You Don't Have to Buy AC/DC's "Black Ice" at Wal-Mart

AC/DC, "It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock And Roll" (since I couldn't embed any of the new videos)

Yes, you heard right: Silver Platters has imported compact disc versions of the AC/DC album Black Ice. You know, the one that Wal-Mart supposedly has exclusive rights to in CD form. But independent record stores in Seattle (and I suspect outside of Seattle as well) were not about to take this monopolizing lying down. So Silver Platters president Mike Batt got the cooperative of independent record stores to which he belongs to find a distributor, and are now receiving shipments of what are mostly Australian import versions of the album. If you want one, you can get it for $10.99. That is, when they get more in stock. Because the album's doing so well that it's sold out right now. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, sells the album for $11.88.

Though other stores have had a slightly harder time getting their hands on Black Ice, Silver Platters isn't the only store that's resorted to (ahem) alternative means of acquiring import copies of what is, I hear, a very solid record. You can always try Easy Street Records, who, last I checked, managed to get ahold of a small handful of copies (they have one copy left in West Seattle), or Sonic Boom, whose Number 10 position on the Ballard Top 25 Sellers list says, "UP YOURS WAL-MART: Always low wages, always." Which probably means they have a few copies hidden up their sleeve as well. Though on the Capitol Hill list, it just says, "AC/DC: Black Ice" on position #24, straight up.

Apparently, this isn't unheard of. Once, Mike Batt went to two Best Buys to buy out all the copies of that Beatles DVD exclusive and sold them in his store to make a statement about monopolies and his opinion of them. Which is bad. And I can imagine that discerning, media-savvy music fans who have a problem with sweatshop labor, outsourcing, low wages without benefits, sexism, and the aesthetic horrors of big box stores in general are effin' thrilled not to be forced to enter, let alone support, Wal-Mart. That said, I don't blame the band for doing what I hope was the best thing for their economic bottom line. But if I were a huge AC/DC fan (and I know some of you out there are), I'd go see 'em on tour and buy the album from an independent record store. They play Tacoma Dome November 30 for $89.50 (Too rich for my blood, but then again, it is their first world tour in seven years).

Soooo...where did you buy your copy of Black Ice?