Jumping the gun
What this review neglects to mention is the domestic release of this Goldfrapp cd has been delayed until 2/21/06.
Yes you are reading that correctly, "Supernature" is not coming out in America until February of NEXT year.
I am assuming this PFM review ran for two reasons:
1) They decided that a pricey UK import was worth reviewing so they could be the first on the block, even though Mute Records told the members of the media to please wait on covering it until it is given a proper US release in 2006. A very limited number of people were given an advance copy of this cd so it’s a shame that (if this is the case for PFM) they decided to ignore the label request and review it anyway. Being the first to hype a record is I guess more important than following an industry standard.
2) Perhaps the PFM writer procured a copy of the import on their own and decided it wasn’t important to look up when it was actually coming out in the states. Good job.
Either way I can see both sides of this.
I have been the super fan who jumped on an import because I HAD to have it but I also know that when a big U.S. label is going to give an import a proper domestic release it will A) be hella cheaper B) probably have bonus tracks or material …which the Goldfrapp will have and C) a cease and desist type letter has probably been sent to retailers telling them to not bring in the import as a domestic version is coming soon. The latter information might sound odd to those of you who aren’t trapped in business side of the music world but an actual legal document gets sent to retailers in this situation telling them that any sale of this release as an import is punishable by law.
The really tricky un-cool part about PFM ignoring the proper street date of this cd is it puts stores in a very difficult situation. The 100,000+ people who read PFM a day will think this cd is out or soon to be out and they will want to buy it. Goldfrapp has a rabid fanbase so this kind of early press will create even a larger pressure at retail to carry the cd before they are suppose to.
So what you ask?
Record store sales have been at an all time low this summer so where there is high demand for a record, there is money to be made. Who can blame a store for carrying the import if their customers are begging for it and they can add some green to their register? Legal or not, a store has to do what it has to do in order to stay in business.
I don’t know who to be mad at. A label should know better than to release a cd months and months after the import comes out but Pitchfork has also been around long enough to know better than run a review 6 months before the cd is coming out in the states.
Thumbs down all around.
