It all depends on your point of view...
To me, they seem like a bargain nowadays. I remember being a kid and when RS released Sticky Fingers (purposely pricing it very high) it was $9+ even at Sam the Record Man it seemed a fortune at the time! When I buy a CD at Wal-Mart for $14 I want to cheer! And if you take into account inflation how much is that $9 today....
To me, they seem like a bargain nowadays. I remember being a kid and when RS released Sticky Fingers (purposely pricing it very high) it was $9+ even at Sam the Record Man it seemed a fortune at the time! When I buy a CD at Wal-Mart for $14 I want to cheer! And if you take into account inflation how much is that $9 today....
If the stupid record industry would just lower the price of a new, premium CD to $10 a pop they would get a surge in sales to more than make up the difference in profit margin.
At $10 a CD, nobody is going to resist the impulse take the CD home right then and there-and probably another one besides.
At $10 a CD, nobody is going to resist the impulse take the CD home right then and there-and probably another one besides.
Movies show in
theatres before their release to DVD. They also get released to television, usually before DVD release, so by the time the DVD is released, most movies have already made a healthy profit.
Music CDs don't get played on radio anymore (except for a few songs that the radio and record industries decide you should buy), so they have to make their money from disc sales. Disc sales don't make much money for the artist, but they promote ticket sales for concerts which do.
I_F
theatres before their release to DVD. They also get released to television, usually before DVD release, so by the time the DVD is released, most movies have already made a healthy profit.
Music CDs don't get played on radio anymore (except for a few songs that the radio and record industries decide you should buy), so they have to make their money from disc sales. Disc sales don't make much money for the artist, but they promote ticket sales for concerts which do.
I_F
Hey something you guys have kind of overlooked. I remember how when I was at University ( a long time ago BTW) the economics professor told us how to theoretically maximize profits by getting each market to pay the highest they could without losing demand. That's like when a vendor does not have a posted price and quotes a price based on what he determines what you'd be willing to pay and afford. To us it seems immoral since you are literally "ripping one off" and selling fairly to another.
Well, that's the DVD business to a T with Regional Coding. Is it fair? Why should someone half way around the world be paying 1/10 of the price for what I would have to pay in North America. And then get this, the same company talks of globalization and then squeezes the North American worker to compete on wages with that same person half way around the world. Do you get the picture? Someone is getting it where it hurts. Now who supports globalization with "legalized" gouging?
Well, that's the DVD business to a T with Regional Coding. Is it fair? Why should someone half way around the world be paying 1/10 of the price for what I would have to pay in North America. And then get this, the same company talks of globalization and then squeezes the North American worker to compete on wages with that same person half way around the world. Do you get the picture? Someone is getting it where it hurts. Now who supports globalization with "legalized" gouging?
I always hear that. But I think the prices at Amazon are high, especially on older sell-thru CDs. (I have only owned a CD player for about 18 months so most of the CDs I buy are sell-thrus.) I believe Amazon charges between $10.99 and $11.99. Here in Sweden I last paid 79 SEK, or $11.50, including VAT/sales tax.
Americans are lucky! In the Netherlands you pay on average 25 dollars for a CD (New release in the big record stores)
It's an absolute rippoff! That's why I'm getting into vinyl! (Ok it's one of the reasons)
Now I buy practically zero CD's a year. I just bought 3 on holiday in Chile because they cost around 8 - 10 euro's over there.
If a CD goes down to say 5 euro's I would easily buy 5 a month.
It's an absolute rippoff! That's why I'm getting into vinyl! (Ok it's one of the reasons)
Now I buy practically zero CD's a year. I just bought 3 on holiday in Chile because they cost around 8 - 10 euro's over there.
If a CD goes down to say 5 euro's I would easily buy 5 a month.
Bas, I agree with you 100 percent, and I'm in the States, which is cheaper. Everybody's getting ripped, it just depends on how much, it seems.
Which brings us to the price difference between CD's and vinyl/cassette when the changeover occurred in the early 90's.
CD's are cheaper to physically make than vinyl, by the way.
The normal price for a vinyl record or cassette was $9.00 or so, for a CD anywhere from $14-$17. This is for the same record.
The record companies argued that since you get the more songs on the CD, it is only right that you pay more.
This obviously doesn't apply to classical music,since the whole piece is recorded on both vinyl and CD.
On popular music, when vinyl and CD were released simultaneously, they usually had the same number of songs and yet the vinyl was $10, the CD $15.
Even if the CD's did put more songs on it, I wonder how much it cost the record companies to do so. Artists record many more songs than ever appear on the record or CD, and the songs are finally trimmed to make the record. That is why, when an artist dies, suddenly we have more records of previously unreleased songs coming out.
Besides, how many popular music CD's have you heard that couldn't use a little trimming in the song selection department? Look at it logically. Nobody is arguing that the artists today are any better or more sophisticated than they were 30 Years ago. Well, 30 years go or more the bands or artists put out 45 mnutes of songs per album, generally once a year. And even then, some songs weren't up to par.
Now, the bands and artists put up an hour of songs per year. Unless the people today are more talented than they were 30 years ago, which nobody is claiming, that simply means there are a lot more dogs on the record that you can do without.
If the record companies want to argue that you get extra minutes of music for your money on CD over vinyl/cassette, (not that it costs them much extra to include it), I would say-so leave it off.
