(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Nearly two months after Alanis Morissette's label, Maverick Records, announced that a 10th anniversary acoustic edition of her hit album "Jagged Little Pill" will be sold at Starbucks coffee shops for 6 weeks before it is released to other retailers, more music distribution companys are coming out swinging.
The largest retail music chain in Canada, HMV, has reacted by pulling the singer's records from its shelves in protest of the decision.
"As of June 13, HMV will be removing all Alanis products from our stores, consistent with the views of the majority of our customers, and will be returning all Alanis product to the record company," the U.K.-based retailer's CEO, Humphrey Kadaner, wrote in an email to Canadian news outlets last week.
Morissette insisted that she was not trying to offend traditional retailers by offering her album through Starbucks.
"My intention certainly was not to ruffle feathers in that department although it's inevitable obviously," Morissette told the Boston Herald. "I have had a really sweet and positive relationship with retailers my entire career."
Morissette told the paper that Starbucks was, however, the right place for her fans to access her latest album.
The coffee purveyors have made their mark on the music industry as of late with their Hear Music unit, which successfully promoted Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company" album, as well as the debut of female rockers Antigone Rising.
Hear Music also put together compilation discs of Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams.
"When people walk into Starbucks – beyond the fact that they're focused on getting coffee – there's a real openness and a focus to behold and take in whatever may be on that counter, and I think this record is a special record," Morissette told the paper.
HMV isn't the only retailer to take offense with Morissette's Starbucks deal.
The 900-store Trans World retail chain has responding by refusing to stock the album. Independent music stores aren’t happy either. Joe Nardone Jr., Vice President of the small Philadelphia chain Gallery Of Sound told London paper The Guardian that he feels the deal is “hostile” and will drive a number of retailers to “carry the album, but probably bury it.”
The Canadian singer is currently performing in intimate venues throughout North America on her first ever acoustic tour, called "The Diamond Wink Tour." –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
