Rant on the Music Industry
I recently made a CD of Canadian Retro tracks and such. Doing so I found some "new" music (new meaning its old, but new to me to discover). So on a whim I've decided to perhaps purchase a CD or two, providing the albums are available for sale.
Sure enough, as with most older music, they have ended up selling just a Greatest Hits compilation instead of each individual album. I find that annoying since I often do like tracks on albums that never get the credit they deserve. HMV has this album for sale for $14.99, plus traveling or shipping expenses and taxes, that puts it over $20cdn. On e-bay, I found the original vinyl album, unopened for $2.99usd. Even worse, I checked Amazon before I checked HMV (isn't HMV using Amazon's site though for their CD catalogue??), and Amazon's site wanted $20usd for the CD because it was an important -- from Canada.
I can see why people pirate music. As I have clearly demonstrated, by being exposed to the MP3's I downloaded for this little project, I want to buy the album. But I am expected to pay insane prices (and even more so if I lived in the US). In fact, I remember buying CDs in 1994 at prices from $10.99-16.99. This was still when cassettes were being phased out and CD was just finally becoming an accepted product for everyday consumers. Almost 10 years later, these prices are still very high, despite the technology improvement and competition.
Blank CDs back in 1994 cost a fair bit, roughly $20cdn per media for a 63 minute CD-R. Now, even with levies, they cost approximately 40 cents. However, the price the Record Industry is charging is insane. I don't think I've seen a decrease in the price; it's always being justified by piracy, or the market or it being new technology. It sort of reminds me of the phone company and their explanation for the cost of their basic services. The concept of importing music is pretty lame too, considering there are much easier methods to send music to recording booths or stations in record stores, if they wanted to invest the money. The convenience of downloading music and having it instantly is definitely there and they're losing out, just because they don't want to adapt, change and make a risky decision. I mean, would you rather have the MP3s of the songs you want in 6 hours, or wait 2 weeks for a CD to be ordered and shipped in. What if the album is no longer in print or available? A fair bit of music I have discovered recently falls into these categories, especially the out of print part, and it drives me up the wall that I may not be able to get this stuff because of how the industry has locked this stuff out.
Sure enough, as with most older music, they have ended up selling just a Greatest Hits compilation instead of each individual album. I find that annoying since I often do like tracks on albums that never get the credit they deserve. HMV has this album for sale for $14.99, plus traveling or shipping expenses and taxes, that puts it over $20cdn. On e-bay, I found the original vinyl album, unopened for $2.99usd. Even worse, I checked Amazon before I checked HMV (isn't HMV using Amazon's site though for their CD catalogue??), and Amazon's site wanted $20usd for the CD because it was an important -- from Canada.
I can see why people pirate music. As I have clearly demonstrated, by being exposed to the MP3's I downloaded for this little project, I want to buy the album. But I am expected to pay insane prices (and even more so if I lived in the US). In fact, I remember buying CDs in 1994 at prices from $10.99-16.99. This was still when cassettes were being phased out and CD was just finally becoming an accepted product for everyday consumers. Almost 10 years later, these prices are still very high, despite the technology improvement and competition.
Blank CDs back in 1994 cost a fair bit, roughly $20cdn per media for a 63 minute CD-R. Now, even with levies, they cost approximately 40 cents. However, the price the Record Industry is charging is insane. I don't think I've seen a decrease in the price; it's always being justified by piracy, or the market or it being new technology. It sort of reminds me of the phone company and their explanation for the cost of their basic services. The concept of importing music is pretty lame too, considering there are much easier methods to send music to recording booths or stations in record stores, if they wanted to invest the money. The convenience of downloading music and having it instantly is definitely there and they're losing out, just because they don't want to adapt, change and make a risky decision. I mean, would you rather have the MP3s of the songs you want in 6 hours, or wait 2 weeks for a CD to be ordered and shipped in. What if the album is no longer in print or available? A fair bit of music I have discovered recently falls into these categories, especially the out of print part, and it drives me up the wall that I may not be able to get this stuff because of how the industry has locked this stuff out.