CD Prices - what the fuck, honestly...

M

Metaltastic

Member
Feb 20, 2005
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So I was at my local FYE (do they have those outside of North America?) looking at CD's today, and was very frustrated by the following contrast:

New Daylight Dies (standard plastic case, no bonus disc) - $16.99
New Amon Amarth (folded cardboard digipak w/ bonus DVD) - $11.99

WHAT THE FUCK - the latter is even a bit cheap IMO for what you get (not like I'm complaining), but how can they justify the pricing on the former? In one of the seemingly monthly anti-downloading threads awhile ago someone made the very good point that it's retarded that DVD's from tons of different eras very often can be had new for $5-$10, yet CD's almost never dip beneath $12 (except for things like Dokken, which I must admit I was tempted by today for $8 :lol: ). If people want to sell more CD's, they should figure out how the DVD companies get their prices so low and jump on that bandwagon...

And don't worry Egan, I'll be buying "Lost to the Living" soon enough, probably direct from your site ;)
 
CD prices = weak

That said, I did initially download 3 tracks from Lost To The Living, loved what I heard so I ended up buying it. Really good stuff :)

~006
 
Yeah that´s weird, cd prices should get lower instead of rising, i found 10 dlls an excellent price for an album, but the lower the price, the better, 16.99 is a bit to much. i don´t buy cd´s as much as i want but would be nice to pick 3 or 4 cd´s at one pick and decent price not at almost 20 bucks.
 
I'd say a lot of it has to do with the pricing the store receives from distro. I would imagine a CD with large distribution could potentially be cheaper.

Also, it could depend on what is being pushed hard by labels/distros to move units more so than make bigger profits. I've always heard profit margins are pretty low as is for CD sales (from the stores, not labels), so buying from stores that take a loss on physical music (like Best Buy, etc.) may give better prices. I personally would never shop an FYE type store, just too high a price. You can generally find everything cheaper at Best Buy, etc., OR better yet support local independent retailers who usually have better stock on harder to find stuff anyway (and I always pay less than chain music stores).
 
One factor could've been last summer when the US dollar was extremely weak against the Euro. CD manufacturing prices in Europe is naturally done by Euro, so when the dollar was unusually weak (1 euro = 1,60 USD), the result is very high comparable prices in the US for import items.

Say, manufacturing 1 CD + covers would cost 2 euros per album, it would still be 2 euros regardless of how the US dollar fluctuates around. And if the CD retails for 12 euros for example, it would've been 19,2 USD last summer. But recently the US dollar has been regaining its value vs. the euro, so the comparable prices have dropped, even though the CD still costs 12 euros. The current rate is 1 euro = 1,36 USD, making the CD cost 16,32 USD.

Of course, if something was manufactured last summer, the original cost of manufacturing would still be the same, so they can't go simply dropping the prices outright, because it could lead to a situation where there is no profit made at all - maybe even loss. And the music industry can be many things, but it's not charity work ;)
 
not that I'm defending their prices....but the reason you're seeing those priced is for two reasons. 1. due to rising gas and transport prices. now the question is now that gas prices are dropping, will we see that reflect the prices of cd prices 2. recouping cost from not making budgets from illegal download from other project.
 
nwright said:
I personally would never shop an FYE type store, just too high a price. You can generally find everything cheaper at Best Buy, etc., OR better yet support local independent retailers who usually have better stock on harder to find stuff anyway (and I always pay less than chain music stores).
Click to expand...

Haha, unfortunately, my only options here in Oneonta (where I'm in school) are FYE and Wal-Mart, so FYE is the lesser of two evils!
 
scorpio01169 said:
not that I'm defending their prices....but the reason you're seeing those priced is for two reasons. 1. due to rising gas and transport prices. now the question is now that gas prices are dropping, will we see that reflect the prices of cd prices 2. recouping cost from not making budgets from illegal download from other project.
Click to expand...

Yes, but my point is why is the Amon Amarth CD so much less?
 
vespiz said:
18-19 euros is the norm for a new (foreign) release. I'll gladly...
Click to expand...

...buy them on Amazon UK instead :lol: You just have to wait a few days longer than other Finns, but you'll get the CD 5-8 euros cheaper! :kickass: Here's my recent (~2 months) new release hauls from Amazon:

9,66 EUR, Motörhead - Motörizer
9,66 EUR, Metallica - Death Magnetic
12,90 EUR, Evergrey - Torn (LTD)
19,35 EUR, Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God (LTD Box) (this one was almost 30 euros in Finnish stores :puke: )
6,36 EUR (!), Vader - XXV (2CD)
11,81 EUR, Ice Ages - Buried Silence

All brand new.
 
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