media markt & metal commercialism

[einride]

oh man. so europe's biggest chain of consumer electronics superstores just opened a huge place in my town and i just went there with family to check out what all the fuss is about, because they're making a big deal of this GRAND OPENING and whatnot. the store is absolutely ridiculous on a scale i think wouldn't impress some of you from america or more densely populated european countries, but for me from a humble northern town it was a "holy shit how the fuck can they stock this many televisions and refrigerators and 40 brands of cd-r discs at once" type experience

the point, anyway, is i strolled over to their cd section, amazed that someone even sells music cd's these days, and they had a "hard rock/alternative" section so i was like "heh let's laugh at their crappy selection of in flames, europe, judas priest best of albums and metallica"

BUT! to my total amazement, it turns out they have a full selection of bathory and darkthrone, deathspell omega, watain, funeral mist, terrorizer, literally STACKS of "left hand path", wolves in the throne room, hellhammer, immortal, enslaved, mayhem, nagelfar, even underground swedish bands like tribulation, isole and enforcer

honestly what the hell. i don't really mind, i guess, even though i would rather support small indie record stores, but something just breaks in my mind when i see this giant bastion of consumerism flaunting super special red label prices on "deathcrush". who goes to a place like this to get their hellhammer demo reissue cd's? well, me for one i guess, but you know? it's just... strange?

anyways i end up buying hellhammer, deathspell omega, cult of luna and terrorizer cd's for like 10 bucks each

 

[lurch70]

BUT! to my total amazement, it turns out they have a full selection of bathory and darkthrone, deathspell omega, watain, funeral mist, terrorizer, literally STACKS of "left hand path", wolves in the throne room, hellhammer, immortal, enslaved, mayhem, nagelfar, even underground swedish bands like tribulation, isole and enforcer

isn't that stuff like selling Britney Spears and Pussycat Dolls cd's in the US ...

 

[Tranquillian]

It's a german store-chain. They probably have the same selection of wares in all countries.

 

[einride]

It's a german store-chain. They probably have the same selection of wares in all countries.

of course they don't, at least not with cd's and dvd's. you don't reckon they would have like twelve shelves of "svensk musik" in germany or dvd's with swedish speech and subtitles? i also don't think enforcer or isole would sell very well in mainland europe, but the point isn't which stores carry the cd's, it is that they even have any underground metal at all

 

[Demilich]

I don't get how they actually figure they'll sell enough of that stuff to make it worth the space it takes up, but whatever works!

I guess I'd appreciate finding such a selection at a big chain store, though in my experience they always charge at least 2.5x as much as a good web distro.

of course they don't, at least not with cd's and dvd's. you don't reckon they would have like twelve shelves of "svensk musik" in germany or dvd's with swedish speech and subtitles?

Its entirely likely that each store has a music guy who does the ordering for that section, maybe they happened to hire a guy who really knows his shit when it comes to metal?

 

[Tranquillian]

of course they don't, at least not with cd's and dvd's. you don't reckon they would have like twelve shelves of "svensk musik" in germany or dvd's with swedish speech and subtitles? i also don't think enforcer or isole would sell very well in mainland europe, but the point isn't which stores carry the cd's, it is that they even have any underground metal at all

I still think most of it is a heritage of the german parenthood. Still, I agree with you on the undergroundness. Mediamarkt in my town has a better selection than the only other "real" musicstore we have left.

 

[einride]

Its entirely likely that each store has a music guy who does the ordering for that section, maybe they happened to hire a guy who really knows his shit when it comes to metal?

maybe. i think probably they just order big boxes of whatever the distributors feel like sending somehow, i don't know

 

[dorian gray]

isn't that stuff like selling Britney Spears and Pussycat Dolls cd's in the US ...

lol I was going to say this.

Speaking of this situ, though: when I don't have much going on at work, I might stop at the local Best Buy and peruse the wares. I always look for the same handful of obscure bands just for amusement. The only time I ever found something (a 3 album) was at a random BB in Bowling Green, KY of all places.

