The Canadian division of HMV is sticking to its position of opposing artists entering into exclusive deals with certain retailers by removing all Bob Dylan albums from its stores. That move follows Dylan's exclusivity deal with coffee chain Starbucks, which, as previously reported, has secured the exclusive rights to sell live album 'Bob Dylan: Live At The Gaslight 1962' for a massive eighteen months. That album went on sale at 4600 Starbucks stores across the US and Canada at the end of last month.
Many traditional music retailers have expressed concerns at the growing tendency of artists to enter exclusivity deals with one or another chain, especially when those chains are non-specialist music stores. However HMV Canada has been most proactive in expressing their opposition to the deals, previously removing both the Rolling Stones and Alanis Morrisette product from their stores while those artists participating in exclusive deals with rival retailers.
How big an impact HMV's ban on Dylan will have on him and those businesses that release his work remains to be seen. It will certainly cause some headaches for Sony division Columbia who are about to release the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated Dylan documentary, and to the publishers of the book that accompanies that documentary and of the paperback version of Dylan's best-selling memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, both of which would normally be stocked in the books section of a major music retailer like HMV. However, insiders say the ban would only be really effective if HMV's US division, or other high street record stores, all of whom are known to dislike exclusivity deals, were to follow suit. However, they have failed to do so when HMV Canada previously withdrew stock, and few think it is likely they will do so now.
The good news for Dylan fans, is that Camden's Proud Gallery aren't entering into the debate on the pros or cons of signing exclusivity deals with Starbucks, and as such the Official Bob Dylan Exhibition will open there tomorrow night as planned. Press info on that from Idea Generation.