hmv Canada Discounts Beyoncé

hmv Canada Discounts Beyoncé

Beyoncé's new album hits the shelves of hmv Canada at a special price,
as a thank-you to fans for their patience.


TORONTO, Dec. 20, 2013 /CNW/ - With less than a week left for holiday
shopping, hmv Canada, the country's premiere retail destination for music and entertainment,
is pleased to have another blockbuster release and promotion to offer
its customers for their gifting needs. Beyoncé's surprise release of her new self-titled album will be available
physically in all hmv Canada retail locations on December 20(th), 2013.



The album which dropped unexpectedly, last Friday, was initially only
available for download through one distributor. The release and
subsequent limitation of its purchase to iTunes came as surprise to most physical retailers. "It's a bit alarming that
an artist would alienate the physical market consumer when they still
represent over 65% of the market-share of sales." stated Dan Kuczkowski
Vice President of Purchasing, hmv Canada. "Our stores were inundated
with requests for the CD this week and unfortunately we could not
accommodate them."



hmv Canada, who over the last decade has been no stranger to boycotting
the sales of artists who engaged in the exclusive distribution of their
products, elected to take a different approach this time around. "Past
boycotts by hmv revolved around artists that made exclusive content
available to only one retailer. Our customers come first to us and not
selling a nationally available product would prove a disservice to
them" said Nick Williams, President and CEO, hmv Canada. "We feel it is
unfair that our customers were not given the chance to purchase the
product in its physical form and have discounted the CD below the
digital retail price as both a thank you and an apology to them."



While Beyoncé was saved the wrath of Scrooge this time around, hmv Canada will
continue to monitor these types of exclusives and treat them on a case
by case basis.



The two-disc package, including both the full length CD plus bonus DVD,
will retail at $13.99 in hmv locations across the country until
December 24(th), 2013.


About hmv Canada


hmv Canada's first store opened in 1986, from which it has grown to
become a Canadian entertainment market leader with 111 stores from
Newfoundland to British Columbia, including flagship locations in
Toronto, Edmonton, and Montreal. hmv Canada is an innovator in its
market, launching in 2009 hmvdigital.ca its digital music store, in 2010, the purehmv customer rewards program, which has attracted over 1.5 million paid
cardholders. hmv has been named Canadian Music Retailer of the Year
for the past 21 years, and has also been recognized as the Canadian
Entertainment Network DVD Retailer of the Year. In July 2011,
Re:Capital Canada, a subsidiary of Hilco Capital, acquired hmv Canada
from the UK's HMV Group plc.


SOURCE HMV Canada Inc.

HMV Canada Inc.

CONTACT: hmv Canada
Elyssa Macri
emacri@hmv.ca
416.620.6618 ext. 716


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