(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — HMV stores in Canada have removed Bob Dylan albums from their shelves in protest to the singer’s deal to only sell his latest album in Starbucks coffee shops.
The folk rock legend signed an exclusive contract with the coffee giant to be the sole retailer of his album, “Live at the Gaslight 1962.”
A spokesman for HMV Canada told the Hollywood Reporter they were no longer stocking or displaying Dylan’s albums.
The chain has previously boycotted CD’s by Alanis Morissette and The Rolling Stones to protest exclusive deals.
When HMV Canada removed The Rolling Stones from its shelves in 2003, president Humphrey Kadaner told reporters that, “Any artists that choose to exclude HMV as a retailer for selling the product, this will be our response.”
The chain record store’s UK branch made a similar move when pop star Chris de Burgh signed an exclusive deal with Woolworths.
Dylan, once seen as the figurehead of the anti-establishment folk rock music, release the new CD through Starbucks in North America at the end of August. It contains remastered versions of 10 songs that were recorded at New York’s Gaslight Café and had only been available as bootlegs.
It is not the first time Dylan has joined forces with a major company to promote his music, however. Last year, an exclusive compilation CD of his work was sold by lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
