November 29, 2011
Line managers of sales staff might sympathise with Universal Music. Although plenty of managers will have sales staff who just won’t work hard enough, or refuse to up-sell, few will have to deal with staff issuing statements discouraging customers from buying their products.
But this is just what Elvis Costello has done - taking to his website to tell fans that the latest boxset of his records, The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook, is overpriced to the point of appearing to be a satire, and urging those who had considered buying it to buy a Louis Armstrong collection instead. Of Louis Armstrong, Costello says, “Frankly, the music is vastly superior”.
The message from Costello to Universal Music is clear: don’t let me be misunderstood, I’m not your toy. He certainly didn’t consider the price a brilliant mistake and couldn’t just dismiss it, by saying “accidents will happen”. His fans, who will have names including Alison and Veronica, will… you get the point.
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