Walmart has informed the RIAA that it has had enough of high prices and low profits on CD sales and that the RIAA must lower prices or else.
Tensions are not as high now as they were last winter, but making sure Wal-Mart is happy remains one of the music industry's major priorities. That's because if Wal-Mart cut back on music, industry sales would suffer severely -- though Wal-Mart's shareholders would barely bat an eye. While Wal-Mart represents nearly twenty percent of major-label music sales, music represents only about two percent of Wal-Mart's total sales. "If they got out of selling music, it would mean nothing to them," says another label executive. "This keeps me awake at night."
I bet the lawers for RIAA are taking laxatives like candy these days. One can only hope this christmas is looking bleak for RIAA.