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| From | Steve Alter <shteevea@yahoo.com> |
| Subject | Re: eMusic |
| Date | Fri, 11 May 2007 08:55:31 -0700 (PDT) |
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<<Who knows, maybe it's always been overpriced?>>
I would say record companies began devaluing music when they continued to exponentially raise prices after the advent of CD, simultaneously screwing artists, retailers and consumers. The switch of format allowed labels to make music a luxury item, which worked for awhile due to the (perceived) value prop of improved sound quality, expanded length, portability and resilience, as well as baby boomers willingness to replace a large portion of their record collections. But, at a certain point, when you can only buy one album for what was once the price of two, consumers do start to question the intrinsic value of the good itself. That's the genie that got out of the bottle.
Napster hit the mainstream (let's remember that many of us were already sharing - and I do mean sharing - on FTP sites for awhile), it was at the peak of consumer frustration with the record business, and music was already declining in value in the minds of both casual buyers and fans. Napster and co. just pushed it off a cliff.
Ironically, I personally find the .99 cents/song model used for the majority of digital downloads overpriced (isn't that what I was paying for vinyl singles 10 years ago???), and find it downright farcical that I can pay an extra .30 cents for the privilege or REMOVING the DRM, which costs the company MORE to add in the first place. And that's supposed to be progress?
I love my 90 tracks for .18 cents a pop at eMusic, even love the .53 cent Booster Pack songs I inevitably break down and by almost every month. I've got something like 2,000 albums from 555 artists, including tons of swell power pop I'd not have found (or been able to purchase) elsewhere, as well as classic records from many indie stalwarts. And even for someone who's pretty tied in to various scenes, I've discovered many bands there before they popped up on any other radar screen; The Decemberists and Peter Bjorn and John come immediately to mind.
On the flipside, I will happily pay a premium for the music of several artists I'm passionate about if there is no other way to get their music, whether it's power poppers like Bobby Sutliff, Michael Carpenter and Doug Powell, Aimee Mann and Michael Penn doing the personal label thing, or major label reissues of Warren Zevon records I've worn through the grooves on.
Do I "value" that music more than, say, the brilliant new Clientele album that I purchased for less than $3. No way! Would I pay more for it if Merge negotiated a better deal for digital downloads? Sure. But I'm simply paying what the market demands, and it seems to currently be torn between the premium and the puny. Hopefully it will find some equalibrium in the not too distant future.
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