The RIAA says "You're lucky cd's are so cheap!" *rolls eyes*

[LouCipherr]

RIAA says, "You're lucky cd's are so cheap" (http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/cost.asp)

So our good old friends at the RIAA are spreading some more BS that we as consumers are lucky that CD's are so cheap now. Apparently they think that as time goes on, items get more expensive (inflation I can understand), and technological advances that make things cheaper to manufacture do not exist.

I remember a time when it was justified for CD's to be twice the price of a vinyl album, because the red lasers to create these wonders were uber expensive. Hell I remember the original CD's being so strong and resistant that they would barely scratch. Now with red laser burners costing under $30 USD, really, how expensive is it to create a CD? We know just how little the artists actually get from this cartel (and yes, that's what they are), why hasn't anyone invoked RICO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act ) on these bastards yet?

Have a good laugh at their expense, but remember, most of the US congress is in their pockets, and they are coming to your country as well...


**edited to say: this might be better moved to the "media" forum. Sorry, I was half asleep when I posted. :D

[MinionZombie]

I remember hearing somewhere the cost of actually producing the CD was a matter of pence, and the rest was a few cost coverings, but mainly profit for the bigwigs.

Here in the UK if you go down your local HMV you'll get a CD for anywhere between £10 and £20 (that's roughly $20 to $40), if you shop online (e.g. the super Play.com with it's tax exempt status being in Jersey) you can get one pre-ordered for around £8 or £9 ($16 to $18) and at most around £13 ($26).

Now, those Play.com prices, for us UK folk, are as cheap as it gets (everything in the UK is more expensive than it is in America, so for any Yanks that go "pishaw" at the statement - get bent, it's true - deal with it) ... anyway...:D

This sort of arrogance from the RIAA isn't going to win any votes for their popularity, have they learnt nothing from Sony? Corporate arrogance doesn't win the average punter over, it just pisses them off.

£12 for 10 songs, usually around 45 minutes worth? Hmmm...

I still buy CDs that I really want (e.g. I'm a huge HIM fan, so I buy all their CDs/DVDs because I'm really into their music), but being rather devoid of disposable income I can't afford to buy everything, and with the world being so media saturated there's gonna be a ton of music/films/games/whatever out there that you wanna have a go on, but only some of it will be worth your while splashing cash on in your opinion - besides, with all the media out there that each individual person likes, you couldn't possibly buy all of it anyway.

*shakes head*

The RIAA ... another arrogant "know it all" group who refuse to understand the situation.

[DjfunkmasterG]

The RIAA can f**king blow me. They think $20 is cheap for a CD. They're nuts. The only place to get CD's cheap is Wal-Mart and then all the stuff is edited and a bunch of Rap, pop stuff I don't want or listen too.

They need to get their heads out of their asses, and fast.

[LouCipherr]

Nah, let them keep thinking this way. This is what will bury them and eventually cause the fall of the "mighty" (bah!) RIAA. They may seem like this huge corporation that's trying to rule everything, but we all know what eventually happens to entities like this.

Let 'em run with it - they're just digging their own graves.

One of the things that pisses me off is, they say how lucky we are cd's are cheap, and how expensive it is to make them. Well, if you didn't pay producers 10 million dollars like Bob Rock to produce and engineer turds like Metallica's 'St. Anger', then we wouldn't have this problem now would we? (that was just an example, that number is not accurate as far as I know, but the music industry is filled with over-paid individuals just like professional athletes in the USA)

The bottom line is, I could record and entire, professional sounding and professionally mixed 15-20 song cd with Dj (have a gander at the Deadlands soundtrack - although he recorded 80% of that on his own, this is just a theoretical example), and we could put this together for a few days of our time (to write & record), and record the entire thing on our own pc's in our own homes at our leisure - we didn't even record those songs in the same room together, it was all done via email, sending WAV files back and forth. It would cost about 10 cents worth of paper print cd covers, maybe 10 cents worth of ink for each color cover, maybe 50 cents for a cd case... and less than a quarter for the disc/CD itself. Not to mention, Dj and I can print on discs with our Epson R300 printers, so we could even print on the discs themselves. Another 10 cents of ink.

