CD price drops coming up!

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
The first step is being taken.



Universal Music is dropping the wholesale cost of its CDs starting October 1. We've always been complaining that it's the high price of CDs that is causing people to pirate music. Is this step enough?



I don't think so. The other problem with music these days is the lack of good talent. Who wants to buy crap, even if it's cheaper?



Full-priced CDs from Universal should retail for $12.99 after the cut. Sale pricing will probably be less frequent, though.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    costiquecostique Posts: 1,084member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    The first step is being taken.



    Universal Music is dropping the wholesale cost of its CDs starting October 1.




    Impossible!
    Quote:

    We've always been complaining that it's the high price of CDs that is causing people to pirate music. Is this step enough?

    I don't think so. The other problem with music these days is the lack of good talent. Who wants to buy crap, even if it's cheaper?




    If this crap is pushed down our throats like there's no tomorrow and we are forced to believe we can't live without it, yeah, it's enough. Ask any junkie ready to give it up what (s)he would do if heroin prices dropped by, say, 20%?

    Quote:

    Full-priced CDs from Universal should retail for $12.99 after the cut. Sale pricing will probably be less frequent, though.



    Of course, there are always musicians whose CDs we will buy regardless of their price.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Slight clarification: Universal is dropping their price to resellers from $12 to $9. They have said that they expect resellers to drop their prices $3 in turn, thus reducing CD prices from about $18 on average to $12. Whether the resellers play along is another matter.



    CD prices are ridiculous. I wanted to pick up the Underworld soundtrack this weekend, but it was $20!
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BuonRotto





    CD prices are ridiculous. I wanted to pick up the Underworld soundtrack this weekend, but it was $20!




    ironically when the dvd comes out in a few months you'll probably be able to buy it for four or five dollars less. (and it will be TWO discs!)

    i think the big five overestimates the "perceived value" of cds since the emergence of dvd.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    Excellent point. I know I've been buying more DVDs recently, and noting to myself how much I get for a DVD compared to these CDs for about the same price.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    CDs should not cost more then a few dollars. Does anyone think they should be more and if so why?
  • Reply 6 of 12
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    CDs should not cost more then a few dollars. Does anyone think they should be more and if so why?



    New music is expensive to make and market, so the cost of an album isn't directly related to the cost of making a CD. So, yes, new releases could be expensive sometimes. With a DVD, the movie has usually already recouped most if not all of the cost of making it when it was in the theater. So when the DVD is released, the cost of making the phisical DVD (and mastering) is about all there is to the product. That's why a double DVD can be so cheap.



    But, stuff that's already old is very inexpensive to get to market. That stuff could easily be $3 and they would make a profit. Soundtracks that are just songs from other albums should be $1.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    i really didn't mean to imply that cds should be cheaper because dvds are cheaper, it apples and oranges, certainly if the music industry were to live by the film industry's model then we'd have about one hundred cds released a year. and it would mostly be christina-spears-nsyncboys

    stuff. the record industry has always been rather incestuous.



    i'm just saying the perception of value between the cd and the dvd is huge and the record industry has done nothing to combat it, if in fact they even acknowledge it.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

    i really didn't mean to imply that cds should be cheaper because dvds are cheaper, it apples and oranges, certainly if the music industry were to live by the film industry's model then we'd have about one hundred cds released a year. and it would mostly be christina-spears-nsyncboys

    stuff. the record industry has always been rather incestuous.



    i'm just saying the perception of value between the cd and the dvd is huge and the record industry has done nothing to combat it, if in fact they even acknowledge it.




    You severely underestimate the huge amount of movie release within the calendar year. Here are 1165 title for 2004 listed already



    Most of my DVD purchases are at or under %10. The music industry acts like they're doing me a favor charging $10.99 for a CD that is 4 years old.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by hmurchison

    You severely underestimate the huge amount of movie release within the calendar year. Here are 1165 title for 2004 listed already



    Most of my DVD purchases are at or under %10. The music industry acts like they're doing me a favor charging $10.99 for a CD that is 4 years old.




    i was referring to the mainstream, the product that drives the industry.

    and i meant to add that out of the 100 realeases per year they'd have to have ten or fifteen titles that grossed over one hundred million dollars. not gonna happen, which is why it's apple and oranges.



    but my point wasn't that.

    my point was to consumers the perceived value of a dvd is much greater than a cd....and yet you can usually buy a dvd cheaper.

    yes there are reasons for that but when your business is dying you try to change the perception, i.e. offer more extras, more content, more value to your product. what has the record industry tried to do up to now?

    sue disgruntled customers.

    if they put all the money the riaa is wasting on lawsuits into creating a business model that takes advantage of downloading and file sharing they wouldn't be as despised as they are now.



    bear in mind if the entertainment industry would have always had it's way there would be no radio, no movies, no television, no vcr, no dvd and on and on and on.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar

    i'm just saying the perception of value between the cd and the dvd is huge and the record industry has done nothing to combat it, if in fact they even acknowledge it.



    This is definitely true. A DVD is a soundtrack and the film, not even including extras. Of course, the soundtrack is embedded in the film, but still....
  • Reply 11 of 12
    There is IMO the simple fact, that even if CD's were £1 an album, I would have bought exactly 0 albums this year, as I am indeed fed up too the back teeth with all the crap that is released.



    I don't download either. There is really nothing I havn't got that I think is worth listening too. I also spend considerable time listening to new music to find something worth listening too, but hearing most of todays music once, is usually enough.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anna Mated

    There is IMO the simple fact, that even if CD's were £1 an album, I would have bought exactly 0 albums this year, as I am indeed fed up too the back teeth with all the crap that is released.



    I don't download either. There is really nothing I havn't got that I think is worth listening too. I also spend considerable time listening to new music to find something worth listening too, but hearing most of todays music once, is usually enough.




    Buy Warren Zevon's new album The Wind. Even if you don't like it, he deserves the praise.
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