Universal to slash CD prices in US
Posted by: throbnorth on 04 September 2003
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/32658.html
for the full story.
At last, a faintish waft of common sense.
I thought the -
'But equally it's about trying to win back buyers who'd rather spend money on a DVD or computer game, which are increasingly being perceived by consumers as offering better value for money than CDs do.'
- bit interesting, because it exactly mirrors my [apparently] subconscious spending patterns. I used to buy CD's obsessively [not in Lees quantities of course, but still 2 or 3 a week - taking risks here and there, splashing out in a regular fashion on all those artists I keep an eye on etc. etc.] but this is strangely no longer the case. I've just realised that the 200+ DVD's that I seem to have accumulated fairly recently have probably replaced that habit, which has actually never occured to me before. They are [compared to CD's ] rather good value. I often flit around Play, Splash CD-Wow and the usual suspects grabbing all these poor little £5-£10 DVD classics which it seems somehow uncharitable not to buy, as mostly they are below the price of a heavily discounted CD [i.e £8.99]. Come to that, I don't even squalk when looking at DVD's in HMV as I do when faced with their £15+ CD's.
As the UK's CD consumption, in spite of the doom & gloom reports of the BPA, has actually been increasing, I doubt if we'll see a similar reduction here for a little while, but extensive online imports may eventually have an effect. A US $13 'store price' [£8.22] will mean that online retailers will have to shave a bit more off, and Amazon.com will be even more tempting for regular purchases than it is at present.
The prospect of a new full price CD being around £7.50 [the price of that first landmark Dire Straights album incidentally, which was issued when CD's had to bear the heavy and perhaps justifiable cost of R&D, pressing plants etc.], would undoubtedly make the market explode, and perhaps enable the industry to begin investing in talent long term the way they used to. Dance music is apparently on the wane, and that fortuitously, might help.
If this was coupled with a more realistic attitude to downloading [although I expect that Microsoft DRM will for a while hobble attempts in this area for the vast majority of PC users compared to the lite-touch that Apple have introduced - 30p a track would be an ideal splurg-y sort of amount] then the industry's problems would be sorted.
If companies could realise that a two track CD single should actually be thought of as a loss leader [99p - £1.25 seems about right?], bliss might even reign, we could have a thriving music scene, charts that mean something and a return to father/son Thursday night TOPTP arguments.
Interesting times ahead, nevertheless.
throb
for the full story.
At last, a faintish waft of common sense.
I thought the -
'But equally it's about trying to win back buyers who'd rather spend money on a DVD or computer game, which are increasingly being perceived by consumers as offering better value for money than CDs do.'
- bit interesting, because it exactly mirrors my [apparently] subconscious spending patterns. I used to buy CD's obsessively [not in Lees quantities of course, but still 2 or 3 a week - taking risks here and there, splashing out in a regular fashion on all those artists I keep an eye on etc. etc.] but this is strangely no longer the case. I've just realised that the 200+ DVD's that I seem to have accumulated fairly recently have probably replaced that habit, which has actually never occured to me before. They are [compared to CD's ] rather good value. I often flit around Play, Splash CD-Wow and the usual suspects grabbing all these poor little £5-£10 DVD classics which it seems somehow uncharitable not to buy, as mostly they are below the price of a heavily discounted CD [i.e £8.99]. Come to that, I don't even squalk when looking at DVD's in HMV as I do when faced with their £15+ CD's.
As the UK's CD consumption, in spite of the doom & gloom reports of the BPA, has actually been increasing, I doubt if we'll see a similar reduction here for a little while, but extensive online imports may eventually have an effect. A US $13 'store price' [£8.22] will mean that online retailers will have to shave a bit more off, and Amazon.com will be even more tempting for regular purchases than it is at present.
The prospect of a new full price CD being around £7.50 [the price of that first landmark Dire Straights album incidentally, which was issued when CD's had to bear the heavy and perhaps justifiable cost of R&D, pressing plants etc.], would undoubtedly make the market explode, and perhaps enable the industry to begin investing in talent long term the way they used to. Dance music is apparently on the wane, and that fortuitously, might help.
If this was coupled with a more realistic attitude to downloading [although I expect that Microsoft DRM will for a while hobble attempts in this area for the vast majority of PC users compared to the lite-touch that Apple have introduced - 30p a track would be an ideal splurg-y sort of amount] then the industry's problems would be sorted.
If companies could realise that a two track CD single should actually be thought of as a loss leader [99p - £1.25 seems about right?], bliss might even reign, we could have a thriving music scene, charts that mean something and a return to father/son Thursday night TOPTP arguments.
Interesting times ahead, nevertheless.
throb