College radio December 9, 2008
Posted by thegateoftheangels in : Uncategorized , trackbackCMJ (College Music Journal) Launches an uninspired e-store. Could they be any further off the mark?
The venerable college radio airplay and record charts data-collector and publisher (think the mini-Billboard of what was just once college music on college radio) has now crossed the line from publisher to e-retailer. They launched an e-store yesterday that has: movies, dvds, videogames, high fidelity audio discs, oh and music. Videogames, really? Well, it is a new Rock Band / Guitar Hero fake-it kind of world isn’t it? You can also find hd-dvd’s - you know the defunct kind.
all i can figure out as being cmj’s rationale for re-branding someone else’s stockpile and products (read on) is: 1) make extra revenue on the hype-inducing information it provides and 2) force more mileage out of it’s network traffic. this seems hardly applaudable in an time eon when being a me-to is hardly anything more than just being Machiavellian. further - it does disposed to throw the validity of their tracking information up in the air — imagine… if they see a better margin on a fussy run of cd’s from a certain label… what do they do? how do you trust that they aren’t hyping that to drive more sales to their e-store?
What is sad and uninspired is the juggernaut known as Billboard (magazine, website, publishing arm and data collector and top record chart publisher for the past billion years) does the same thing - it offers online links to their “preferred” sales channels. I would say they downplay it somewhat at least. And for Billboard it probably is not a significant revenue stream. Though, they offer the option to buy RINGTONES, too. Sad, huh. Yes it is.
Should data collectors and reporters of data and blatant artist hype generators really be on both sides of the artist like this? It’s the artist that is always further squeezed in these deals. How? Read on.
CMJ’s latest move stands in stark-contrast to their personal claim: to be the resource for the NEW MUSIC INDUSTRY. Huh? Where? The one Radiohead started? Oh, ok. I get it now 
So, CMJ just copied what another current-non-innovator (Billboard) did. It’s even worse cause they are just leveraging ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT’s ecommerce and shopping experience called theSTORE24. It’s Alliances distribution and products, it’s Alliances store, just re-branded in the disguise of CMJ’s website. Do people need another outlet to buy indie-major and major record releases? How unninovative can one get here? Retail must love you people as you siphon off what was once their lifeblood.
Furthermore, this of course does nothing for all the other artists that will never be spotlighted in a CMJ publication and probably never get into their (Alliance’s) acheter cialis store / distribution channels. CMJ’s paltry mostly industry related web traffic seems hardly a fit for an e-store. Compare them to pitchfork even on the mis-guided Alexa:
CMJ’s investment here does little for their real audience and has them continuing to remain doing absolutely nothing except for the select few artists inside their hype-machine.College Music Journal should check in with their audience and see why their badge registrations for the big CMJ MUSIC MARATHON this Fall are down so much this year (I must get an offer a week from them for a reduced rate full badge)… and focus their energies on their core mission/business and cast it’s net wider and farther vs. trying to just be uninspired and uninnovative and a ME-TO kinda company like Billboard by launching another rinky-dink online store.
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