It’s Getting Better All The Time

Blogs and message boards (not to mention a mainstream writer or two) have been bemoaning the news that both the stereo and mono versions of the collection were going to be as scarce as hen’s teeth.

Not so, says a rep for EMI, who contacted me last evening to clear up some misconceptions.

Yesterday I wrote: “Several sources are reporting that the entire initial shipment of both the stereo version and the limited edition mono version of The Beatles box set has been sold. On pre-orders alone.”

EMI’s rep told me: “Amazon.com has sold out of its initial stock of The Beatles Stereo Box Set, but will have more in stock. The stereo box is currently available for pre-order from other retailers.”

Phew. And even sweeter, the rep also said that even though the entire 10,000-plus first run of the limited edition mono version is indeed sold out, EMI is likely to get additional copies of that to Amazon before the stereo set, possibly as soon as next week.

As far as the price for both collections, the rep said the $259.98 for the stereo box and $298.98 for the mono box I listed wasn’t necessarily the price fans would pay. Each retailer was allowed to set their own pricing for the remastered CDs and box sets. In fact, if you go directly to The Beatles’ official Web site, the collections are going for $219 and $269.

This morning I also learned that if you prefer to do your music buying the old fashioned way, you’re really going to be in luck.

Brandweek reports EMI is pulling out all the stops on placing both The Beatles box sets and remastered albums in the public eye.

The entire collection will be promoted at Restoration Hardware, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Ralph’s, Pathmark, 7-Eleven and Blockbuster.

“It will allow us to reach the everyday places people shop,” Bill Gagnon, senior vice president of catalog marketing for EMI Music North America told Brandweek. “We’re bringing the music to where they are.”

With brick and mortar music stores going the way of the Dodo, EMI is also looking to get much of its other product by contemporary acts like Coldplay and catalog artists like Nat King Cole onto shelves in places like grocery stores and drug stores.

For The Beatles campaign, Restoration Hardware will carry a full line of products including the remastered CDs, “The Beatles Rock Band,” a Beatles trivia game and “other Beatles booty in a Fab Four-furnished living room.”

Target and Best Buy are expected to set up Beatles sections in their stores and upscale retailer Bloomingdales will feature a deluxe edition of “Rock Band” that comes with replicas of John Lennon and George Harrison’s guitars and Paul McCartney’s bass complete with their own carrying cases.