I almost bought the latest Mastodon album though based on what some of you fags said recently. Then I didn't...based on what the other half of you fags said about it. Stupid RC.

 

[einride]

i really like the idea of being able to walk into a store, browse a physical cd section to find something cool, and still have sub-$20 prices

i don't like the idea of that store being a multinational faceless giant, but you know, that's where we're heading and who am i to stop it. at least i'm not buying from itunes store or something stupid like that

 

[dorian gray]

Freaking itunes. I don't even know what to say.
Any time I attempt to walk into the Apple store, I have to immediately walk back out for fear of being arrested for assault and battery.

 

[Reign in Acai]

While BestBuy/Wal*Mart has made music retailers a thing of the past, L.A still has Amoeba Records and Sadistic Intent's "Dark Realm Records" to sift through albums in style. Though the latter is struggling to stay afloat due to lack of business and local churches attempting to put them under via fallacious pretenses. A pity, I say.

 

[dorian gray]

Churches? For real?

 

[Reign in Acai]

According to one of the lads from Sadistik Intent who I spoke with, the church across the street went to city hall claiming it was a center for cult sacrifices & other rituals.

Yay for religious tolerance.

 

[Ars Magna]

A pity, indeed. That was a GREAT store (I say was because I've olny been there once and it was a lifetime ago). I'm honestly surprised it is still there. What's it been for them...15 years in business?

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

oh man. so europe's biggest chain of consumer electronics superstores just opened a huge place in my town and i just went there with family to check out what all the fuss is about, because they're making a big deal of this GRAND OPENING and whatnot. the store is absolutely ridiculous on a scale i think wouldn't impress some of you from america or more densely populated european countries, but for me from a humble northern town it was a "holy shit how the fuck can they stock this many televisions and refrigerators and 40 brands of cd-r discs at once" type experience

At the last grand opening of a media markt in berlin, they opened, people got trampled to death and were beating each other over cheap shit and then riot police came in and had to beat the crowd into submission to get them out of the store.

That was within 60 minutes.

anyways i end up buying hellhammer, deathspell omega, cult of luna and terrorizer cd's for like 10 bucks each

Wow, most CDs at media markt start at 10-15 euros, everything else is at least 25% more expensive except the pinacle of cheap chinese products.

I don't get how they actually figure they'll sell enough of that stuff to make it worth the space it takes up, but whatever works! I guess I'd appreciate finding such a selection at a big chain store, though in my experience they always charge at least 2.5x as much as a good web distro.

Pretty much, and 2x as much as a normal store. Its all in marketing cheap products at a loss, and the real stuff is overpriced. People are fools.

Media Markt also has the most intelligence insulting ads ever.

They are still convenient when you need shit at short notice though, like printer ink.

 

[einride]

Wow, most CDs at media markt start at 10-15 euros, everything else is at least 25% more expensive except the pinacle of cheap chinese products.

the cd's i bought were between 6 and 12 euros, i now realize i kinda overpaid for the deathspell omega, which was the most expensive -- i didn't know it was so short.

At the last grand opening of a media markt in berlin, they opened, people got trampled to death and were beating each other over cheap shit and then riot police came in and had to beat the crowd into submission to get them out of the store.

stuff like that is disgusting, but not exactly media markt's fault. anyway, this was a more mellow affair i think, the actual real grand opening was thursday but today there was still a lot of people around and they had free hotdogs


also if you think media markt is "more expensive than other stores" you should come to sweden sometime and check out our "other stores"


EDIT: would it KILL them to carry pentax lenses though

 

[Ars Magna]

they had free hotdogs

For reasons unknown, I find the fact that they do this sort of thing in Sweden very interesting.

 

[Tranquillian]

For reasons unknown, I find the fact that they do this sort of thing in Sweden very interesting.

Because Sweden ... .... .... ? Fill in the dots for me please.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Because Swedish people eat horses.

 

[MFJ]

Because Sweden ... .... .... ? Fill in the dots for me please.

Because Sweden is a nation of people who love hot dogs. Just like all of Scandinavia