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Thread started 11/13/01 9:57pm

Sidebar: More info on "Street Dates" and Best Buy...

[Not news, but helps explain the whole Best Buy early release thing... Thanks for this clarification! -Ben]

(This is a long post, but hopefully I can clear up some confusion regarding why TRC may be on some Best Buy shelves.
Plus I've attempted to clarify some industry policies regarding "street dates".)
Although the street date for TRC is Nov. 20, some of the Best Buys may have it on the shelves before then. That's because Best Buy owns Redline, so rather than having to wait for shipments to arrive from labels, Best Buy is able to send Redline product (such as TRC) to their stores through internal shipments. Most Best Buys will have the CD's in their stores by Wednesday, it's just a matter of whether they make it to the floor or not. Here's the tricky part regarding the street date...
Best Buy's official "internal" policy regarding street date states that "new release/street date lists" as posted by the home office on internal bulletin boards are the *only* dates the Best Buy stores are to use in determining whether a title may go to the floor yet. If there is no street date listed for a title on the "internal street date" list when the title is received in the store, it is allowed to go to the floor immediately.
Best Buy usually posts their official street date lists for music about a week ahead of time, and most titles don't arrive from the labels until a few days before street date, so the stores are forced by the internal policy to hold the
product until the "official street date".
But for some reason Best Buy hasn't posted its internal Nov. 20 list yet, so any title that arrives in the store before this list is posted *technically* is allowed to be put on the floor immediately. So even though TRC CD's are arriving in a box marked "hold until Nov. 20", Best Buy's own policy makes it such that employees may ignore that "official" street date because someone at the home office didn't post next week's new release schedule on time.

Now a note about "street dates", "violations", and "fines" for violations of street dates...

A store can't be "fined" for putting product on the shelf before street date. It's not against any law. The "street date" was established by the industry as a way to take away any advantages some stores may have because they have received their shipments first. Everybody gets to put the product on the shelf at the same time.
If a label decides to penalize a chain for "breaking street
date", it usually does so in the form of reduced ad dollars
that the label pays the chain. (Label often "share the cost" of the flyers that chains put out, as well as pay for prime space in retail locations.) Or they may delay the shipment of a future "hot" title for the chain--putting the chain at a competitive disadvantage on that release. Of course this could hurt the label as much as the chain, so it is rarely done. In fact, "penalties" for street date violations rarely, rarely occur unless a chain somehow blatantly advertises or announces the street date violation--such as an ad stating "get it here first" and the such. This is also why you often see CD's on the shelves at "independent" stores before street date--they generally don't get their shipments directly from the labels (usually from wholesalers), and they rarely receive any "co-op" ad dollars from the labels; so there's little way for the labels to "penalize" them.
And remember, since Best Buy OWNS Redline, surely they won't penalize themselves for putting Redline product on the shelves before street date. (Actually, Best Buy is more worried about establishing credibility for Redline as a label, and needs the support of other major chains to do it.

So the only reason Best Buy has any concern for street dates on its own Redline product is not out of fear of being penalized by Redline--they own it--but out of fear that other chains won't support the product on the label if they perceive an unfair advantage for Best Buy because it's naturally easier for Best Buy to put out the product first.--Hence the reason for the industry "street date" in
the first place.)

Hopefully this clarified some things...
...And yes, I work at a Best Buy; and yes, my store got the CD in and put it out based on the internal policy; and yes, I bought it already.
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