Good cheap wholesale music distributors

November 1, 2006 10:11 PM

I work at an independent used book and music shop in the US, and know about Daedalus and Scorpio. Help me find other wholesalers of classic jazz, blues, country, rock and punk CDs.

We've been doing well by supplementing the used CDs folks bring in with cheap imports and cutouts from Daedalus and Scorpio, but are looking for new things to offer to keep our customers stepping lively. Our main business is books, so we avoid competing head-on with new music stores by selling things they don't (we're the only place in town that regularly stocks Proper Music's excellent reissues, e.g.). We also like to keep all of our new (single) CD prices under $10. Any suggestions for other distributors we should look at? Searching pulls up broad lists like this that don't offer much useful info.

posted by mediareport to shopping (3 comments total)

How about labels that don't offer their CDs thru wholesalers? I'm thinking specifically of Numero Group, Fourier Transform, Blocks Blocks Blocks, and Static Caravan, though there are probably hundreds of such labels. You could also sign up for a bunch of labels' subsription services and sell those. Good music, nice packaging, (sometimes) small print runs. They may cost more but you'll be one of the few stores to carry their product.
posted by dobbs at 10:54 PM on November 1, 2006

Sure, labels that cover a lot of ground would work too, dobbs - thanks. Numero Group in particular looks very much like what I'm asking about. I'm also planning to call places like Dusty Groove and Rhino to see if they do wholesale, so suggestions along those lines are welcome, too.

We tend to focus on classic punk and rock; though I personally love it, I don't think newer small label stuff in those genres would do well in our store.
posted by mediareport at 6:33 AM on November 2, 2006

You might want to hook up with Amoeba--maybe you can carry a special section for them at your store--they carry everything
posted by DudeAsInCool at 11:25 AM on November 2, 2006