who thinks this might work as a new music purchase program??

thegelding

i've been thinking a bit about napster and audiogalaxy and all that and the failures and the thief and such and what the music industry should do or needs to do to survive and thrive (i hated napster at first because i heard of it from a man on an airplane who had a briefcase full of cds...he told me 650...all full of music that he had not paid a cent for..."i will never pay for music again" was his quote...and he seemed to really love music, so i couldn't understand why he wouldn't pay for something he loves....anyway, short story long, one day i needed a song that was out of print...so i downloaded napster and found it...after that i downloaded a few songs i already owned, but were at home...and then a few i didn't own...of the 20 songs i downloaded that i didn;t own i bought at least 10 cds....a fair exchange for the music business i think...and if everyone was like me, then the music people might not have minded napster too much...but it seems that soooo many people think that music should be free now for some reason...so perhaps this thought i have won't work, but here goes---dang i am taking a long time to get to what this post is about.... )





what if there is a big server filled with albums....you can download an album for 4 bucks...or download any two songs from that album for a buck...break it down like this:

1 buck for the company running the server and software

1 buck for the artist

2 bucks for the company that signed the artist to pay for studio, production, marketing etc



or for the 2 song ratio"

25 cents to server

25 cents to artist

50 cents to company





it saves the company alot of money in cd's, cases, delivery and middlemen



i buy alot of music (mostly for the kids nowadays) and i get alot of their cds for less than 10 bucks cuz they like new, punky bands...and the prices for those cd's is quite good actually



so i see it this way...the music industry could do a great job if they offer a choice of cheaper music on-line where you use your bandwidth to download and your cd's and cases--4 or 5 bucks max



and they can still offer cd's at stores for people who don't have high speed internet or burners or who like pro labels and cd booklets (hell, if it is 4 bucks online vs 8 bucks at the store: 1 buck for production, 1 buck for artist, 2 bucks for record company, 1 buck for delivery/transport/refunds, 3 bucks for store that sells cd...i would often buy the cd at the store for the nice cd booklet and shit)....



would/could/should the music industry do/try this??

seems that record sales are down...which is a bad thing, yet everyone in the world is listening to music...which is a good thing...g



dang...i can barely understand my own writing...i really feel bad for our forgein members...if english is your second language, then reading a gelding post must make your freakin head hurt... <img src="embarrassed.gif" border="0">



[ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>

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Heck, make it another buck for a download-able pdf file of CD/cover art so you could print it out yourself. You know I'm gonna create one anyway.

thegelding

ha...and ha again...of course i think a buck a song is too much...but if it starts doing ok i see the price coming down...



sweet for us people who like to pay for music, maybe not the best news for pirating folks...g

pscates

I'll say this: the above idea makes more sense, on the surface at least, than anything else going.



What's the phrase, "the genie is out of the bottle" or whatever? This is a new era, with digital music, Internet, broadband connections, etc. and to continue paying $16 or so for a CD is just nuts. It's wasteful, overpriced and seems vaguely "old timey", doesn't it?



When Napster was at its peak popularity a couple of years ago, I downloaded my share of stuff (mostly 80's one-hit stuff...high school memories and all). But I am not opposed to paying REASONABLE money for music that I love.



My computer has become such a central figure in my life that I'd prefer to go online, pick and choose what I want, pay a fee that's is reasonable, download it to my computer(s) and - for my own use - burn it to a CD to take with me in my car.



I'm not going to burn 300 copies of Boston's first album and go sit at a flea market on Saturday and sell them for $12.







But it's my computer and I actually prefer NOT to have the jewel case and all. As a matter of fact, I recently go rid of ALL of my CDs at a second-hand/used CD store. Got about $490 for everything, have all this clean, extra space in my place now, all my music is on my iMac, etc.



The record industry is going to have to do something to come around and work with - not against - these new technologies and embrace what all of us already have.



I don't know enough about economics and manufacturing and business to comment intelligently on all the details and so forth, but I can see - and appreciate - the "big picture" and know, in my heart, how it SHOULD be done.



I love buying music. I DON'T like feeling gouged and cheated when I go to Tower or Target to do so.

artman @_@

Seems that Apple and the Music Industry have been <a href="http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0303/04.applemusic.php"; target="_blank">mulling over</a> this together for a while.