Target needs to get it together!

I went to my local Target this evening and had an interesting experience to say the least. Since it's December 14th, I made it my business to go purchase Tank's new album, Now or Never, and I was surprised to see that it was not on the shelves. I looked in the Rap and R&B section after noticing that the CD wasn't stocked with the new releases and it was not there either. The average consumer would have simply assumed that the CD was not in that particular store and left without it. Luckily, I'm not the typical consumer and I'm a Tank fan to the max so I decided to investigate the issue at hand.

I walked to the electronics department and the sales associate seemed eager to assist me. I politely asked, "Have you guys stocked your new releases yet?" And he replied "Yeah," so I followed up by asking him if they were done and he looked puzzled. I finally decided to stop beating around the bush and told him that Tank's CD was what I was looking for. He went to the back and promptly brought out a box and put it near the register. He hands me one Now or Never CD and turns to walk away. "Excuse me," I say. "I don't just want one. I want them on the shelf so other people can buy them too." He laughs, grabs a stack of the CDs and walks over to where the new releases are  showcased. To make a long story short, I got my Tank CD and I made sure that others in Carson, California have the opportunity to do the same.

I wonder why Ciara's new CD, Basic Instinct, was on display along with Nicki Minaj, Avant and others while Tank's was boxed up in the back. The purpose of this post is to show how tough it is for musicians to make a living these days. If their albums aren't being leaked, they're not being sold in stores properly. I've been a Tank fan since the eighth grade when I would stay up late to watch the "Maybe I Deserve" video so it's no surprise that a person like me would go out of the way to purchase his album. But what about other people? They probably differ. It's so simple to click "download" on a computer and obtain new music these days so artists are forced to find other ways to make money. It's just sad.

I previously wrote an article/blog about whether or not an artist's amount of twitter followers measure their success and this outing at Target reminded me of it. As a fan of good music, I vow to actually go out and purchase albums to ensure that artists that I love stay relevant. Are there any artists that you'd make a sales associate at Target go check the back for? If so, please share in the comment section.

Thanks for reading,

Alexandria B.