THE REAL DEAL (the truth about the music industry)

[g6120]

Just came across this interesting Blog post.

 

"THE REAL DEAL (the truth about the music industry)" on MUSIC industrybook.com:

 

http://ning.it/ic5pqo

[BlueStrat]

Meh. Lots of generalities and unsubstantiated claims. I'd like to see some hard numbers and sources for his opinions. I'm not sayng he's wrong, just not very throrough in providing evidence.

 

And then there's this: "Too Greedy (price gouging)

Major record labels and retail chains stores have become too greedy by charging $18-19 for a CD that usually doesn't have more than 3 good songs on it."

 

The number of "good" songs on any CD is entirely subjective and a matter of opinion, but is irrelevant anyway. Pricing is done according to costs and the markup needed to make a profit. Lots of retail stores charge more for lots of reasons- the location of the store, how many employees they have to pay, how much they have to pay them, the property taxes of the property, utility expenses, etc. This is why we often shop in places like Spokane and avoid Seattle. There are stores here that charge 19.00 for a CD and others 14.99 for the same one. To think CDs ought to be priced by the number of quality of the songs on it is sophomoric.

 

The writer ignores a larger issue, and that's quality to inflation ratio. That is, in 1970, you could get a vinyl album for $3.50-4.00 It was limited to about 15-22 minutes a side, and IMO many albums I bought had maybe 3 good songs on them as well. But you could also get a gallon of gas for 30 cents, a pair of Levi 501s for 3.75, and a pack of Marlboro reds for 33 cents. That means gas has increased tenfold, a pair of Levis about 9-10 times, and a pack of smokes about 12 times.

 

Fast forward to today, that 3.50-4.00 is about 21.00-24.00 in today's economy in buying power. But the CDs are longer, often 60 minutes or more, more durable, and more portable. In this way, a case can be made that music today is lower priced than it was in 1970, adjusted for inflation, and is a better deal than it ever has been. While everything else has gone up 8-12 times in price, a CD is about 5-6 times more than a vinyl album with less music on it was 40 years ago. I don't see how that's overpriced.

[flatfinger]

 

There are approximately 27,000 music titles released every year. Of the 7,000 "new" titles released every year by major labels less than 10% are profitable. Major record labels sign only what they hope will sell, jumping on the latest trend and flooding the market with sound-alikes.

 

 

 

This is more of a trend when revenue streams are down . When you remove large percentages of income streams from a capitalistic enterprise , then of course they start to be cautious and pucker up !!. Anyones going to get nervous and less able to take bigger perceived risk . By begrudging any artist development venture capital , we actually set the table for the cookie cutter syndrome to rule the roost .

 

U2 had an album that was disappointingly low in sales JUST BEFORE the release of "The Joshua Tree" ; However it was venture capital and someone making a decision to go ahead and invest some more past profits into that band again that eventually made them break.....

[daddymack]

When was the last time you saw a retail chain record store? Most of this is old news...really old, like 1990s old.