Think of CD prices nowadays

[Firehead]

I know that the always constant question of buying CD/MP3's v.s downloading/just plain listening on youtube is an issue that could be talked about forever. Still, I wanted to know what people think about those of us that still like having a CD to hold onto and moreso... the prices of actual CD's nowadays.

To me, they still seem to be too much money. I go on Amazon.com for instance and take the new Evergrey 'Hymns For The Broken'...that is selling for nearly $14 (which includes shipping). I saw that and thought 'What year are we in?' You'd have thought this was still prior to the recent years where there are so many ways to get music for free. Now I don't blame Evergrey at all for that price, but still...who is charge of pricing this stuff because I would've thought these labels would be bringing down the $ for the fans as an incentive to purchase the new disc, v.s just thieving it away like so many fans do. At $14, that's what was average about ten years ago!

It's also not like pop music where all the fans care about are the single...this is Metal and we like the whole album when it is new!

I just bring this up because I personally think that in the year 2014 (almost '15!) that CD's should be no more than $10. If they were then I think there would be people buying more rather than saying 'I'll just see if I can hear it for free'.

By the way, if anyone knows a cheaper site than amazon, I'd love to know because I haven't seen any cheaper.

 

[Mardoch]

If $14 was the average 10 years ago then it's an amazing price now. That means 10 years of non-inflation.

Personally, while the price is higher than I'd like, I still don't think it's bad. $10 discs would mean I could buy 33% more music for the same given sum of cash, but...it is what it is. If I pay $15 for a 33 minute disc I do get a little cheesed, but if it's 33 awesome minutes that I listen to for many hours...my shits given about the price dwindles to none. I often think of the price of my music in longer time horizons...like "how many times did I listen to this disc in a year," and once that's totaled it usually comes out to chump change for "entertainment" dollars. For me it's much more than that, as the music I buy is what I listen to all day at work, and without it I work much less fluidly.

 

[TwizstedJesus]

My personal opinion is that cd costs are too high. That doesn't stop me from buying them, but the cost was what killed the industry in the 1st place!! The cost of cd replication is so ridiculously low compared to price, and I understand trying to turn a little profit, but geez!!! $10 is a good price. I'll drive up to Best Buy on Tuesday to purchase a new release at $10. At $14 I'll wait and as time goes on, the likelihood that I buy it decreases each month. And I own 15.000 store bought cd's, so its not like I'm a cheap bastard! Without support bands quit releasing new music.

 

[PureXul]

who is charge of pricing this stuff because I would've thought these labels would be bringing down the $ for the fans as an incentive to purchase the new disc, v.s just thieving it away like so many fans do.

I think it's flawed logic to assume that people who pirate music would purchase if the price was marginally cheaper. Sure, there's a small percentage who might be swayed by cheaper prices, but 1) based on my personal experience discussing it, people are either comfortable with piracy regardless of price or pay for music and 2) labels have a certain amount of fixed costs on an album (advance to the band, manufacturing, promotion, etc.) and if the amount they lose by lowering the price isn't made up for in theoretical new sales, they just cost themselves money.

Considering most of the big metal labels have been in business for quite a while and have managed to keep making money, it's a safe bet that they've optimized their pricing to maximize both sales and overall net profit, to the extent that both can be maximized. Sure, we'd all like things to be cheaper, but until the next great paradigm of music distribution takes hold*, labels serve a purpose both in funding the production of albums and helping to get bands on tour. Taking money out of their pockets will only serve to hasten the demise of the current model, which while it might be better in the long term, will not to anything positive for the bands we like in the short term.


* Crowdfunding seems to work well in many cases, but I'm not convinced that it's a viable replacement for the label model in its current form. I think it will be a component of whatever comes next, but not a wholesale replacement.

 

[Firehead]

If $14 was the average 10 years ago then it's an amazing price now. That means 10 years of non-inflation.

