Dueling stories on the new Wal-Mart exclusivity deals in the WSJ ($) and the NYT today. Unfortunately for the Times, the Journal is ahead of the curve on the story on two counts:

Veteran rockers AC/DC are set to become the next major band to sell a new album only through Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, a move that highlights the growing music-industry clout of Wal-Mart.

The AC/DC deal, however, comes at a time when the retail giant—the largest seller of compact discs in the nation—is signaling it may rock the music world by stocking fewer CDs. Such a move is part of a trend that would further accelerate the already steep decline of CD sales as consumers make the transition to digital music.

The Times story focuses mostly on Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management; it details the boost some of the company’s artists, like the Eagles and Journey, have gotten from the retailer, and doesn’t mention AC/DC:

The deals highlight the changing dynamics of the music industry as once-powerful labels decline because of the migration to digital downloads. To fill the gap, musicians are scrambling to connect with fans, and Wal-Mart is using these exclusive deals to assume a new role: hit maker.

The Eagles’ double disc, “Long Road Out of Eden,” sold 711,000 copies in its first week and three million since its release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, impressive numbers at a time when CD sales are declining. Journey sold 45,000 albums in its first three days on sale, and Irving Azoff, founder and chief executive of Front Line Management and a music industry veteran who ran MCA Records in the ’80s, predicted that it would sell more than 80,000 copies in its first week. That is probably enough to debut in the top five, and significantly more than its last album sold in total.

As Hitsville had mentioned before, the trouble with these single-outlet deals is that they are based on novelty. The Eagles’ status is unique at this point—no one would have guessed they would sell three million copies of that dreadful Eden album—but it’s hard to believe their next release will do that well. As for Journey, well, this is probably going to be their last hurrah. (The band’s distinctive lead singer, Steve Perry, left the band some time ago and it has used fill-ins ever since.)

With Starbucks, the acts that can take advantage of its sale potential begins with your Lucindas and Elvis Costellos and Norah Joneses and starts to get thin after that. For Wal-Mart, there’s the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC and Steve Miller, maybe Tom Petty and Eric Clapton in a few years, and then that potential pool gets shallow as well.

The artists deserve the money—and it’s smart to make an end-run around the labels. (Though note that that’s not what AC/DC, which is still on Sony, is doing.) But in truth, these are just the sort of one-off deals bands in their twilight have always done, as the half-life of their celebrity brings them back, periodically, to public attention.