Sunday, August 08, 1993. Los Angeles Times Story by Story by Chuck Phillips Country music superstar Garth Brooks has apparently backed down on his pledge to withhold his new album from stores that sell used compact discs. The action was a reversal of the firm's original retaliatory policy issued in writing Aug. 5. The most prominent case involves Wherehouse Entertainment, which started the brouhaha over secondhand CDs when it began selling them in December. Brooks' latest move may prove embarrassing to executives at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who Wednesday publicly trashed used-CD merchants and announced their support for Brooks and other such opponents.
Used CDs sound just as good as new ones and usually cost about half as much.
Record executives oppose the expansion of the used-CD market because they fear such transactions will reduce purchases of new products and may also diminish the perceived value of the industry's biggest moneymaking audio format.