Quote:
Originally Posted by ricgough
Fair comment, but it has always been a numbers game due to the cost of hard-copy manufacture, which is now largely taken out of the equasion. Back then you had the factory and shipping costs as well - which ramped the up front costs meaning a greater quantity had to be sold to break even - hence 13 quid as opposed to 6 on download. as fewer people buy hard copies then effectively the manufacturing cost per unit effectively goes up due to less economy of scale on that particular format.
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I record, produce and distribute bands/artists. I know full well what the costs are. Yes the hard copy costs are not so big, but there seems to be a misunderstanding that digital releasing is super cheap, it isn't, it's cheaper yes, but that's reflected in the cheaper price of the product. However that theory doesn't work when you can buy the cd at the same price also, cds spend very little time these days at full price before being cut down to almost half their price, the shop doesn't take that hit, the label does and in turn the artist does. Cd volume sales are not as bad as the public perceive them to be or are being led to believe, the revenue from them is, it's a big difference. That's what's hurting the presence of the physical product, fans know that even with big artists, they just have to wait maybe less than a month, bam the cd is reduced or thrown in a multibuy offer. As popular as Adele's album was, only 3 weeks after it's release, you could buy it from HMV at £6 that's £1.99 less than the download price.
So while i agree in part with the costs are less argument it's not entirely the case accross the board.
But my main point for comparison of prices was the perception of cost from the consumer standpoint being that the current prices are too high when in fact from a consumer point of view it is much cheaper than it ever was to purchase an album or single :0) which should be great, because it should mean that more people are buying music, but because of these sites it means the opposite, people feel more entitled to music now than they ever have, it's a shame.