Albums should cost a buck... I mean $#1+!

[richardmac]

And for the record, Twisted Sister made KISS look like fantastic songwriters. I for one do not look forward to the next Dee Snider. Though I do think he's an interesting guy. But I'd much rather talk to him than listen to his music.

 

Now Alice Cooper - he's a different story. I dig his music.

[Poker99]

 

And for the record, Twisted Sister made KISS look like fantastic songwriters. I for one do not look forward to the next Dee Snider. Though I do think he's an interesting guy. But I'd much rather talk to him than listen to his music. Now Alice Cooper - he's a different story. I dig his music.

 

 

 

+ 1000

[GibsonVMan]

This sounds like an argument from a non musician..people will gripe about about a $15 cd like it's insane to have it priced at it.

 

Think about the band who makes very little from the cd sales...Look at the bands who toured and started with nothing. Spending all thier money for gas, hotels, better equipment, transportation, and upkeep of the equipment. The cost gets to be overbearing...

 

Think about the money it took them to get where they are now...Overall cost is the factor

 

Just because you get on a decent label doesnt mean your troubles are over or you are floating on money...

 

Even bands that record thier own music would find it hard to sell it for a $1...It'd take a while to recoup the recording costs for equipment and thats even if they ever did.

[HCarlH]

. This is the worst possible time in the last 40 years to attempt a career as an original musician , and the greatest number of people ever seem to be attempting to do it. It just doesn't add up.

 

Especially when crap like American Idol (which is the highest rated show on TV ) glorifies realizing your dream to be a star as opposed to working hard to be a great musician/artist and creating great music.

[RichyRox]

How does it cost you 5 bucks per CD to make your own? You can have them made by discmasters, even in small quantities, for less than 5 bucks each.

 

Ya it cost me about $3.50 with everything including bar code, but shipping not included. Backdrop, 8.0 pixel camera, misc. I guess we can get too technical. hey check me out coffeehouse, I liked your site and your respectful presence on here. Some people are just so rude to say the least.

 

RichyRox.com

[rmilliken]

i'm guessing downloadable music plays a role in pulling in people who other don't buy a lot of CDs. so there may be a core of aficionados who go for the hardware, physical copies of music that reside off the hard drive , but there's also going to be a much larger group who just want to listen to one or two songs from an album that can generate a lot of revenue for the record companies.

[sethlover]

Give MP3's away and sell vinyl

[Poker99]

 

How does it cost you 5 bucks per CD to make your own? You can have them made by discmasters, even in small quantities, for less than 5 bucks each. Ya it cost me about $3.50 with everything including bar code, but shipping not included. Backdrop, 8.0 pixel camera, misc. I guess we can get too technical. hey check me out coffeehouse, I liked your site and your respectful presence on here. Some people are just so rude to say the least. RichyRox.com

 

 

What about the cost of the recording? Some of us invest money to actually make it sound good you know.

[Consume]

Hint: the record companies can't afford it either.

 

SNAP!

[Inspector 71]

Give MP3's away and sell vinyl

 

This

[Khemical]

Now that we got this here depression on, I'd like for gasoline to cost a buck. I mean, {censored}. Who wouldn't buy more gasoline if it was priced cheaper? Heck, I'd get me a couple of barrels and burn the {censored} night and day just to prove it could be done. Gas for a dollar? Who's with me?

 

I am!

 

$12-$15 is what i'd charge.

 

The best thing to do nowadays is to also include video content. Music videos can be shot fairly cheaply(around $1000 or so), you could get a few film students for free/cheap to take footage of you in the studio, backstage, and of course the live performance itself. You should be able to sell that for $16-$25 a pop.

 

Deliver more and charge more.

 

The art, music, and content determine the value to most consumers.(some want everything for free, {censored} those people don't waste your time with them.)

 

Most people don't understand all the money that goes into making an album. So maybe a little education is needed for the general public, so they understand bands aren't trying to rip them off, but barley covering costs and in a few rare instances, actually pulling a small profit, but not much more than flipping burgers.

[satannica]

Just another thing... for the UK at least.

 

I remember in 1990 buying my first CD. It was Sepultura's Beneath the Remains (upgrading from vinyl copy). I bought it together with Metallica's Ride the Lightning and Skid Row's first album. I similarly went through a habbit of keeping the receipt tucked into the inlay card. all three were £12.99 each.

 

I just picked up another couple of albums of amazon today. Three ran the gammut of £10.87 through £11.99

 

In 18 years, everything has increased in price. Gas, energy, council tax... CDs haven't budged an inch!!!! A cd in 2009 costs less than it did in 1990!

[Poker99]

 

In 18 years, everything has increased in price. Gas, energy, council tax... CDs haven't budged an inch!!!! A cd in 2009 costs less than it did in 1990!

