How the pirates became saviours of the record industry

[DeathvadeR]

For years record buyers have complained that CDs are overpriced and the music industry has responded by saying, as politely as possible, put up or shut up.

Now, panicked by the pirates, they've finally been compelled to slash prices to a reasonable level and sales have reached an all-time high.

Profits are down but that's what happens when you stop charging £16.99 for an item that costs 50p to manufacture.


<http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1020734,00.html>

[OldEuropean]

1. Audio CD prices

German music industry managed to push through a new copyright law which makes the copying of protected mediums illegal (either with hard or software), offering or downloading music from internet from "illegal" sources is now a crime too. On the other hand, CD prices are going up fast and the music industry also successfully managed to convince the government to add a "copy fee" on any CDR media and CD writer.

I wonder what that fee is for if we aren't allowed to copy music cds at all? Duh... And it's not maybe because Germany is in a recession that people buy less CDs? Or spent their money on DVD or mobile phone bills?

I am lucky that my music taste is so strange and I really don't like the MP3 file format (MPC & OGG forever!) so I don't even bother buying the latest Superstar crap the music industry wants to shove into my "ears". :-|

[muchacho]

2. artist

And the artist ends up with something like 5% of the actual $16. price of a cd. The artist...the person that makes the worthless plastic disc worth something.

No wonder people have no moral qualms about sticking it to these suits.

[CanuckAmok]

3. I remember reading, years ago...

(sorry I can't source this, but, as I say, it was years ago), that Phillips was being investigated for price fixing. Up until 1984, Phillips was the only manufacturer of CDs in the world. They received license fees from every label on the globe, and had helped provide the incentive for music retailers to switch from vinyl and cassette formats to CD, including providing free display shelving for the new 5" format. They ran the first generation of CD players at a loss, just to get them into people's homes.

They had won over many retailers, and the audiophile press, by explaining that the manufacturing price of CDs was half that of an LP, and that once the initial research and refit costs were paid off, those savings would make their way to the consumer level.

Well, obviosly, they never did. In fact, CDs, which were initially more than twice the price of the eqivalent LP, have never come down in price in any significant way.

Suprise.

I've also heard that the degeneration heard in early CDs is "built in". They were manufactured to eventually wear out (case in point, I have two of the first CDS I ever bought, in the mid 80s, and they are both completely non-functional despite being very well cared-for).

So, these bastards are gouging and screwing the public at every opportunity, and they cry poverty at the first sign of a consumerist rebellion. They play the "unfair to the artist" card, and even get some of the superstars of recording (who, by definition, are multimillionaires) to get on their side and defend them, when the fact that the biggest leech of the profits of 99.9% of recording artists is the labels themselves!

So, instead of bitching and moanding, why don't the labels get their act together and adapt. Try a reliable, user-fee based downloading service, like some of the independent bands I enjoy already do? In fact, what a great way to dump the whole bloated industry.

Have a look at these guys, for example: http://www.neubauten.org .

They 'sell' their music on-line, for $0.99 per download per song. What a great idea. Not so good for retailers, but great for the band, the listener, and the environment.

[htuttle]

4. "Tearing Down New Buildings"

I was unaware there was another person this side of the Atlantic who'd heard of 'Einsturzende Neubauten'! Cool.

One interesting thing Phillips has done (sort of in the other direction) is last year they made some noise about the new 'CD-ROMs you can't play on your computer' format. They were saying that these types of CD-ROMs shouldn't be allowed to carry the Music CD logo, since they didn't follow the format specifications. So I have mixed feelings about Phillips.

I think also, that the music industry's most recent uber-conglomeration during the late 80's and 90's that made so many indy labels disappear spurred an even greater demand for 'out of band' music distribution (since so many bands can't get their music out there any other way). Once the technical means was there (computers + MP3), it was only 'physics' that all music would start to follow the path of least resistance to the listener.