In-store burning of content is "the only salvation" for Christian retail music sales, said the head of a digital media company.

"The music department-just throw the term out, it doesn't exist anymore," said David Amster, CEO and chief innovation officer of Integra Interactive, in a "Talking Points" interview with Christian Retailing magazine. "It is not applicable. In its broader sense, just start calling it the entertainment department," he added.

In a just-published report on a survey of 270-plus users of his company's myMEDIA BurnBar system, Amster said one store burned almost 700 accompaniment tracks in a single month, with a median total of 51. Such systems could "significantly help to level the playing field" and enable physical stores to compete better with online retailers, the report added.

In his "Talking Points" interview, Amster said stores should change their existing music department. "First of all, it's opening up this area into a more comfortable lounging type of area so that you're creating an environment where someone can come in, and at a station they can spend whatever time they want creating what it is that they want. ... "

CD sales won't disappear overnight, he said, but "if there is a store that does not have digital burning and there is another store 15 minutes away, I think they're going to find themselves within the next year to 18 months very diminished on sales."

Read the full "Talking Points" interview in the June 9 issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

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