 

 

Computers, TVs, stereo systems ?? Everything that has to do with technology becomes more affordable has time comes. The only thing that makes price go up is a new tech! (HD TVs, multi-processor computers)

[pythagos]

CD's do cost a buck, don't they?

Thats all the musician gets paid.

[ermghoti II]

 

CD's do cost a buck, don't they? Thats all the musician gets paid.

 

 

 

And they pay for the recording, distribution, marketing and manufacture of the physical disc. They pay for the tours, which are generally loss leaders, serving as advertising for the recorded material. They also have to pay for the 20 or so acts that fail to recoup the label's losses, despite their best efforts to select money-makers. The last one is the killer. It probably costs the label and the distributors $4 or so to sell a disc at a retail location, most of the rest covers losing bets..

[Faust1587]

The bottom line is the recording industry blew it when they went against Napster and didn't work with it. People were trying to transmit music over the phone when the phone came out and the recording industry didn't grab onto it... it morphed into the computer and a phone line. When Napster came out-filesharing was in its infancy, instead it turned into an us vs. them and both parties including the maker of Napster lost out. This was the time for the recording industry to do the smart thing instead of staying old hat and being conservative about the way they sold music.

[X the Dead Pawn]

I can do ya better than a buck! 8 ^ (suppost to be a {censored}in Arrow) Records makes punk records avaliable for FREE to anyone. It's great free and cool.

[Roy Brooks]

I reckon I make about $7 to $8 off of every CD of mine I sell.

[richardmac]

I'm making about $2.50 per CD off my current CD's. But for my new CD, I'm thinking of charging $10. And getting them done and shrink wrapped by discmasters.

[Synonym Music]

 

I'm making about $2.50 per CD off my current CD's. But for my new CD, I'm thinking of charging $10. And getting them done and shrink wrapped by discmasters.

 

I'd buy it if I liked it. I think you've said something along the lines of $10 being a big enough purchase to make people think. I don't know.. It only starts feeling like a loss if I do it repeatedly, which would indicate that one $10 CD isn't enough to make me think too hard. If I can get 3, maybe 4 really good songs out of it, I don't feel ripped off.

 

How bout you?

 

Another thing I buy on (and include in my pricing) is price breaks, i.e. buy one get the second one for $5 - give it to a family member or friend as a gift, which is exactly what I end up doing. At worst they don't like the music and I've lost five bucks (not fifteen because the first CD was something that was worth its cost).

[primativ]

I think the music industry is finally catching on to the line of thought from my original post.

 

My wife bought a CD package of Chicago's greatest hits at Walmart the other day. The whole thing cost 8 dollars but contained 3 cds in a mostly paper/cardboard package.

 

This works out to about $2.66 a cd. We had probably not bought a cd in years but the industry is finally catching on.

 

There was a similar plastic box of Chicago songs going for $24 with 3 cds, I wonder which version is selling better for them?

 

Let me reiterate that this concept does not apply for unsigned bands printing their own cds. I would gladly pay $13 for a cd of my favorite local bands, I realize that is just how it works for the little guy.

[LordBTY]

Music production is becoming more and more accessible that anyone (even kids) can do it themselves.

 

There's a lot of people who will try to make it into a career and this should reduce production costs via supply and demand.

 

By which I mean, the qualitative difference between each mastering engine/record producer will be reduced over time as more and more people get good at it from an early age.

[ermghoti II]

I think the music industry is finally catching on to the line of thought from my original post. My wife bought a CD package of Chicago's greatest hits at Walmart the other day. The whole thing cost 8 dollars but contained 3 cds in a mostly paper/cardboard package. This works out to about $2.66 a cd. We had probably not bought a cd in years but the industry is finally catching on. There was a similar plastic box of Chicago songs going for $24 with 3 cds, I wonder which version is selling better for them? Let me reiterate that this concept does not apply for unsigned bands printing their own cds. I would gladly pay $13 for a cd of my favorite local bands, I realize that is just how it works for the little guy.

 

The bargain bin is a new concept to you?

[uab9253]

The bargain bin is where they put CD's that aren't selling, trying to cut their losses, not a place where pricing for primo product is set. It's like the Marshall's or Ross of music.

 

Plus - I'm sure the record company recouped their money on what they spent on Chicago a long time ago.

[ermghoti II]

 

The bargain bin is where they put CD's that aren't selling, trying to cut their losses, not a place where pricing for primo product is set. It's like the Marshall's or Ross of music. Plus - I'm sure the record company recouped their money on what they spent on Chicago a long time ago.

 

 

Exactly. I know the bargain bin is usually for remainders, but the idea of tossing some runs of heavily-recouped music into the mix was hardly new 40 years ago.