I sent a copy of Donald Staz's note to a friend who is quite familiar with
the ways of record stores.  His reply follows:

>Nothing in the record industry makes any sense.  Why do record companies
>delete best selling titles?  Why do recordings come out as new releases
and
>are then deleted within two weeks?  Why do major recording labels
>'withhold' certain titles from American distribution, and, indeed, entire
>catalogs of recordings?  Why, when the cost of manufacturing a CD is
nearly
>nothing, do these same recordings charge the retailers more than 100 times
>the actual cost, yet pay the artists so poorly, if at all?  Why do
>Americans insist that all CD's be wrapped like surgical instruments and
>sealed like Tut's Tomb?  I could go on, but you get the idea.
>
>There are all kinds of reasons for that gentleman's enigma. Most of it has
>to do with the relationships between the distributors and the retailers:
>deals, extra dating on the bills, special discounts, etc.  Some retailers,
>such as Border's, do not actually order from the retail location, but
>rather do it 'centrally' to provide even product spread, better deals on
>bulk buying, and free shipping.  Sound Warehouse did this to a degree,
more
>or less (mostly less) successfully, as does Musicland/Sam Goody's/Media
>Play, and many others.  In centralized buying, if the central location is
>on what is known as 'auto replenishment,' whatever sells is immediately
>replaced one-to-one.  This obviates the need for 1) worry that the
outlet's
>buyer has missed re-odering a selling title 2) having a knowledgeable
buyer
>at all.  A savvy buyer noting that a poor selling disc, or series of
discs,
>has sold out should heave a huge sigh of relief and mark that title(s) as
>'Special Order Only' and not bring it back in.  An exception might be for
a
>new (or newer) release that the buyer wants to determine a sales history
>for - or the buyer/staff feels it is a worthy item and should be
>maintained, or that it is the ONLY recording of something important to
>music history/development.  To think that just because you have bought all
>of a title no one else would be interested in it is a little arrogant -
>however, if it sits in the bins for a year 'gathering moss,' then the
>buyer/staff/retail outlet is either too busy to notice or not doing their
>job right.  Being a buyer for classical, and a musician, and a music
lover,
>is very difficult - one becomes obsessed with the idea that it is ALL
>important (it IS) to the point that one feels protective of the stock,
>overlooking the basic fact that record retail is BUSINESS and that if it
>hasn't sold in 9 months to a year, then no one is interested.  The
>classical side of the record industry is a nightmare to begin with, what
>with virtual children running the companies (who the hell is the
>Furt-wrangler person...?) and MBA's (I can sell ANYTHING, 'cause I'm an
>MBA...) who know nothing of art, or performance, or taste - to the lack of
>interest, the difficulties of getting product (the minimum order
>requirements could drive one to a stroke) the cobweb-growing wait for
items
>to come in....it's hardly a wonder that some of us buyers clutch the stock
>to our chests and growl things like: 'you'll take this Beethoven Kreutzer
>Sonata from me when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.'  In a perfect
>world, there would be many superb performances of the Bach Organ works to
>replace the dust-collectors finally gone from the shelves, but that sadly
>isn't the case; we are in the era of the BBC classics...that's
>Brightman-Bocelli-Church.  The letter writer might want to send his
>questions to the Central Buying Department of Border's Book Store, or try
>to visit a real classical department with dedicated musical staff.