CD Prices

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This isn't a new thing, I guess, but it seems to be a consistent one lately. Every store (Dusty Groove, Amoeba, Ernie Bs, Forced Exposure--haha okay not Tower) I frequent seems to have had an increase in their baseline price for new CDs in the last four or five years. Is this driven by increases in the amount they pay for stock or is it a function of a depressed market for CDs because of the downloading/web competition? Or are they just greedy?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 15 December 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

Rate of inflation =

― adam beales (pye poudre), Friday, 15 December 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

cost of living, overhead costs and the prices of the raw materials to make the cds, perhaps? it also depends on where you shop. take time to shop around for the cheapest prices of your cds with shipping. i think the shipping charges are a joke. then there are some that charge hardly anything. go figure. i think that most distros make a ton of money from the shipping and handling.

― postie23 (postie23), Saturday, 16 December 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

Rly? Because you do have to keep in mind that on top of the cost of shipping, they have to pay for boxes and packing materials and foam and tape and stuff, so it does seem a bit costly at times, it's not like they're charging you $5 and pocketing $3

― RIYL Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Sunday, 17 December 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

it's not like they're charging you $5 and pocketing $3

amazon charged me $10.98 shipping on two cds that actually cost $3.50 to mail. packinage costs aside,someone got a little extra.[turned out it was CMDISTRO that actually sold them to me]

― william (drone/a/sore), Sunday, 17 December 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

heheh.....wtf is packinage? packaging

― william (drone/a/sore), Sunday, 17 December 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

On the other hand, check out this quote from the news link on Dischord's website. Yea it's dvds and not cds, and yea it's Dischord which is always cheap, but it's still of some related interest I'd say.:

"We have new (lower) prices for Dischord DVDs! These DVDs are cheaper to manufacture these days so we've lowered the price from $18.00 to $16.00 post paid. The Fugazi, "Instrument" DVD also has nice new packaging to go along with it's new lower price."

― cornyrocker (DC Steve), Sunday, 17 December 2006 19:12 (nineteen years ago)

Or are they just greedy?

hahahaha did you srsly write that?

― Tyrone Slothrop (Tyrone Slothrop), Sunday, 17 December 2006 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

I hate when they do that on ebay. Like, they'll list something for $3.99 and then shipping will be $5.99 and they won't let you combine orders. It pisses me off super hardcore.

― RIYL Christiane F. (drowned in milk), Sunday, 17 December 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

I find $10 is a psychological barrier for me on CD pricing. At $10 or cheaper I'm generally going to buy whatever I want. At $11-14 I'm more hesitant, and after that it becomes fairly unlikely I'll buy something even if I want it. In part it's because I know that CD production and packaging is super fucking cheap. I mean my own band was able to get beautiful full-color gatefold packaging and disc pressing for less than $2 a CD, and that was a very low order volume. Most of the costs for big labels are in marketing, and I think they throw away too much money on that.

I think pricing is too often overlooked as a cause for the slide in CD sales, and I think there's too often an assumption that a person who downloads music wouldn't buy the CD if it the price was a little lower.

One other thing - I think internet sales have been a double-edged sword for CD sales. On one hand they make everything available to everyone, which is probably lead some people to buy more CDs overall, at least for a while (I know it did for me at first). OTOH, it kills off the enormous marketing/impulse-selling opportunity that record stores provide, and then it also adds shipping charges into the mix which can ultimately make some people more hesitant to purchase.

― Hurting (A-Ron Hubbard), Sunday, 17 December 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

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