are precisely the kind of act that casual fans go to places like Sonic Boom for.
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