plant me
plant a CD (insert), grow a wildflower.
Wal-Mart and Universal Music Group have teamed up to release an eco-friendly CD insert that, when properly planted, will actually bloom into wildflowers. yes, the corporate giant wants to save the earth.
according to CNN:
In a speech broadcast to all of Wal-Mart’s facilities in November 2005, chief executive Lee Scott set several ambitious goals: Eliminate 30% of the energy used in stores and reduce solid waste from U.S. stores by 25% in three years. Wal-Mart says it will invest $500 million in sustainability projects, and the company has done a lot more than draw up targets. It has quickly become, for instance, the biggest seller of organic milk and the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world. It is working with suppliers to figure out ways to cut down on packaging and energy costs.
……hence the earth-friendly CD packaging.
Wal-Mart is fast becoming a clean, green, MEAN machine. they are family & earth friendly, yes. THEY are NOT musician friendly. the CD rack at Wal-Mart is a world of shrink-wrapped packages supposedly edited and cut for our protection. every retailer has the right not to carry something, but no retailer should be so big that they can effectively demand changes in music THEY want to sell to the world. record labels and musicians are pressured to redesign album covers, omit songs and even edit and change lyrics to have a piece of the music empire that is Wal-Mart. just check out the “clean” version of White Zombie’s Super Sexy Swinging Sounds
before Wal-Mart
after Wal-Mart
(hey Rob, love the leopard bikini. nice choice.)
don’t even get me started their edited lyrics!! it’s the artist’s music & i for one would like to hear what THEY have to say. (okay, by now you all know my disdain for Wal-Mart. shop mom & pop!! so, back to the mission at hand.) remember when you bought a CD and you had a choice: sleeves came in paper OR plastic? maybe Wal-Mart should get out of the music biz entirely & just let people download it? (legally of course.)
1 Comment
July 22, 2008 at 3:51 am
WalMart does so much crap to music it ain’t funny! They even banned Sheryl Crow for a while because she said something about WalMart in her lyrics. I love this post, good work!