BREAKING: Best Buy to Squeeze Out New Artists & Indie Labels

Word on the street is that Best Buy has handed down a new set of policies to music distributors regarding new release orders that will effectively cut-off the entry of new artists and independent label releases into their stores.  Reasons given include Best Buy’s belief that they are not getting “equal return” on initial orders, resulting from what they call “inflated forecasts.”

So what does this mean?

Those most affected will likely be new artists, particularly those on independent labels that cannot support forecasts that meet Best Buy’s new desired first-week sales threshold.   With indie music shops almost completely wiped-out by big-box retailers over the last few years, this leaves very few retail outlets for literally hundreds of indie labels and thousands of releases each year.  One could also speculate that this will only help expedite the transition from physical to digital music purchases.  We will continue to report on this story as it develops…