Independent Retailers’ Open Letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West About ‘Watch the Throne’ Exclusive

In response to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s decision to offer exclusive sales programs to iTunes and Best Buy for their forthcoming “Watch the Throne” LP, a number of independent retailers have written an open letter to the duo protesting the plan, calling it a “short-sighted strategy.

Dear Jay-Z and Kanye West,

Independent record stores serve our communities. Our passion is music, and we convey this to the millions of customers who come to our stores. That’s what we do.

Four years ago independent music stores across the country banded together to create Record Store Day. Our goal was to counter the negative media coverage about the supposed demise of record stores brought on by the closing of the Tower stores and to respond to the music business practices that fans deemed to be manipulative and onerous.

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A small-but-committed group of writers, bloggers and videographers that (mostly) exist and function all over the D.C. Metro area.