Columbia House Signs Deal With Custom CD Company

10/13/1998 2:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(10/13/98, 12 p.m. PDT) - Record clubs, the mail-order companies that offer consumers a chance to build their CD collections at an unbelievable low initial cost, have long been the bane of traditional the record retailer's existence. And record shop operators are not pleased to hear that the largest record club, Columbia House, has signed at deal with the Music Connection Corp. to offer consumers the ability to create their own custom-made CDs online through ColumbiaHouse.com or the Columbia House-owned Total E.

Although Columbia House is a joint-venture between giants Sony Music and the Warner Music Group, there is no word if Music Connection will gain access to the deep catalogs of the Sony and Warner labels.

For now, each custom CD can run up to 70 minutes long or include 20 songs. Prices range from $9.95 to $19.95, depending on the number of tracks ordered. While the selection of tracks is limited to the catalogs of various independent labels, you can still make yourself a fairly impressive compilation.

A quick scan of the site showed catalog titles by cult favorites as Big Star, the Buzzcocks, and Julian Cope. However, also available are such Beach Boys hits as "I Get Around" and "Sloop John B," and a number of Creedence Clearwater Revival classics including "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary."

Although the Creedence, Big Star, and Cope tracks are the original studio versions, it should be noted that in the case of the Beach Boys and the Buzzcocks, the recordings are inferior-sounding live takes.

While it remains to be seen if the custom-made CD concept will be embraced by consumers, music retailers left out of the loop by the deal are already angry.

"For them to make a deal with a record club is to pretty much signify that retailers are not necessary for them to do business," says Terry Currier, owner of the two-store Portland, Ore.-based Music Millennium chain and a member of the Coalition Of Independent Music Stores (CIMS).

"It doesn't create a fair playing field out there," he adds. "With record clubs doing it, it is kind of forcing people to join record clubs...In the future of downloading music, I think there is room in record stores, but it has to be done in a fashion where it works for the whole industry."

Asked if CIMS, which in an early incarnation battled the mighty Garth Brooks over the sale of used CDs, will take an official stand on the alliance between Columbia House and Music Connection, Currier adds, "You know we'll be talking about it."