There are some Wal Marts that play no music at all. Perhaps now with the establishment of WalMart Radio, this will change. But it shows the declining role of CD sales in the Wal Mart profile. Things would not have been allowed to reach this point in the old days.
At one time, Wal Mart was the #1 seller of music in the country. Not any more. That title goes to iTunes. There was a time when artists like The Eagles and Garth Brooks would sign exclusive deals with Wal Mart for their music. Now, U2 goes to iTunes, and when Garth signed with Sony, he specifically pointed out that for the first time, his new music would be available in other stores like Target. He also set up his own online distribution service called GhostTunes rather than deal with iTunes.
Does the establishment of WalMart radio mean that music is becoming more important at Wal Mart? I don't think so. They really tried to get into music downloads through WalMart.com, but they just can't compete with iTunes. So for employees, it may mean more musical variety in the workplace. It seems like there's an opportunity for record labels to become more active in using this in-store service to promote their music. Time will tell. But it's just another indication that the days of brick&mortar music distribution are over.
