AC/DC Comes To Wal-Mart With Open Arms, But Will ETFs Be Ready To Rock?

Well, hell’s bells. AC/DC’s decision about where they’re going to sell their new album could wind up helping exchange traded funds (ETFs). That is, if enough people still care about them and enough people are still buying CDs the way our forefathers did to make a difference.

The rumors are that AC/DC is going to sell its album exclusively through Wal-Mart (WMT), following in the footsteps of artists long past their prime who are doing so, such as Garth Brooks, the Eagles and Journey. (Although, secretly, I still love Journey more than is probably appropriate. Wait, I just blew my cover.).

Wal-Mart once was the largest music retailer in the United States, but they’ve since been dethroned by Apple’s iTunes, reports Rich Fiscus for After Dawn. AC/DC prefers to have users download entire albums instead of individual tracks, meaning that iTunes isn’t likely to be interested in selling their music anyway.

Their last album, “Stiff Upper Lip,” sold 930,000 copies, but that was back in 2000, when online music services were mostly just twinkles in our eyes.

ETFs that might find themselves back in black if this Wal-Mart deal really takes off:

• iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Services (IYC): Wal-Mart is 9.2%; down 4% year-to-date
• SPDR S&P Retail Report (XRT): Wal-Mart is 2%; down 5.1% year-to-date
• Vanguard Consumer Staples (VDC): Wal-Mart is 7.5%; down 3.9% year-to-date

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