Music's Fear of January....

By BrianSTL

Visiting stores since the holidays has been a pretty depressing activity. With all the leftover Cd's and vinyl who weren't chosen as a holiday gift this year as well as the both jaded and bored employees waiting for someone to walk through their store's door, man January sucks. Does it have to though?

I have talked to several employees over the last week and a half, and they all seem agitated that record labels don't release substantially exciting records over the weeks following the holidays. They feel that a big release will bring in more traffic and people might be looking to use their gift cards or holiday money at their stores. Apparently, the stores have been making their feelings known about this issue for years, but to no success. How big of a risk would it be for a major label to release one of their bigger releases of the year during this time, when the other labels are quiet? It is true that many kids have iTunes gift cards, store gift cards, money from grandma and grandpa, all waiting to be used on the first thing that hits them after the holiday. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to make a big splash during a quiet time?