Record label reacts to downloading - CD Prices cut

[toscano]

Only like 10 years too late !

Years late, Universal cuts CD prices to combat poor sales

Sales of digital downloads have not been enough to make up for the decline of CD sales since its peak in 2000. Universal Music Group plans to soften the fall of CD sales by dropping prices across the board, to a maximum of $10.


In other hot news, Ricky Martin is gay, Sky is blue, Pope is Catholic

 

[u2popmofo]

Halle - frigging - lujah

But yeah, I guarantee had this been done a decade ago, they would have kept some of the sales they lost to downloading.

 

[corianderstem]

Huh. Better late than never.

 

[phanan]

Yeah, as I still buy CDs, this works for me.

 

[lazarus]

Does this mean they'll be on sale at places like Target and Best Buy for $6.99?

 

[Saracene]

Yeah, as I still buy CDs, this works for me.

Same here

 

[subnet]

if you could buy a CD and be able to return scratched unplayable discs for a replacement then i am in. otherwise the silver platter is EOL.

 

[u2popmofo]

How are you scraping your CDs so badly that they become unplayable?

 

[subnet]

^ other people borrow them. and the years of use in the car and home. it happens.

 

[Lila64]

Universal hasn't cut any of their prices yet. I thought I read the article a couple of weeks ago and I thought it said summertime. I didn't read the link toscano posted above As a retailer of music, I'm interested to see what titles they actually cut the prices on and what the new wholesale pricing will be (for me).

 

[corianderstem]

As a retailer of music

Do tell!

 

[ShipOfFools]

Thank god! CDs are way too overpriced, that's why I go online to places like Amazon to buy new releases. It's always been much cheaper!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

god, about time. now they need to slash prices of all these deluxe remastered cds.

oh, and other parts of the world need to get in on this too. cds are way overpriced still in some countries.

 

[Lila64]

This program is gonna be a massive clusterfuck for stores/retailers, lemme tell you. I'm in retail music. My supplier just forwarded the information from UMD and it's fucked up. There are all kinds of strings attached for indie stores, chain stores and direct accounts with UMD as well. They will pay a certain price, and then report their sales at the end of the month to the label or Soundscan or whoever, and then get a rebate. So for example, the MSRP may be $10, and I (wholesale) will have to pay $9.99. And then later on, I'm supposed to get a certain amount rebated, maybe $2 or so. So yeah, I'm supposed to make a living making $2.00 profit per CD? That doesn't include any overhead or other expenses. My supplier said everyone is pissed. He has one store that won't even carry the product. And it's not for all titles. They will start on the 27th with Hole & Melissa Etheridge I'm told. And if they see that the volume of sales does not increase to warrant this program, they will discontinue it. My source's boss gives the program 2 months.