Personally, while the price is higher than I'd like, I still don't think it's bad. $10 discs would mean I could buy 33% more music for the same given sum of cash, but...it is what it is. If I pay $15 for a 33 minute disc I do get a little cheesed, but if it's 33 awesome minutes that I listen to for many hours...my shits given about the price dwindles to none. I often think of the price of my music in longer time horizons...like "how many times did I listen to this disc in a year," and once that's totaled it usually comes out to chump change for "entertainment" dollars. For me it's much more than that, as the music I buy is what I listen to all day at work, and without it I work much less fluidly.

I'd agree with you on the inflation part on pretty much any other topic, but for CD's I think it's a unique situation where people are getting the product via other means other than actually purchasing the disc. So I don't see these labels adjusting accordingly to the changing landscape from my perspective.

 

[Firehead]

My personal opinion is that cd costs are too high. That doesn't stop me from buying them, but the cost was what killed the industry in the 1st place!! The cost of cd replication is so ridiculously low compared to price, and I understand trying to turn a little profit, but geez!!! $10 is a good price. I'll drive up to Best Buy on Tuesday to purchase a new release at $10. At $14 I'll wait and as time goes on, the likelihood that I buy it decreases each month. And I own 15.000 store bought cd's, so its not like I'm a cheap bastard! Without support bands quit releasing new music.

Yeah I think so too. I remember I used to have a friend that lived in NY and I went out to visit him when he moved back there. This was 1997 and he had a job at Tower Records and we went there shopping on my trip. I remember browsing through the racks & seeing the prices of CD's in NY. HOLY SHIT! The regular prices were $17.99(+tax!) and the sale ones were still $14.99! My friend said that those were the normal prices and that the store was almost never dead, and downright insane on Saturdays! Granted those were NY prices but that was crazy!

So the RIAA+certain retailers as a whole has a lot of apologizing for charging people for discs over the years! And if anyone remembers, in the beginning CD's were supposed to be a cheaper way to produce v.s. vinyl.

 

[MeTuLHeD]

On average, it costs somewhere around $1.00 to $1.50 per disc to produce a CD in a jewel case with a full color multi page booklet and tray insert. Of course, that doesn't include other costs like recording and production, promotion, distro and so on.

 

[Sumeet]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/music_industry

 

[Firehead]

I think it's flawed logic to assume that people who pirate music would purchase if the price was marginally cheaper. Sure, there's a small percentage who might be swayed by cheaper prices, but 1) based on my personal experience discussing it, people are either comfortable with piracy regardless of price or pay for music and 2) labels have a certain amount of fixed costs on an album (advance to the band, manufacturing, promotion, etc.) and if the amount they lose by lowering the price isn't made up for in theoretical new sales, they just cost themselves money.

Well, you have a good point on those who illegally dl, but really the point I was trying to get across from my perspective is that I don't look for ways to dl illegally. Never have & never will. I buy my music. Period. That said, I have my limits on how much $ I'm going to spend on bs non-necessary items like music. I'm 39 and I have other interests that take up my time & $. That's not to say other people don't, but as I get older I find myself getting more tired of bands who used to be great (IMO) and then after a few years & discs, decide to turn to shit intentionally or otherwise. The reality of my situation is that I buy less and less music in general that I used to for whatever reason I might say, even though I still consider myself a fan of 'underground music'.

What I guess I'm saying is that I want to purchase new music, but the fact is really that if I don't find a price that I feel is fair, I'm not going to buy that CD or dl illegally. Bands don't have that magical hold on me anymore where I HAVE TO HAVE IT!! Maybe that's age, maybe that's other life interests, or maybe more than even those two...maybe I'm just tired of paying for bands who decide to fool me into buying their new products that just DON'T have that extra oomph that they used to.

 

[Firehead]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/music_industry

Yeah, that's perfect in every way!

