The RIAA are a bunch of visionless whiners.
CD sales are slumping. Well, no shit. At $15.99 to $18.99 a disc and in the middle of an economic nightmare, what do they expect. Simple mathematics and a study of how their audience spend their money would immediately change their bottom line.
Using my own spending habits as an example:
I go into Virgin Megastore with $50 and no plan to spend 100% of my pocket money. I'm surrounded by new releases @ $15.99 a CD (averaging). I may buy one, which, plus tax, takes $17.31 out of my $50. But...........if I see a rack of CDs for $6.99, I'm much more likely buy multiple CDs which, add more $$ to the store's total sales, adds to the artist's stats and..........makes me, the customer happy. (5 @ $6.99 plus tax = $37.83)
Taking this to a national level, the math gets easier. If a million people were to buy 5 CDs at $6.99 rather than 1 CD at $15.99, the total sales would equal a 65% increase in overall sales, not to mention the tax benefit to the local city. What's missing from this picture? Economics 101? Why spend a measurable fraction of your income when you can download it for free is a no-brainer........as is burning a copy from a friend. Though the majority prefer to have the original with liner notes et al. When you're competing with free, an adjustment in mindset should be explored.
Posted by kerry at August 26, 2002 04:14 PM | TrackBack