A new independent start-up label, 180 Music, is partnering with Target (TGT) to release 15 adult contemporary CDs in all of the companies 1,449 stores, beginning on February 25. The CDs will be offered a $9.99 each. They won't be made available for digital downloads. I think that's a mistake, but also possibly a message being sent to the general industry.
With many of the labels not interested in pursuing aging stars, the stars have taken it upon themselves to partner directly with the retailers.
This isn't the first time this has happened, but it is the sign of a growing trend. Wal-Mart's release of the Garth Brooks collection for the holidays, along with 
distributing music for The Eagles, among others.
According to 180 Music founder and chief executive officer Jim Brandmeier, "A lot of legendary adult artists have been ignored and the adult audience has been ignored as well, so we're going to put those two things together for artists to express themselves."
Photo by Patrick O' Donnell
These types of deals can also be much more profitable for the artist as they can make more than the usual $1 to $2 an album.
While this probably isn't a big deal for the record labels, because they couldn't support the artists because of slow down in sales, but it does show other artists that there are other ways besides the labels to make money and distribute their work.
Others have already been using social-networking Web sites to promote their works and some have actually broken records doing it. This is another outlet besides the Internet that is making the music industry labels look less needed. That can't be good news for them, but it is good news for the artists.
With the Target deal some of the artists included in the first fifteen CDs released are Carole King, David Cassidy, Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, Kenny Loggins, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, among others.
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