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WHY
AMAZON.COM?
A lot of
my friends have asked me why I link to a giant corporate mega-site like
amazon.com. Why
don't I help out the independent music stores that stock Lounge music
and have experts in the field? Well, here's the lowdown.
When I
first started putting together The
Sounds Of Tomorrow (the first feature on tikiroom.com) I wanted
to put links from the album reviews to some place where you could buy
the music. I remember reading a review of The
Forbidden Sounds Of Don Tiki on an old lounge site and wishing
they just gave me a link to buy the damn thing! The least I could do
is link to a place to buy the music on my site.
Then, when
I was finishing up the site, I discovered amazon's Associates program,
which gives me a 5 percent cut of the sale when a CD is purchased through
the link on my site. Now, this is a big deal to me, because it gives
me a tiny reward for going out of my way to create and maintain tikiroom.com.
Keep in mind I'm not making anything off of this site otherwise -- it's
totally a labor of love for me. And you can see I'm not trying to indiscriminately
link to any product having to do with Tiki in hopes people will buy
it through amazon. No, every product I link to from my site I have personally,
and paid my own money for to get. These reviews are definitely from
my heart.
Finally,
on a related note, I have to say that since I started using amazon.com
I have been very impressed with their suggestion engine, especially
when it comes to music. I have a pretty odd record collection, and after
buying only two CDs off of amazon, it suggested I try out Joe Meek's
I
Hear A New World CD, a pretty obscure CD of odd 60s space-influenced
recordings by the infamous producer. This is a CD which I had only seen
once in any record store, including the huge San Francisco record stores
-- and I had purchased it on the spot and loved it. I had no idea amazon
had even heard of it, much less be able to recommend it to me. I was
impressed.
I have
decided that amazon.com is not just a giant website that I can use
to buy things, but it's a service that can truly bring something new,
by way of their suggestions, to my music. I don't use amazon exclusively,
but I do really think they have a unique and valuable service.
There. I
feel better. Now you know why I link to amazon.com. At the very least,
use them to preview the music. If you like what you hear, you can always
go down and support your local record store by buying it there. This is
what I do most of the time, because I get to listen to it immediately,
and normally I find most of the good music by browsing the bins.
But if you're worried that you won't be able to find it at your local
shop, or you'd like toss a coin in my hat for the good find, don't feel
bad about buying it through amazon.com. You'll help me out, and you'll
discover just how accurate their suggestion system is.
As always,
feel free to email me with
your comments.
-Hanford
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