THE FATAL BLOW

In what might appear to be good news for CD buyers, the Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company which is owned by Vivendi Universal, said on September 4 that it would cut prices on compact discs by as much as 30 percent in an aggressive attempt to lure consumers back into record shops. The reality of this policy is that it will bankrupt independent retailers who are among the last places where one can purchase recordings of classical music.

No store, either independently owned or part of a chain, makes a sufficient profit on classical music to remain in business, and many of the discount chains have long abandoned any classical selection. A chain store may offer a complete selection of the recordings of Charlotte Church or Andrea Bocelli or the Three Schnorrers, but if you are searching for Furtwängler's 1943 recording of the Eroica as (rather than the 1954 recording), some slackjawed kid at a chain store will look at you as if you'd asked for moon cheese.

The sudden drop in prices hurts independent retailers because the new wholesale price does not apply retroactively. A good-sized store might have a million dollars tied up in inventory, and if they paid $12.02 for each CD and are now forced to sell them for $12.98, the margin of 98¢ for each CD is scarcely enough to pay for basic overhead, let alone the wages of employees. CDs which do not sell are returned to the wholesaler, only now the CDs which cost the shop $12.02 will be given a return credit of $9.09. This is of no consequence to chain stores, because they sell the latest releases by Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears when they're first issued, but don't bother to maintain any inventory of older artists or catalogue.

But the entertainment industry doesn't care about the independent merchants. If the local outlet for Chandos or Summit or Nimbus recordings withers away, that's less competition for the multinational giants. Once the music of Louis Spohr becomes unavailable at any price, once Mikhail Glinka is completely forgotten, then one will be left with the choice of listening to what someone at Geffen Records or Def Jam thinks you should hear or listening to the entertainment news. ("Flash! This just in! Cameron Diaz has hurt her nose while surfing! Details at eleven!")

Visit your local independent record shop today to bid them farewell.