Sorry to bring up Cracker Barrel but I wanted to point to a couple of ways that folks are charting while taking alternate routes.

According to a recent press release, Cracker Barrel's exclusive release of Montgomery Gentry's For Our Heroes debuted at no. 5 on the Top Country Album Chart moving 25,900 copies. They have 588 locations in 41 states.

According to Billboard, indie rockers Grizzly Bear had a no. 8 last week on the Billboard 200 album chart with Veckatimest moving 33,000 copies:

"40% of its sales came from downloads while another 24% were shifted at independent and small chain stores."

At this point none of this is revolutionary but such accomplishments are worth watching and considering. For example, if you were the first to get your cd or dvd distributed by a national or regional non-music chain that hasn't tried such a move, you could potentially expand sales while getting a lot of additional press.

Keep in mind that being early is better than being late. Nobody talks about music in Starbuck's anymore. I'm not even sure if they still carry music but it was big news just a few years back and moved a lot of cd's for those early artists before Starbuck's flooded and killed it.