This is a direct result of the music industry’s lack of foresight in the capacity of digital music. The way I see it, it is not about the profits, as the Big Four claim it is. It’s about the lack of ability to control the marketplace. I mean, explain to me why they would not want control over the pricing structure, when they know it could be used as another device in which to fleece the consumers, and continue their scheme of drawing in more money than is necessary to sell a tune. It seems to me if these bozos had their way, iTunes tracks would be $3.99 each, and full albums would be $16.99—not too far off from where CD prices are today. Moreover, they would claim some loopy “convenience” cost as the reason for high prices, when really, it is merely stuffing to line their pockets. Oh, and only certain catalouges would be available. And they would still overcharge for a 20 year old CD, like they do with “Thriller” today.
In my opinion, there is no justification whatsoever about the direct costs of CD prices. I mean, if I can buy a 50-pack of CD-R’s at Best Buy for as much as it would cost to buy Kanye West’s new album just down the aisle (or $5 more at another store), why the hell would I buy just one CD? When I had the money to buy the tracks I liked off the album from iTunes (or the whole album, for $5 less), and the capacity and hardware to burn them to one CD-R with other songs that I want on a compilation CD, and still have 49 CD-R’s left to either back up, or put other music on? You tell me what option is more cost efficient. DVD’s have more value than CD’s now. The music industry knows people are cheap. Why else would they be so against P2P file sharing, and so in support of raising the pricing structure at legal share sites like iTunes, Yahoo, and (now legal) Napster? Because they do not have direct manipulation over any of those sources, and that pisses them off. They cannot contain that marketplace, and they cannot use that marketplace to fleece people.
That is the real issue with this whole deal. The Big Four does not want you to steal music, and that is fair enough, but they don’t want you to buy it for less than what they can get away with cheating you, either. This is why I refuse to buy a CD anymore. It’s highway robbery, and they’ve been getting away with it for years until digital downloading came on the scene. The people watching this industry have said that if the labels persist in trying to raise prices for digital music downloads, it will result in a spike of illegal downloading. I agree. Folks are tired of the bullshit that these labels have been feeding them. More so, the labels aren’t doing themselves any favors by whoring out radio stations across the country to push-poll album sales via the latest payola scheme, either. Seriously, it’s time for these labels to wake the hell up and enter the 21st century, since the way they continue to operate is based in the disco era.
