New Warner Home Video Policy for Select Film Releases

We have recently learned that Warner Home Video will no longer distribute theatrical releases to libraries or home video rental stores until 28 days after they release the movies for sale at retailers. This Warner Home Video policy applies to all public libraries and video rental outlets such as Redbox, Netflix, and Blockbuster.

In addition to being released 28 days after the retail version, Warner’s rental version DVDs and Blu-rays will not contain bonus features or extras. However, we understand that there will be a significant price reduction for these products, apparently amounting to an average $4 per DVD title and $8 per Blu-ray title (see cost breakdown below).

Warner Home Video has announced that it may seek to enforce its new policy by auditing its distribution partners’ sales. Additionally, Warner may require retailers, like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target, to limit the number of copies of a new release that may be sold to a single customer.

Please note that Warner’s new policy will only impact titles that have a theatrical release, perhaps amounting to about 12 titles per year. Non-theatrical Warner releases will not be affected by this policy.

Below are the first three Warner theatrical titles affected. Note that Warner’s rental versions will feature rental artwork.

If your library had any of these titles on order previously, Midwest Tape will modify the order and adjust the pricing accordingly. If you do not wish to receive rental versions of these titles, please contact Customer Service at 1.800.875.2785 to cancel your order.

While we recognize this is Warner Home Video’s policy, feel free to contact us at 1.800.875.2785 or info@midwesttapes.com with any questions or concerns regarding this matter. You may also contact Warner Home Video directly at 888.383.9483.


You can also read more at Home Media Magazine: Warner Altering Distribution to Rental Channels?


Cost Breakdown

title	format	former retail street date	former retail SRP	former mwt library price	rental street date	rental SRP	new mwt library price
Crazy Stupid Love	DVD	1-Nov	28.99	21.99	29-Nov	22.99	17.99
Crazy Stupid Love	Blu-ray	1-Nov	35.99	26.99	29-Nov	24.99	18.99
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2	DVD	11-Nov	28.99	21.99	9-Dec	22.99	17.99
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2	Blu-ray	11-Nov	35.99	26.99	9-Dec	24.99	18.99
Hangover Part 2	DVD	6-Dec	28.99	21.99	3-Jan	22.99	17.99
Hangover Part 2	Blu-ray	6-Dec	35.99	26.99	3-Jan	24.99	18.99

Hot This Week: October 10

Bridesmaids stays at the top of the DVD list. Jay-Z's protege J. Cole debuts at number one on the CD chart. And Bill O'Reilly dethrones the Jacqueline Kennedy interviews.

DVD

1. Bridesmaids
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
3. Thor
4. X-Men: First Class
5. Hanna
6. Setup
7. Everything Must Go
8. Something Borrowed
9. Paul
10. Rio

CD

1. J. Cole, Cole World
2. Blink-182, Neighborhoods
3. Adele, 21
4. Tony Bennett, Duets II
5. Wilco, The Whole Love
6. Lady Antebellum, Own the Night
7. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV
8. Switchfoot, Vice Verses
9. Chickenfoot, Chickenfoot III
10. Mastodon, The Hunter

Fiction Books

1. The Affair, Lee Child
2. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane, Debbie Macomber
3. Feast Day of Fools, James Lee Burke
4. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
5. Lethal, Sandra Brown
6. Aleph, Paulo Coelho
7. Son of Stone, Stuart Woods
8. A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin
9. New York to Dallas, J.D. Robb
10. Heat Rises, Richard Castle

Nonfiction Books

1. Killing Lincoln, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
2. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
3. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
4. Confidence Men, Ron Suskind
5. Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
6. That Used to be Us, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
7. A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
8. In My Time, Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney
9. Quest, Daniel Yergin
10. In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson

Amazon Announces Kindles in Libraries

Recently, retail giant Amazon announced that e-books for its highly popular Kindle e-reader would be available for lending from public libraries across the United States.¹ Let’s take a look at what this means for libraries and how libraries are reacting.

The Good
First and foremost, this is good news for library patrons. The Kindle is the most popular e-reading device, and, with the announcement of the new Kindle Fire, is sure to only grow in popularity.² As such, many patrons have been looking for the ability to borrow Kindle books from the library. “We used to get so many calls” about Kindle books, said Rachelle Miller, director of the Troy-Miami County Library in Ohio. “Now they can download books.”³

While e-books have been available previously, they were incompatible with the Kindle, and syncing them to another device requires a USB cable. Kindle e-books are downloaded wirelessly. Furthermore, e-books borrowed on other devices are only available on that device, whereas Kindle books can also be read on patrons’ smartphones, tablets, or computers with Kindle apps. When switching between devices, Kindle books will even remember the user’s stopping point and allow them to pick up where they left off.⁴

Kindle books also allow readers to make “margin notes,” something that is frowned upon in standard, physical books checked out from the library. These notes will not be visible to other patrons who check out the same Kindle book; they will, however, be saved if that user should check the book out again, or if they purchase the book from Amazon.⁵

The Bad
And therein lies the rub. Patrons checking out Kindle books must have an Amazon.com account and complete their lending transaction at the Amazon website, which enables Amazon to pitch other books, not to mention all the other products they offer.⁶ And since patrons can check Kindle books out from the web, this may dissuade some patrons from actually visiting their library if all they want are Kindle books, which negates the benefits of a visit to the library, such as browsing and interaction.

