Distribution Games
When music labels search for trustworthy distributors in various countries, aspects of negotiation theories swirl around my mind. Think about this example for a minute. Major music label by the name X happens not to be that satisfied by cooperating with their main distributor - label Y - in Brazil. After years of ups and downs in retail sales by the label Y in distributing X's business & products across many music customers, troubled economic times disrupt the natural flow of sales revenues to label X. How much valuable time, it will take for label X to search (search costs), find, consider, contact & negotiate their enormous artist catalogue, and eventually trust a new business partner? New titles or scheduled releases will have to be postponed. This major event has occured quite a lot of times with independent labels desperately searching for new distributors. Should label X stick to its weak partner's future recovery plans, hope that the bad climate will va...