I will say again that as a consumer, Amazon is usually wonderful. As a vendor, not so much... bits.blogs.nytimes/2014/05/23/amazon-escalates-its-battle-against-hachette/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0 It was not so long ago that Amazon closed my store without notice or discussion, then sent me multiple emails threatening to close my store if I didnt respond to their fulfillment requests. (Which I couldnt respond to because I couldnt get into my store because it no longer existed.) It took hundreds of emails to their Facebook page by my friends and colleagues on THIS page, as well as the intervention of several people who heard about it from friends and knew someone at the company, before I had my store front back. As a consumer, I would say over 50% of what I purchase in a year nowadays comes through Amazon - fast shipping, easy interface, good pricing and dependable reviews to guide me. But I believe they are going to do exactly what the music industry did when it failed to support the independent and smaller record stores - and then the less independent, larger record stores like Tower - because the industry was enthralled with the potentially larger numbers at generic accounts like Target. The music business managed to single-handedly, in moves the Justice Department ignored, destroy physical record sales in America by squeezing out the mom and pops and throwing all their resources behind the big chain stores -- who could care less, since their entire raison detre right now is to emulate the Amazon model (which is emulating the Walmart model) of being all things to all people. Music is a fraction of that, as are books - loads more money to be made from frozen vegetables and diapers. Just try finding someone at Target who can tell you what records you might like. If this continues - on the scale of Amazons current reach, which is so much bigger than it was even a couple of years ago - I think Amazon will become the snake that eats its own tail, eventually. It will take a while, but it will come. In the meantime, though, what is going to happen to us creative folks and and the smaller publishers? How long before they start squeezing the record companies, especially the independents? If I dont place my work on Amazon, people assume I no longer have a career. If I DO place my work there, by the time Amazon discounts it (I dont choose what they charge - they do) I just break even on most of it once Ive paid for product, taxes, and shipping to them. And if I anger them, one person can push one button and pretty much wipe me off their map. On a larger, more important scale, what does it say for a society if ONE retailer can destroy a publishing company, thereby destroying the work of its writers and editors? I realize this is a free market economy, but there are supposed to be safeguards in place to prevent exactly this sort of thing from happening. As a consumer, I find this a frustrating bind - if I purchase locally, I cant find a lot of the things I want, from food stuffs to clothing to records. Yet if I purchase from Amazon, no matter what I do Im supporting their policies. I have always believed that if a I am financially successful , it is my responsibility to give back - to the country, to the community, to the arts, which nourish our souls and make life more than just a waiting room. I find it sadly reprehensible that a giant corporation such as this forgets all about noblesse oblige, and instead of supporting the arts as it should be - given its position and that much of that position has come FROM the arts - it seeks to destroy the very hand that fed it. I will be interested to see if my store stays up...
Posted on: Fri, 23 May 2014 13:24:17 +0000
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