Wal-Mart Won’t Comment on AC/DC Deal
by June 16, 2008 12:00 am 88 views
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had another successful exclusive album launch for the week of June 9 as the 3-CD “Revelations” release from Journey sold 104,000 copies in its debut week and entered the Billboard charts at No. 5, topping the independent album list.
That’s not quite as good as The Eagles’ double-disc “Long Road out of Eden,” which sold 710,000 copies and debuted at No. 1 following its Oct. 22 exclusive release through Wal-Mart, but it was a 1,400 percent jump over the debut Journey’s last studio release.
But most intriguing to us were the latest reports that the next big exclusive album from Wal-Mart will involve rock legends AC/DC and a new studio release. Nobody has gotten confirmation on the record yet, though.
“As for the AC/DC partnership, we do not respond to speculation,” wrote Wal-Mart spokesperson Ashley Hardie in an e-mail.
It wouldn’t be the first arrangement between Wal-Mart and AC/DC if the reports are accurate. AC/DC released “Sight & Sound,” a double-album re-issue of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” and “Back in Black” along with a concert DVD exclusively through Wal-Mart in November.
“Sight & Sound” went as high as No. 13 on Billboard’s Hard Rock charts in January.
Wal-Mart has obviously found its target audience with exclusive releases of well-known artists whose fans still buy music in traditional format. We’re hoping two things: AC/DC rocks the shareholders convention in 2009, and that Wal-Mart doesn’t pick up on this New Kids on the Block comeback.