2001 was a very bad year for the record business, particulary in Europe... more CD-R's were sold than music CD's. What does it mean??? The new generation of kiddies save their $$$ for PC games, DVD-videos, cellular phones, parties, but not for buying CD! So why the record companies should invest $$$ in new artists, new technologies, when they always lose money??? Maria Carey's parting from EMI is a good example... The music business is fast food music today. The industry thinks about lower prices to compete with copiers... why someone should pay about 16 bucks, when he can get the most for free? I think we should call the new generation: the generation of MP3!!! And I'm sure nobody can stop this trend...
While I don't disagree with you Claus, you have to keep in mind that a huge percentage of those blank CDRs sold are not being used for cloning music CDs.
Okay... you buy one CD... then you make so many copies like you want and share them with your friends! That's the reality... the biggest nightmare for the record industry!!!
I agree with you Claus. But on the other hand, the record industry is hastily remastering product to generate more sales. It has to be hasty (my opinion only) - look at some of the results! Then they want you to buy the DVD-V, DVD-A, mini disc, SACD, the special edition re-re-remaster (look at the Lynyrd Skynyrd releases for a great (bad?) example), etc. And Skynyrd is not in high res yet! The list never ends. Sorta hard to feel too sorry for them don't you think? I think a large part of the "lost sales" the record companies are claiming from CDR copying or MP3'ing does not exist. I'd bet a large part of the consumers who purchased CDR's and made copies or MP3's for $2.00 would NOT have bought an official release for $16.99 or more. But at $2.00 it's worth it to them. Know what I mean? Theres gotta be a compromise. I have heard tht SACD is not copyable. Or downloadable. And DVD-A is watermarked or protected somehow. Is this true? Is this the future?
How much do reissues factor into music sales these days? Maybe a lot back when people were switching over from vinyl to CD, but those days are long gone. I thought sales were down because NEW stuff wasn't selling, and onsidering some of the garbage that's hyped, I'm not surprised. "Invincible" and "Glitter" weren't the blockbusters they were supposed to be for a reason... P.S. Anyone here read the article in Sunday's Chicago Tribune on the ailing classical music business?
I believe the biggest culprit for the lagging music sales is not mp3, copying music onto cd-r's or even nabster (and the like), it is in fact a basic element in any retail environment; having a good product at a fair price. I have noticed that the retail price for CDs continue to rise, while the overall quality of the bands and music itself continues to decline. The record (and video) companies screamed the same rant and raving about the sale of cassette and VHS tapes. Instead of it causing sales declines due to illegal copying, it actually saved the industry and increased sales due to increased interest in the products as well as the introduction of new formats. When will the record companies learn the basic rules of retail and stop paying millions of dollars for bands that only produce one top 10 hit every album or so and get back to fostering some real talent.
That's what the industry was saying about DVD-video too. I don't think CSS was really broken by a 16-year old Scandinavian kid (rather they needed someone to make an example of), but it was broken. Or look at what is happening in satellite TV. Somebody wise said that if it is in the software, it can be hacked. I don't think SACD will be an exception once it becomes integrated in computer-based home entertainment systems, which is bound to happen sooner or later, IMO.
How about we demand better artists and pay them less money! Then the record companies won't "lose" so much money and we can have better music at a reasonable price. How can you truly be an artist if you're a multi-millionaire?
It was reported that record labels are attempting to restrict how CDs are "used" by consumers. Quite a few titles were found "corrupted": http://www.fatchucks.com/corruptcds/index.html Has anyone bought any "corrupt" CDs? It is said that you won't be able to play them on your computer, DVD player, etc.
No, the biggest nightmare for the music fan, when truly talented people (musicians/songwriters) choose another line of work since it is no longer lucrative since they can't afford their own studio time, promotion et al. So they go work in the government instead, or write jingles for radio stations. And do you think that those who choose to do their own selling/promotion will give it away online? I doubt it. Not unless they have a day job. What needs to be done is lower CD prices to $4.99-$5.99, bring back the CD single for .99 or $1.99, with bonus track(s) on B-Side. Make these superb sounding and copy-proof. Everybody wins. Then when sales begin to skyrocket, increase the price each year by $1.00
Lower Cd Prices Beagle, the Record Companies will NEVER, in a million years , drop prices to 5.00$ on a new issue CD. Will not happen. Their official position is that the drop in Record Sales is due to piracy on the Internet and MP3 File Sharing. Has nothing to do with Marketing, i.e. Pricing, distribuiton, advertising. So (to them) lowering pricing would be the WORST thing to do , which would only decrease their profits that much more. What a dumb bunch of old men.
I have a slightly different perspective. I think that they will not drop their prices because there are only so many music fans out there for each artist. I don't care if Britney Spears drops her.... uhhhh, I mean the record co. drops THEIR prices of Britney CD's to $1.00. I still would not buy the crap.... uhhhh, CD. One may argue that there are more people who would *possibly* buy the CD if the price was right. How many more? I'd say none or very, very few because the people who would not plunk down $20.00 on a CD will not plunk down $5.00 on a CD. Because a CDR is $2.00. They'd have to sell CDs for the cost of a CDR to compete. But they'd also have to pay for the marketing, travel, promotional materials including billboards, advertising airtime, artwork, artist support (limos? Food? Pay?), accounting department, executive salary, add to owners equity, post profits for their owners (stock market shares, preferred and common), finance long term debt, lawyers fees for contracts (probably staff lawyers), inventory control, manufacturing costs, plant and equipment overhead, fixed costs like property taxes, mortgage, electricity, rent of office space, payroll (unionized and salary), raw material for CDs, cases, paper for artwork, office overhead like photocopiers, chairs, desks, office cleaning, you name it - from those $2.00 sales. All you'd miss from a CDR is the artwork. How many people stare at the CD artwork when it is playing for 60 minutes? Very few- they wander about the house, do homework, talk to people..... very few sit in the sweet spot and really listen. I can't see them dropping prices too much any time soon. But not because they are dumb old men.
But would it not make sense, via an increase in volume sales? I mean, wouldn't music stores order more things if their cost was about $2.00 each? Would consumers not purchase more CD's or take more chances on new artists at $4.99 a pop? I know I would. The people who would suffer would be second-hand CD stores, who would not only pay the person .50 per CD to sell them for $3. I don't know about you but doesn't all of this sound like music to the ears of record companies? You mean they don't sit down and get lost in the music? Must be CD's "huge dynamic range", "musicality" and ability to compel the listener
Too much work. You have a lot of people running record companies with no sense of what good music is, don't know how to run a business, and cut themselves off from feedback from the consumer to keep from facing reality. Maybe it's ego. Unless the bozos at key positions are removed and replaced with people who know what they are doing AND care about the music, the artists, and the customers, nothing will change.
