Scissors Cut Out of U.S. Market

27 September 2006

American pop stars The Scissor Sisters have been killing it in the UK singles charts of late - booting Justin Timberlake out of the Number 1 Position, as well as their #1 Album "Tah-Dah!" selling 288,000 units in its first week. But it seems the same cannot be said for their standing in the U.S. Especially after comments that Jake Shears has made which have particularly peeved US retailer Trans World Entertainment.

"I complained at the NARM (the National Association of Recording Merchandisers) convention that (For Your Entertainment's) record prices were too high," Jake said on the weekend at a festival in the U.S. "A few months ago, I went to go buy the new Raconteurs album, and it was like (US)$18.99. Of course, I rounded it up to (US)$20 when I made the comments, and now they're denying it. So...they're not carrying our new record."

However FYE will not be the only retailer that won't be stocking the Scissors' album. The retailer's owner, Trans World Entertainment, is shutting "Ta-Dah!" out of all of its stores - 1100 of them, covering 26 American states!

"There are thousands of new releases out there; we've just decided not to carry this one. All they had to do was pick up the phone and talk to us," said Trans World CEO Jim Litwak. "But they didn't elect to do that. We were ignored, and he made those comments. So who's the injured party here?"