The times they aren't a chainin': HMV ditches Dylan

The thing is he himself has pointed out he never claimed to be (or indeed want to be) any kind of left wing anti-corporate counter-culture figure. It was just something people made him out to be based on a small number of his songs at a crucial point during the sixties.

I can't say I'm especially for or against Dylan but this is hardly inconsistent behaviour and it seems a bit pointless to chastise him for betraying principles he never claimed to have in the first place.

Was Dylan making a point? Probably no. Probably he was just making money (and maybe, to an extent, trying to dispell the myth about himself).

To be honest, I think HMV have thrown their toys out the pram but I don't really blame them for being annoyed. I doubt it'll affect their sales as I think by now people either own Bob Dylan's back catalogue or don't plan to buy it.

As to DiS' question of whether HMV should cater for thier customers rather than protest over a single record, then maybe yes, but shouldn't Bob Dylan make his record available for his fans everywhere?

For what it's worth I personally think it's abhorrent that anyone'd with a shred of principle or dignity would sign a deal to sell in one chain only but then I'm not Bob Dylan.

costa coffee tastes like ass. sure starbucks is overpriced and omnipresent, but their food and coffee is the best going and at least they do some charitable stuff and serve fair trade coffee and food. the rage against the machine fans can piss off and drink their coffee somewhere else and keep their white dreadlocked faces out of mine.

Dylan's shit, who cares

HMV are seriously the worst record store chain in the world (excepting Tower Records). Hideously over-priced. Most albums near £15-22.

But y'know...that's not linked to the rise in downloading AT ALL...

Hmmm I don't agree with you Sean. In real terms, albums cost £26 on average 30 years ago. It's stupid to expect HMV and Virgin to sell their albums at a loss like the Supermarkets do - if they didn't make any money on CDs and DVDs and Games then they wouldn't exist - with the supermarkets they can whack on an extra 2p to the price of baked beans and make millions! This is partly why tescos have been so successful - they've got 'bums in seats'. I find it unbelievable when people moan about the price of music in chains when they a) have sales on pretty much every month, where you can always find albums/DVDs/games for less than a tenner, and sometimes 2.99 or less, b) when new release albums are rarely more than £11.99, singles no more than 2.99 c) they have such an incredible range and d) the staff are knowledable and passionate. I'm a massive fan of indie stores as well, but sadly all the ones in Southampton where i'm from are shit (all 2 of them....). I recently went to Select A Disc in Nottingham and found the Turncoat 7" and iForward Russia! vinyl...and they had loads of good indie LPs that they couldn't shift and were selling off for a fiver... God I love record stores. Right, rant over...