Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Digital Music Biz Ain't Booming
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 08:20 PM
"Here you have a product -- recorded music -- that costs very little to produce. Sure, you can spend a fortune on sound studios and videos. But even an amateurish recording of a live performance sounds OK. Nearly everyone knows some struggling band that has put out a decent-sounding release on a shoestring. Once a recording exists, reproducing it costs next to nothing. Because most of us pay a flat monthly fee for internet access, there's no extra cost to send or receive a music file. CDs are also cheap. A pack of blank ones sells for a few dollars. How, then, does the list price of a new music CD get to around $18? Why does it cost a dollar to download a song on iTunes? While $1 isn't much money, it seems high for something that costs nothing to reproduce."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read this article. I've never seen someone so utterly clueless about what music is: it's intellectual property, and if it's popular, the owner is paid royalties. That's the reason why music isn't just given away - Glasner, the author of the article, seems to think that the cost of reproduction is the only factor. There's an entire industry of middle-men adding their sometimes-questionable "value" to the product. But they're there nonetheless, and wishful thinking won't change anything. Page two of the article made slightly more sense, but only slightly. :roll: Give it a read and share your thoughts - is she as out to lunch as I think she is?
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read this article. I've never seen someone so utterly clueless about what music is: it's intellectual property, and if it's popular, the owner is paid royalties. That's the reason why music isn't just given away - Glasner, the author of the article, seems to think that the cost of reproduction is the only factor. There's an entire industry of middle-men adding their sometimes-questionable "value" to the product. But they're there nonetheless, and wishful thinking won't change anything. Page two of the article made slightly more sense, but only slightly. :roll: Give it a read and share your thoughts - is she as out to lunch as I think she is?
