Now I am not 100% sure how pertinent or topical this is, but I heard of this story a little while ago and thought that it was somewhat interesting. I feel that it ties in very nicely with the recurring tales of how artists feel and what they do to cope. What is even better is that this story is about yet another big time musical artist; the one and only Boss.
Bruce Springsteen is a name that is synonymous with what is known as heartland rock. He and is backing band the E Street Band have been singing about America since the early 70s. Let us face the facts, if you do not know of The Boss and his E Street band you have obviously been living under a rock for the greater part of half a century and should be strung up by your ear lobes and beat with a rusty pole. Be that as it may, you need some learning thrown your way so I shall do what I have done previously and provide you with links to Wikipedia and The Boss' site which should provide you with all the relevant information you need.
Now Springsteen and his band are allied with a record label, Columbia Records to be specific, and to my knowledge have never had too many issues arise due to their agreements with said label. That being said, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are somewhat of a finely tuned business machine. They promote their own concerts and retain a decent portion of the marketing and distribution rights to their music. While they may be on good terms with their label, it must have still seemed prudent to Bruce to branch out a little bit. Back in December 2008, he struck a deal with corporate giant Wal-Mart that gave them exclusive rights to release his new greatest hits album and sell it for fairly cheap.
To start off, the majority of fans and consumers alike were strongly opposed to the creation of this agreement and I will tell you why. It was primarily due to the fact Springsteen is known for his advocacy of the blue collar workforce through his lyrical content and people see his deal with Wal-Mart contradictory to his message because of Wal-Mart's track record. Wal-Mart is famous for their disrespect of their low-wage employees, their refusal to recognize unions of any kind, and their working climates rife with discrimination. Their conduct paints a picture that does not exactly fit in with what Bruce Springsteen sings about. The Boss went on to admit that the deal was a huge mistake, but fans noted that he still did not pull out of the deal. Bruce Springsteen, one who is normally very good with executive decision-making, hurt his image a decent amount because of all of this. This just goes to show that while artists may make decisions to branch out and succeed tremendously, there are some times where it just is not the right decision and things backfire.
Source(s):
Bruce springsteen. In (2002). Wikipedia Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Springsteen
Byrne, D. (2007, December 18). David byrne's survival strategies for emerging artists — and
megastars. Wired, (16.01), Retrieved from
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne?currentPage=all
Clark, A. (2009, February 1). Springsteen says wal-mart album deal was mistake. The
Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/01/bruce-springsteen-
wal-mart
Derrick, L. (2008, December 25). Springsteen sells out -- to wal-mart!. The Huffington Post.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-derrick/springsteen-sells-
out--to_b_153441.html
Kreps, D. (2008, December 22). Bruce springsteen plans wal-mart only "greatest hits". Rolling
Stone, Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-plans-
wal-mart-only-greatest-hits-20081222
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