[Dusty Chalk]

I think the question is badly phrased -- a lot of CD's are already like US$10 -- just keep it vague. I read it as "Yes, I would buy a lot more CD's if they were significantly cheaper", and voted that way.

I think the problem is that a lot of new music sucks. Not all of it, but the crap that gets pushed on the sheep/lemming populace sucks. And I think that they are the same people that are doing most of the downloading for free, so that's why it appears to be hurting the music industry, when what really needs to happen is a complete restructuring of the pop music companies. (I also think that little of this applies to any of us here.)

And yes, one of those steps are to significantly lower CD prices. They've already started doing it, with newer artists they were pushing (I picked up godhead's and Fiona Apple's first albums for US$7 when they first came out), they just need to do it for others, now, too, and give more money back to the artist, and just streamline the middleman (record companies). There's a lot of gristle there, feed it to the dogs.

 

[jaskin]

The answer is YES, I definately would. It will save me lots of time scouring the used cd shops.

 

[blip]

Lando makes good points. Simplistic measures of filesharing's impact are just that simplistic. Too simplistic to solve a complicated problem like filesharing's impact on record companies.

Personally, I used to be a regular filesharing fiend. Had around 3000+ tracks on my computer (all legal of course... just incase anyone is watching...) It introduced me to lots of new forms of music and was generally pretty fascinating. Overtime though I got tired of not having complete albums, the lousy quality of MP3s, and the lack of the visceral experience of a CD (oooo... liner notes...[drools]). Now I am almost totally CD based and have bought a good chunk of the music that I used to have in MP3 in CD form. (Plus I found a great used music place, but that is another story...) Anyway, the net result is that I've become a good little consumer for the record labels... Go me!

 

[jaskin]

Quote:

Originally posted by Lando 4) Filesharing can be used as a tool for sampling music. Since I started filesharing, I've spent a lot more money on buying cds than I ever did before. I've even paid for expensive import cds, because filesharing let me hear music from around the world.

I do use filesharing as a sampling tool. Sometimes, 30 seconds or so on siteslike cdnow.com isn't enough to tell if the album is worth the price.

 

[Rizumu]

Quote:

Originally posted by jaskin I do use filesharing as a sampling tool. Sometimes, 30 seconds or so on siteslike cdnow.com isn't enough to tell if the album is worth the price.

The 30 seconds is often a random part of the song that doesn't give you much of an idea about the music and the sound quality is horrendous. I never can tell anything with those clips.

 

[Outdoor Man]

No question, ofcourse.

It would make second hand CD's cheaper to.

Peter.

 

[tommyatkins]

Quote:

Originally posted by blip Have any independent research firms conducted a full-scale analysis of the economic impact of filesharing?

I have a few sources of studies somewhere (i was going to write an article on this, maybe still will...) From what I've seen (from "independent" research teams, more on this later) filesharing has not had significant impact on cd purchasing. There are reports of additional CDs being sold, and studies "showing" that less cds are being sold. Some studies only "show" how filesharing is reducing sales (to some people, but fail to account for the increase in sales to others).

As always studies are biased, but I seems that there is no (or not enough) data to demonstrate significant impact on sales. There are so many factors, such as Lando has reminded us of, so these studies are very hard to do "perfectly."

Another thing to note is the RIAA's position certainly can't be helping them out in the PR department. They threaten, sue, price fix, mantain static business models, and generally piss off consumers and artists. The response of the industry to filesharing could affect sales, as well. (Yes this has been mentioned before, I just think its the second biggest factor after a general economic decline which just happens to be in the years filesharing has grown.

TA

 

[skagen]

MP3 has nothing to do with anything. I have never downloaded an MP3 because I dont want to get into the hassle of varying sound quality, etc. However the music industry is definitely missing out on my business because of their ridiculous prices.

Personally I think price has a lot to do with it. In Norway here, a new CD is usually $20, maybe $15 if you're lucky. I buy very few CD's here. I copy a lot of stuff from people (CD-R) and I buy music when I travel abroad.

When I lived in NYC, I bought a lot more music - generally from places that sold it at $10-12, or used CD's for $5-10. It was very rare that I would spend $15 or more on a CD, unless it was an import AND I thought it was gonna be something I wanted to collect.

I rarely by pop, typical rock or hip hop CD's at standard places/prices. That music doesn't last, so I bought that stuff as bootlegs on the street - Cnal Street, midtown, Wall Street, harlem, wherever. You can get bootlegs at $5 each if you don't know better, or $10 for 3 CD's if you know what's up. A lot of people I know in NYC do the same. Who's gonna spend $17.99 on a CD with 4 good songs, none of which you'll listen to after 4 months?

And I'm someone who PREFER's CD's to digital files. I like to read the liner notes, I like to colect the physical CD's. But not for stupid prices...

MP3 is not the real problem. Until the record industry decides to start serving customers properly, they'll keep missing out on revenues.

 

[grinch]

the other day i went cd/dvd shopping and of course i went in thinking i was going to buy three movies for a friend for late mother's day, and ended up blowing $250 on cds and dvds (don't ask, got a ps2 game too.. ouch). i generally keep my almost-weekly cd/dvd purchasing runs under $100, but i hadn't gone in a while. on these general occurences, for $100 i can get five or six cds, maybe seven if i grab an ep or something cheaper. i do this at my local best buy (which suprisingly has a pretty damn good selection) and most cds are at or under $14.99. i generally won't pay more for a cd, i'll just go home and order it online instead. anyway, if cds were $9.99 i'd have eight new cds once or twice a month, instead of the normal five or six.

so would i buy more cds if the price was only ten bucks? of course. it would really affect how many cds i would buy, as oppose to how much money i would spend.

anyway, there's always pipe dreams.. but there's no way in sin they'll ever drop the prices. i still don't understand it though, especially when some artists' albums (on the day they drop) are only $6.99. most recently i picked up pete yorn's new one for that much. they *have* to be making money on that.. it's sad that they don't keep more cds at those prices.

 

[tanfenton]

I don't buy CDs because I can buy vinyl records, not support the industry, and have better sound (and music) all the while.

NGF

 

[Nikos]

How much are Vinyl Records these days Tanfenton?

 

[mekanoplastik]

for 8-10$ i would definatelly buy more cd's

in my opinion, the reason why label companies do not like mp3 is because it allow us to realize how F(*&( bad most of the new music is and that stops many potential buyers...

..


m.

 

[skagen]

The other problem I have is that the music is often priced very similarly. A CD from 1960 - or even 5 years ago) should NEVER be list price. But at too many places this is the case.

Plus with new groups, you shouldn't be paying list price, like you might for say a record by U2. A new group should be under 10 bucks so you can try new stuff at low risk.

And yet they wonder why people bootleg records - dummies...

 

[Nikos]

Well the results turned out to be

Yes, I would buy a lot more CD's if they were $10! 55 VOTES 85.94%

No, I would probably buy around the same amount of CD's, maybe a few more. 5 VOTES 7.81%

I don't buy CD's anyway because they are overpriced has nothing to do with free mp3 availablity and file sharing 4 VOTES 6.25%

I don't buy CD's because I can just download mp3s for free 0 Votes 0%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you think this poll speaks for most people or is it too biased in the fact that this is a headphone site where most value QUALITY?

Does filesharing really affect the music industry or is the pricing issue the more important factor that can help the music industry WHILE satisfying the music consumers?

 

[jaskin]

I think if we were to be affected by quantity instead or quality we would be more price conscious. However, if we were quality conscious we would buy the CDs no matter what the price.