Give us CD's of 45 minutes of the artist's best stuff and charge us $10 for it.
I'll bet sales will skyrocket.
Which brings us to the price difference between CD's and vinyl/cassette when the changeover occurred in the early 90's.
CD's are cheaper to physically make than vinyl, by the way.
The normal price for a vinyl record or cassette was $9.00 or so, for a CD anywhere from $14-$17. This is for the same record.
The record companies argued that since you get the more songs on the CD, it is only right that you pay more.
This obviously doesn't apply to classical music,since the whole piece is recorded on both vinyl and CD.
On popular music, when vinyl and CD were released simultaneously, they usually had the same number of songs and yet the vinyl was $10, the CD $15.
Even if the CD's did put more songs on it, I wonder how much it cost the record companies to do so. Artists record many more songs than ever appear on the record or CD, and the songs are finally trimmed to make the record. That is why, when an artist dies, suddenly we have more records of previously unreleased songs coming out.
Besides, how many popular music CD's have you heard that couldn't use a little trimming in the song selection department? Look at it logically. Nobody is arguing that the artists today are any better or more sophisticated than they were 30 Years ago. Well, 30 years go or more the bands or artists put out 45 mnutes of songs per album, generally once a year. And even then, some songs weren't up to par.
Now, the bands and artists put up an hour of songs per year. Unless the people today are more talented than they were 30 years ago, which nobody is claiming, that simply means there are a lot more dogs on the record that you can do without.
If the record companies want to argue that you get extra minutes of music for your money on CD over vinyl/cassette, (not that it costs them much extra to include it), I would say-so leave it off.
Give us CD's of 45 minutes of the artist's best stuff and charge us $10 for it.
I'll bet sales will skyrocket.
With the introduction of the compact disc in The Netherland, Philips made a promise to keep the price of the c.d. around the €12 mark. That proved to be a big lie, the prices of a c.d. lie between the €20 and €25!!! In the years that there was economic growth in The Netherlands you saw the price rising by €8 to €10.
Because of the 'fact' that people are ripped in The Netherlands with these absurd prices, people started copying and duplicating the stuff for themselves and others. The main reason is that the majority of the people feel ripped, and are not willing to pay these high prices. The record companies keep forgetting that a lot of people cannot afford these high prices anymore. They simply do not have the budget to buy them.
As a result of that the record companies just said; 'well there is a too large circuit of illegal recordings and that is due to piracy'. In fact: I used to buy a lot of c.d.'s, in fact I bought around the 30 c.d.'s in a year, and that figure dropped to eight a year, I just cannot afford it anymore!
I agree with the post of Mikett on his point to and I wan't to add:
Region codes on dvd players and software don't have any effect on piracy. It is just fu**ing annoying. This is just a way to irritate people. If all the hard and software had the same price point, all over the world, they won't even had to bother putting these stupid region codes on. On every corner of the street you have a stand who sells software to get rid of the region code on your dvd player. So what's the point of region codes???
René
Because of the 'fact' that people are ripped in The Netherlands with these absurd prices, people started copying and duplicating the stuff for themselves and others. The main reason is that the majority of the people feel ripped, and are not willing to pay these high prices. The record companies keep forgetting that a lot of people cannot afford these high prices anymore. They simply do not have the budget to buy them.
As a result of that the record companies just said; 'well there is a too large circuit of illegal recordings and that is due to piracy'. In fact: I used to buy a lot of c.d.'s, in fact I bought around the 30 c.d.'s in a year, and that figure dropped to eight a year, I just cannot afford it anymore!
I agree with the post of Mikett on his point to and I wan't to add:
Region codes on dvd players and software don't have any effect on piracy. It is just fu**ing annoying. This is just a way to irritate people. If all the hard and software had the same price point, all over the world, they won't even had to bother putting these stupid region codes on. On every corner of the street you have a stand who sells software to get rid of the region code on your dvd player. So what's the point of region codes???
René
renes3, the very fact that you are on this forum puts you in the upper technical knowledge bracket. So it is great that we have found ways around this...
However, every Sony, Pioneer, JVC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and other name brand DVD player proves region coding works. That my Euro friend, is still the vast bulk of the market in NA.
Odd.... the only solution to piracy is back to analogue again. That includes celluloid film and vinyl pressings. I remember paying more for Japanese pressings of vinyl. hmmm... odd isn't it?
However, every Sony, Pioneer, JVC, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and other name brand DVD player proves region coding works. That my Euro friend, is still the vast bulk of the market in NA.
Odd.... the only solution to piracy is back to analogue again. That includes celluloid film and vinyl pressings. I remember paying more for Japanese pressings of vinyl. hmmm... odd isn't it?
Amen.
Prices on the other hand do have an influence on piracy. These days you can buy a good quality recordable single layer dvd including box for less than 50 cents..meaning the manufacturer and distributors have each made their profits...can you imagine how little it costs to make a cd?
They should cut down on advertising and marketing for the boy bands and other bilge like ....ah to many to mention.
The record companies should focus on music lovers ...music lovers will buy and buy and buy if the music and price is good.... But noooooooh...they want to sell music (or what passes as music) to every single person out there. Let's face it many people don't like music...how else could you explain the Take That's, Spice
Girls, Jessica Simpson and Paulina Rubio...they (the consumers) are simply bashed into thinking it's great and virtually forced to buy at extortionate prices.
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