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Universal Music Gets Hip to Web Sales


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Universal Music Gets Hip to Web Sales

9 minutes ago

By Chris Morris

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Perceiving a Web-based opening in a shrinking retail universe, Universal Music Enterprises is launching an Internet-only catalog imprint, Hip-O Select.

The collector-oriented label will offer limited-edition packages that might not be able to find a home in the racks. It is similar in inspiration and intent to Warner Music Group's 5-year-old Rhino Handmade.

UME president Bruce Resnikoff notes, "There is still a yearning for physical product in a world where the business is shifting from a physical world to a downloading world ... There's been a huge transition from the traditional retailer to the big-box stores. There has been a big squeeze on product.

"It's leaving more and more product that has no home," Resnikoff continues. "What we're trying to do is not see that product get lost."

UME senior VP Pat Lawrence says, "If the ultimate market for some of these is only 2,500 or 5,000 or 7,500, it just doesn't make any economic sense to float them through retail."

Hip-O Select product will be available, in numbered editions of 10,000 copies or less, only at the label's Web site, hip-oselect.com. The first title will be available for sale April 1. The collection is "Tear It Up," the complete Coral Records output of '50s rockabilly unit Johnny Burnette & the Rock 'n' Roll Trio.

Other spring releases will include "Get It While You Can: The Legendary Sessions," an expanded edition of the out-of-print 1993 compilation of '60s sides by soul singer Howard Tate, and "96 in the Shade," a 1977 collection by reggae act Third World. The titles are yet to be scheduled.

Lawrence says Hip-O Select will offer a terrific opportunity for UME to address Universal Music Group's enormous catalog.

" the ability to delve deeper in, for example, Island reggae or the Motown catalog or Chess blues, our A&R guys are just going berserk," Lawrence says.

Lawrence anticipates that once the imprint is up and running, it will deliver one or two new releases every week. He believes Hip-O Select will issue about 75 to 100 titles -- from single-disc collections to boxed sets -- in 2005.

He notes that the label's production costs are the same as for other CDs, if not higher. The cost to consumers will be around $20 per disc. But Lawrence says that price tag is minuscule compared with what out-of-print titles are currently fetching on the Web.

"Some fans might think $20 is too much for a CD," Lawrence notes, "but not in comparison to $200 on eBay."

Resnikoff does not discount the idea of taking Hip-O Select releases to brick-and-mortar retailers in the future.

He says, "It'll make money for us and for the artists who are not selling records in many cases and open the door for opportunities to bring this product to a broader retail environment after we show some modicum of success through Hip-O Select."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...dc&e=1&ncid=689

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:shut up:

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