It's Not Like The FCC And CRTC Revoking All Of Our Licenses Or Anything, But It's Close To It

Every product requires a distribution channel to its consumers, and the music business just lost a big one, on very short notice. Now, we know part of the toll, as Wal-Mart talked about getting out of the music business quite openly for the last year or so.

"It should've been expected," said Jeff Stoltman, a professor of marketing at Wayne State University. "The rate of decay of pre-recorded entertainment -- and especially music -- has been quick as technology has advanced so fast."

Crain's Detroit Business reporter Nancy Kaffer: Known for years as a music distributor with heavy ties to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Wal-Mart Canada, the company announced yesterday that it had agreed to sell the assets and inventory of its Wal-Mart-related North American music distribution operation to Amarillo, Tex.-based Anderson Partners, L.L.P. Dealings with Wal-Mart constituted about 70 percent of Handleman’s sales in the last fiscal year.

The music business' new best friends? Apple and Microsoft.