Indie retail protests Best Buy exclusive

INDIE RETAIL BOXES BACK: Indie record stores are backlashing against Kanye West and Jay-Z's collaborative album Watch the Throne, rollingstone.com reports. The organizers of Record Store Day have called on indie retailers across the country to sign an open letter to the superstar rappers taking them to task for signing a deal with Best Buy that gives the big box chain exclusive rights to sell the deluxe version of the CD for the first 10 days of its release. The open letter to Kanye and Jay-Z insists that deals such as the one they have made with Best Buy are a "short-sighted strategy" and that they do "great damage to over 1,700 independent retail stores." The letter has already been signed by the owners of several record store owners, including Newbury Comics, Amoeba Music and the Sound Garden in Baltimore. (7/29a)