 

[orcslayr23]

I agree that $10 would be a fair price for all standard-edition CDs, but CDs will always be my format of choice, even if they cost more than the downloads. I don't mind paying up to $20 for a CD (unless it's a band I dig the hell out of). Sometimes i'll spend a little more if i'm in an actual record store because I don't buy CDs in actual stores very often.

Since Amazon raised their minimum for free shipping and started charging tax, i've moved almost completely away from buying on there. Ebay is a great place for affordable CDs (i've found plenty for $13 including shipping, and i've even gotten some brand new for under $10). Grooves-Inc can also have great prices. Sometimes the Century Media and Nuclear Blast distros will have screaming deals.

 

[Justin G]

I can get most new "mainstream" metal releases for $10 either on Amazon or at the local FYE. Obviously it's more for "special editions." And of you buy a lot of CDs (like I do), and like streaming movies and lightning fast shipping, Amazon Prime is worth every penny.

 

[Unearthlybrutal]

I prefer owning a physical copy of cd rather than virtual copy.
Price doesn't matter as long as the music is good

 

[LuisMejiaF]

I can offer you a different perspective of CDs prices.
I'm from El Salvador, Central América, and here I paid (continue reading) the same for a cd. $10 - $20.
Now take in consideration that the min salary of my country is average $10 per day. So, one day worked = one cd or half cd you get. I fortunately get more than the min salary.
I said "paid", because the only one store where you were able to get physical copies has closed about 2 years ago.
The only way to get a physical cd is to order from sites like Amazon, but is needed to paid almost $10-$15 for the shipping cost. Or having a friend that travels often to US.

 

[jaimek]

CDs were £18-19 apiece in Finland, which is $22-$23. Ouch.

 

[General Zod]

The price of CDs is partly why I made the switch to MP3s. By and large, MP3s can be purchased for $4.99 - $9.99. I don't have to worry about shipping, I get my music immediately, don't have to deal with storing it, and don't have to deal with ripping it for use on portable devices. I am curious to see how long it takes before CDs go away completely.

 

[Diabolik]

The price of CDs is partly why I made the switch to MP3s. By and large, MP3s can be purchased for $4.99 - $9.99. I don't have to worry about shipping, I get my music immediately, don't have to deal with storing it, and don't have to deal with ripping it for use on portable devices. I am curious to see how long it takes before CDs go away completely.

will be a long time before they go away...look at vinyl and cassette tapes now that all came back after everyone was thinking they were going to be gone for good. More so on the cassette tape thing. Who would have thought anyone would rush out for cassettes again. I am sure down the line physical media will be gone. But there will always be some who won't go digital.

 

[Mardoch]

Cassettes are still an option? I still have mine somewhere, but I haven't seen a newly minted one in quite a few years.

 

[Justin G]

Cassettes are still an option? I still have mine somewhere, but I haven't seen a newly minted one in quite a few years.

Yeah,they're still being made.

 

[TychoCelchu]

will be a long time before they go away...look at vinyl and cassette tapes now that all came back after everyone was thinking they were going to be gone for good. More so on the cassette tape thing. Who would have thought anyone would rush out for cassettes again. I am sure down the line physical media will be gone. But there will always be some who won't go digital.

I think CDs will be gone while vinyl and cassettes are still here, and I think you (inadvertently?) touched on a point why. CDs are a digital medium that still requires a lot of physical operation to play. In that sense, they are the most irrational, trying-to-have-it-both-ways version of recorded media formats.

People are abandoning CDs in BOTH directions: those who embrace a digital present and future are going all-computer or all-cloud, while those who embrace analog versions of everything (with the physical operations that come with using those formats) prefer vinyl and cassettes because it only makes sense that if you're going analog, you may as well go 100% analog.

The compact disc is left as the one that makes the least sense for both the all-digital and the all-analog approach, and because of that I think it will be a thing of the past while vinyl and cassettes on the one hand, and purely-digital means on the other hand, live on.