HMV in Canada has pulled all Alanis Morissette albums off its shelves in protest at an agreement reached between her record label and coffee chain Starbucks over the sale of a new album.
Warners division Maverick have given Starbucks exclusive rights to sell a new acoustic version of Morissette's 1995 hit album 'Jagged Little Pill' via its in-store music programme. HMV say they oppose any exclusivity deal of this kind, and stopped selling any of the singer's work as soon as the exclusivity deal began yesterday.
HMV Canada have long protested against record companies entering into exclusivity deals with specific retailers. Back in 2003 the retailer had a long running boycott of Rolling Stones products after the band did an exclusivity deal with rival retailer Best Buy.