Commercial Music Pricing

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
Can someone explain this shit to me:
I just went on to Amazon to buy an album to download.
Its £8.29 for the set of MP3s.
If I buy the CD its £8.21 and it comes with a free MP3 download of the album.
I've just bought the CD, but one of the wise old souls at HR.com would explain this to me I'd feel better.
 
Ak ok, well that's money well spent.


I think the idea behind buying the CD and then downloading for free is so you can go mobile with it. You listen to the CD at home or in the car, and you put the download on your mobile device. Maybe the record label is not aware that in the rare event that someone actually buys a CD, they just rip it anyway.
 
Greg_L said:
Ak ok, well that's money well spent.


I think the idea behind buying the CD and then downloading for free is so you can go mobile with it. You listen to the CD at home or in the car, and you put the download on your mobile device. Maybe the record label is not aware that in the rare event that someone actually buys a CD, they just rip it anyway.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I get that. What was weird is that its cheaper, albeit only marginally, to get the CD which must have a minimal manufacturing cost with it.

I actually just installed the Amazon Music app to my phone so I could stick my Copy of True North on there too and it automatically started downloading Bastardo Azul and a couple of other things while I was at it!
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. Having Bastardo anywhere near True North is an insult to Bad Religion.
Click to expand...

LOL, I think you'd consider much of the stuff I have on there an insult to Bad Religion. I got one of the more recent Pearl Jam albums, Backspacer too. Its not what you'd call good...
 
But you'll pay a shipping fee for the CD, bringing the overall cost higher. Unless you buy more to hit the free shipping limit, or unless you pay for Amazon Prime. See - its an enticement to spend more money.
 
JDOD said:
Yeah, I get that. What was weird is that its cheaper, albeit only marginally, to get the CD which must have a minimal manufacturing cost with it.
Click to expand...


It's about what sells more...and I'm sure they do way more biz with the MP3 downloads...so they price it accordingly to get their money.
 
Greg_L said:
I think the idea behind buying the CD and then downloading for free is so you can go mobile with it. You listen to the CD at home or in the car, and you put the download on your mobile device. Maybe the record label is not aware that in the rare event that someone actually buys a CD, they just rip it anyway.
Click to expand...

At first I misunderstood your post, but yes it's possibly a convenience thing intended for buyers of the CD who don't get the whole ripping thing.

Back to the OP's question - I don't really know what the benefit is, between the manufacturing, distribution, and shipping costs associated with the physical disc I don't see how this benefits the record company. Maybe physical sales still count "more" than the purely digital sales?
 
Not many people buy CDs anymore, and I think that companies are really trying to phase out CDs, so maybe the slightly lower price is their way of dumping stock?
 
guitaristic said:
Not many people buy CDs anymore, and I think that companies are really trying to phase out CDs, so maybe the slightly lower price is their way of dumping stock?
Click to expand...

But I mostly just buy new releases on CD (most of them preordered). I'm pretty sure they are still plenty happy to sell a physical disc if people still want them.

Occasionally I see artists release new albums on disc with 1996 pricing ($17, etc). They seem to be moving inventory even at that price. *shrugs*
 
I don't buy any commercial releases. I can't even remember the last CD I bought. 2005 maybe? I happily contribute to the death of the music industry by streaming. I love how stupid people complain about not getting paid well via streaming but they're glad as shit to put their music everywhere to be streamed. Fuck them. You give it away for free, then that's what it's worth.

I will buy music straight from the source though. A band on tour or some local yahoos selling their shit at gigs, I'll buy something if they're good.
 
Greg_L said:
I don't buy any commercial releases. I can't even remember the last CD I bought. 2005 maybe? I happily contribute to the death of the music industry by streaming. I love how stupid people complain about not getting paid well via streaming but they're glad as shit to put their music everywhere to be streamed. Fuck them. You give it away for free, then that's what it's worth.

I will buy music straight from the source though. A band on tour or some local yahoos selling their shit at gigs, I'll buy something if they're good.
Click to expand...

People who want to actually release their music and try to be successful don't have much of a choice though do they? They either let their music get streamed and try and get a following or just do fuck all in obscurity.
 
JDOD said:
People who want to actually release their music and try to be successful don't have much of a choice though do they? They either let their music get streamed and try and get a following or just do fuck all in obscurity.
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Streaming doesn't really lead to following though. It's already been proven that streaming benefits no one but the streaming hosts and the record company that owns the music. Streaming ideally comes after you've already secured some kind of interest or fanbase. Someone already interested can listen to your music online and hopefully it's good enough for them to go see you live. The little nobody that tries to use streaming for promotion is shooting himself in the foot, but he doesn't have much choice. So there are two ways it can go: 1) you play live to a new crowd and maybe they go listen to your streams the next day. You make that live performance money, if any, and that's pretty much it. Or, someone hears of you through a friend and they listen to you streams and think it's good enough to go see you live one day. You make that live performance money again, if any. All the streaming in these scenarios amounts to fractions of pennies. People in general won't buy when they can stream. Music is basically worthless now.
 
I agree with the last sad sentence.

I don't ever plan to make money from music though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top