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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: emusic, etc |
| Date | Fri, 11 May 2007 16:40:43 -0400 |
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AT Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 10:02:17 -0700 (PDT)
>The industry has been screwing the consumer for years.My understanding is
>that the >manufacturing costs to make a CD is roughly the same as the 12"
>vinyl LP. Yet they have been sold >for $12.00 - $15.00 from the very
>beginning. Whereas Lp's only went for $6.99-$8.99( New at >Tower) if
>memory serves.
> Were Indies selling their product at any lower prices ??? Hmmm.......
There's two issues involved in this.
1) Labels weren't selling their product beyond the reach of consumers...it's
been retailers unwilling to adhere to the suggested list price on most
products coming out of the box. And it's only gotten worse. I sell a CD to
my distributor for $6.50. My distributor sells it to the retailer for $8.50.
The retailer sticks it on the racks for $21.99. The consumer decided they'd
had enough and stopped going to brick and mortar and seeking their material
online...and EVENTUALLY downloading. So the argument that downloading is
killing CD sales was a reaction...not a symptom of the initial cause.
2) Consumers have been bitching about album/cassette/CD prices since the
dawn of time. But no one has ever looked at the inherent value of what they
get for their $15.99. They're walking away with a pre-packaged set of 10-17
songs (depending on the artist) that cost tens of thousands of dollars to
record and manufacture, artwork, lyrics, a plastic case to protect it that
they can take home and listen to FOREVER...providing the disc itself
maintains its physical integrity and the audio system they listen to it on
survives indefinitely.
But people barely blink when shelling out MORE money for a night of
entertainment -- like seeing a band live or going to a movie or a play or a
ballgame-- where the consumer primarily gets NOTHING in return for their
$74.50. ONLY memories. But people STILL bitch about having to buy a dozen
songs for $15.99. It just boggles my mind.
I have vinyl I paid $30.00 for as imports years ago. I can still listen to
them. It was WORTH every penny even back when $30.00 could buy soooo much
more....because I can listen to this vinyl FOR *EVER*. Longer than the life
of the format. Longer than the life of the act that created. In fact, my
children can listen to them and my grandchildren and so on.
How is this not worth what we pay for it? It's an investment that can
potentially last a lifetime. What else can you buy that yields as great a
return on investment -- emotionally and tangiably? DVDs. Art. Sculpture.
Architecture. Hmmm....I'm detecting a theme here.
And here people are crying the blues over paying $0.99 to download one
friggin' song. Give your heads a shake.
I stick by my statement that music is undervalued regardless of what P2P,
Napster or whoever botched up retail did to it...
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
SWAG:
http://www.cafepress.com/bullseyecanada
BULLSEYE LIVE 365 RADIO:
http://www.live365.com/stations/bullseyerecords
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/
http://www.myspace.com/jaimievernonsmovingtargetz
Jaimie
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