mrpayroll

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050819/en_nm/brooks_dc

By Melinda Newman
Fri Aug 19, 4:44 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Retired country star Garth Brooks has signed a multi-year, exclusive pact with Wal-Mart, making the world's biggest retailer and its Sam's Clubs and Walmart.com outlets the only places where his music will be commercially available.

The deal with Brooks marks the first time an artist -- and certainly a superstar -- has aligned himself and his entire catalog with one chain. (A number of other retailers have started labels, but they were never exclusive to the retailer and most have shut down).

Speculation about a pact brewing between Brooks and Wal-Mart grew after the artist performed at a shareholders meeting June 3 in Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart's hometown. However, until now, both sides have declined to acknowledge that they had made a deal.

Brooks told Billboard that he's not ready to discuss details of the Wal-Mart deal until "we get our ducks a row," but added that the forthcoming releases, "in everything from cost to content, will be an amazing deal for the Garth fan."

The initial deal is believed to cover only catalog since Brooks had vowed to remain retired from performing and recording new material until his youngest daughter graduates from high school in 2015, by which stage he will be 53.

Then, he has said he'll reevaluate the marketplace and his desire to return to the music recording industry. Brooks' last studio album, 2001's "Scarecrow," has sold 2.9 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Brooks' departure from Capitol Nashville, his label home since 1989, paved the way for the Wal-Mart deal. Capitol and Brooks dissolved their licensing deal in June. Brooks owns his masters, leaving him free to shop for a new deal. His catalog includes 15 projects. Capitol parent EMI can sell remaining Brooks' titles it already had in the pipeline to retailers prior to the June deal, but it can manufacture no more units.

Although neither Brooks nor Wal-Mart would comment on the first arrival under the pact, industry sources say that it will be a multiple-disc box set including previously unreleased material. The set will hit shelves in late fall and will retail at around $25.

Such a project, because it is not available to all retailers, would not be eligible for the Billboard 200 album chart, but would appear on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart, which appears on http://www.Billboard.com.

Reuters/Billboard


Usually don't post about Country/Western, but this is kind of interesting.

Chris

cungar

I'm sure the world is waiting for a 53 year old overweight bald man to take them by storm.

tommy28

i guess you never saw Garth in concert?

Rogue588

Too funny...Garth, that is.

cungar

You're quite right about that.

Brain Stew

Garth VADER!!!

Cusm

Please let her daughter flunk a few grades. How would her dropping out of school affect this?

Michael Corvin

You gotta admit, next to Billy Joel, he is the only artist that has kept his word on retirement.

cungar

I was going to say, despite the fact that I'm not a fan, I admire him for getting out while he was ahead. There's scores of artists who would have better legacies if they skipped the crap they released after their classic albums. Elton John (should have quit in 1975), Paul McCartney (should have quit in 1973), Bob Seger, Sting, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan etc.

tommy28

figured.

Goldberg74

I'll agree with you on all of them except for Sting and Elton John.

To me they've made better music in the last 15-20 years that they did before that.

... wonder if Trisha Yearwood will follow him and go with Wal*Mart as well. Time will tell.

DRG

But what about Chris Gaines?

Goldberg74

I don't if I should say this out loud...

... but I actually have that album.

MovieExchange

What was his "word," seeing as he's done numerous tours with Elton John?

And now we have....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051109/.../music_joel_dc

A solo tour starting in January

Flynn

Heh, heh heh - me too. At the bottom of a very deep container... hidden away...

Decker

His "word" was that he wouldn't write and record any more pop music. He sang as much on the last song on River Of Dreams in 1993 and he hasn't. Still he's toured pretty consistantly since and never promised that he wouldn't. Also that article is wrong about how long it's been since his last solo tour. I saw him as a solo headliner in Indy in 1999 in what was called is 2000 Years tour.
Glad to see he's capping ticket prices at something so reasonable. Last April in an event that never happened secondary to his alcohol relapse, he was charging $375 per ticket to his show at the Hard Rock.

Sorry for the total thread hijack, but I couldn't let Billy Joel go undefended.