WAL-MART: WILL THEY
OR WON'T THEY?
With new releases by Eminem and Destiny's Child moving up their street dates to Friday (11/12) and Monday (11/15), respectively, all eyes are on Wal-Mart as to whether the big box retailer will also jump the gun on albums by Chingy and Lil Jon, both slated for release a week from Tuesday (11/16).
Like his last two releases, Interscope has moved up Eminem's Encore from its original date of Nov. 16 to Friday, Nov. 12, while Columbia has changed the date of its Destiny's Child album, Destiny Fulfilled, from Nov. 16 to Monday, Nov. 15. Both Chingy's Powerballin' (Capitol) and Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz' Crunk Juice (TVT) are currently still scheduled to hit retail on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
Meanwhile, wonderers are wondering whether Wal-Mart will go with all four releases on its planned in-store pallette this Friday, which would play havoc with next week's chart, when Mercury Nashville's Shania Twain, DreamWorks Nashville's Toby Keith and Jive/ZLG 's Britney Spears will all debut with greatest hits packages hitting the street tomorrow.
If Wal-Mart does break street date on the three other releases, would retailers like Best Buy, Target and Trans World be expected to follow in short order?
As one retailer put it: "We would never be the first to break street date, but we won't be third."
At any rate, Eminem will undoubtedly top next week's album chart, though the early street dates will certainly dilute sales of the Chingy and Lil Jon albums, which are now spread out over two weeks.