There may also be some confusion for patrons, especially as the service first rolls out, as not all books will be available for Kindle lending, even if Kindle versions are available for purchase.⁷ So librarians at participating libraries should be prepared to answer questions about why certain books are available and others are not—especially if those books are offered in other e-book formats.

Reactions
As this news has just come out, it’s not surprising that reactions from librarians have been mixed. While many see the positives that Kindle lending has to offer, there are still a number of questions that remain to be answered. Overdrive, which manages the program, has tried to answer a number of those questions with a blog post about what Kindle lending means for libraries. Other questions remain that pertain directly to Amazon, including what sort of data they’ll collect from this program and how they’ll use it; concerned libraries will have to keep pressing Amazon for answers on those.⁸

And what can libraries do to get Kindle users physically into the library? The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire, Wisconsin now offers a number of iPads that patrons can check out; perhaps other libraries will consider lending Kindles to patrons now that Kindle books are available to them.⁹ That’s just one option, and there’s no doubt that librarians will continue to come up with creative ways to get new and existing patrons to come through the doors.

What Do You Think?
Is your library one of the 11,000 participating in the Kindle book lending program? What are the benefits and downsides? How will you keep Kindle users coming to the library? We’d love to hear your thoughts on these questions and Kindle lending in general. Let us know in the comments section below.

¹ http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200127470_ksupport_library?nodeId=200747550
² http://www.geekblog.net/the-ereader-popularity-contest-is-won-by-the-kindle-not-the-iphone/
³ http://tdn-net.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=118197&SectionID=152&SubSectionID=255&S=1
⁴ http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/21/amazon-kindle-library-lending/
⁵ http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2011/09/21/21readwriteweb-amazon-turns-your-local-library-into-retail-84783.html?ref=technology
⁶ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2016323413_kindle_library_lending_questio.html
⁷ http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/libraries/article/48778-kindle-library-lending-goes-live.html
⁸ http://libraryrenewal.org/2011/05/11/library-ebooks-coming-soon-to-amazon-kindle-but-at-what-cost/
⁹ http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/library-ipad/

Midwest Tape in Your Magazines

Recently, Midwest Tape featured ads in Video Librarian and Library Journal. These ads differ from our usual slicks in that both include personal testimony from our customers and both focus very specifically on particular Midwest Tape offerings.

If you click either image below, you can view the full page ad. We’d love it if you’d take a moment to check them out and give us your feedback. What do you look for an advertisement? What do you think makes ads most effective? What’s your favorite ad (any industry) or the most memorable ad you’ve seen? Share your critiques here as comments.

 

Hot This Week: October 3

Jacqueline Kennedy stays at the top; Tony Bennett knocks Lady Antebellum to the number two spot; and Bridesmaids tackles Thor as the top rental of the fall.

DVD

1. Bridesmaids
2. Thor
3. X-Men: First Class
4. Hanna
5. Setup
6. Everything Must Go
7. Paul
8. Something Borrowed
9. Rio
10. Limitless

CD

1. Tony Bennett, Duets II
2. Lady Antebellum, Own the Night
3. Adele, 21
4. Demi Lovato, Unbroken
5. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV
6. Needtobreathe, The Reckoning
7. Mindless Behavior, #1
8. Gavin DeGraw, Sweeter
9. Jay Z and Kanye West, Watch the Throne
10. Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam Twenty

Fiction Books

1. Heat Rises, Richard Castle
2. Lethal, Sandra Brown
3. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
4. Reamde, Neal Stephenson
5. Son of Stone, Stuart Woods
6. New York to Dallas, J.D. Robb
7. Kill Me If You Can, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
8. A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin
9. The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
10. The Race, Clive Cussler and Justin Scott

Nonfiction Books

1. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
2. Confidence Men, Ron Suskind
3. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
4. Quest, Daniel Yergin
5. In My Time, Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney
6. That Used to be Us, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
7. Destiny of the Republic, Candice Millard
8. A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard
9. Here Comes Trouble, Michael Moore
10. Rogue, Joe McGinniss