Best Buy To Sell Albums by Local and Unsigned Artists; The Laughter of a Child Still The “Best Buy” Of All

Having just announced its experimental foray into selling vinyl again (TMT News), electronics retail giant and owner of the largest private geek army in the world Best Buy has announced plans to stock CDs by local and unsigned bands. Playing a nice foil to Wal-Mart’s strategy of not carrying any album without an American flag or Steve Perry on the cover, Best Buy has partnered with RegionalCD.net to inject local flavor into select franchises.

According to CMJ, bands are judged on their Internet exposure via MySpace and Facebook, as well as their local followings and live performances. Artists will be paid a cut for each CD they sell, starting off with “light orders at select stores — instead of costly overstocking — and let demand dictate the proper inventory levels for each location,” says Best Buy.

Whether Best Buy’s intention is to find the next Vampire Weekend, move in on the independent record stores, or simply to please the local bar band crowd with heaps of CDs from the winner of Senor Frog’s Summer Band Battle Bone-anza remains to be seen. Either way, it’s always interesting and frightening when the big boys dip their toes in the indie pool.

Take the plunge here, if you dream of being shelf-mates with Carrie Underwood.

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