So, if I could put together an album and it costs me less than a buck to manufacture it, I guess I should be charging, what, $15-20 per disc? :rolleyes:

"Back in the day" I could see it being expensive to produce cd's because when cd's first came out, you couldn't record at home on your computer or on a home recording rig because the technology wasn't available - you had to rent a studio for a HEFTY price to get professional sounding recordings - but that is NOT the case anymore. Just as an example, Joe Satriani's last CD, "Super Colossal" was recorded on 100% on computers and NO guitar amplifiers were used - it was all done with plugins, protools, and hooking his guitar directly into the computer to record... and all done at home, so it didn't cost the record company JACK for this album to be recorded. The recording/production expenses on this CD are way less than HALF of any other band recording in a studio, but guess how much the record companies are charging for his latest cd? Yup, same as all those other bands who spent millions in the recording studio.

The worst part is, they cry about how much the artist makes (and that being one of the many reasons your CD's are so expensive in the stores) and yet the artist is the one who gets screwed royally in ANY music contract/deal. They don't make sh*t from CD sales, but yet THEY are part of the reason for CD's being so expensive? :mad:

WTF-ever.

LC
"Proudly saluting the RIAA..... with his middle finger"

[_liam_]

they can whine and bitch all they like, i only buy cds second hand from record exchanges/ebay/marketplace. not a f***ing penny goes to the label or artists, maybe THAT'S why profits are down, not mp3s...

anyway as MZ said it costs pennies to make a cd. fair enough they have to pay the artists, producers, marketers, artwork designers etc etc, but they still cost wayyy too much. i would like to a detailed breakdown of where every penny of the exortionate price goes, and it would have to be truthful under pain and death. someone somewhere gets a disgustingly fat cut of the price...

[DVW5150]

I am almost finished making my my own record , a few others here have heard some of it . But self promotion aside , I think the RIAA is just a go-between , a "cream- scraping corporation" to quote Frank Zappa .:mad:I love Joe Satriani and plan to get Super Colossal ... I buy cds when I cant find them elsewhere , like an Allan Holdsworth or a rare FZ ...But recently I found all of Allan Holdsworths stuff on Rhapsody , I am pleased about that because he has been in obscurity long enough , & think more people with brain stems should hear his stuff .

[bassman]

This is another reason why I love the many uses of internet.:D

[LouCipherr]

i would like to a detailed breakdown of where every penny of the exortionate price goes, and it would have to be truthful under pain and death. someone somewhere gets a disgustingly fat cut of the price...

liam - I have just the article for you, by producer Steve Albini. Check this out, it will break down what all the money goes to and disgust the living hell out of you in the process:

Steve Albini - The Problem With Music (http://negativland.com/albini.html)

Just to give you the quick summary:

A band of 4 people make a record, get signed to a major label for a 4 record deal. They get an advance of $250,000 for studio time, merchandise, etc. They sell 250,000 copies of their record and the record company makes three million dollars profit from them. Guess what? each band member makes approx. $4,031 USD off the deal for that one record. Think about that. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. most bands are on a 2-4 year cycle with putting out records. how the sam-fu*k can ANYONE live on $4000 worth of income a year, let alone over the period of two years?

Read that article carefully and take a look at the numbers. That right there was the main reason I never had the desire to make it "big" with my band. At least playing local clubs and all we could get paid $600-1000 a night - in cash, under the table, split between 4 people. That's one hell of a lot more money per year than these poor souls in Albini's example.

The music industry was made to get music heard, but doesn't give one damn about the musicians. Kinda odd, isn't it? :(


All this being said, I still buy certain CD's from certain artists, but I mostly I go buy a concert ticket and buy a t-shirt or program or something from the concert. Bands DO NOT MAKE MONEY ON CD SALES. The only way these people survive is by being put on tour for 300 days out of the year, hoping the will make cash on merchandise sales. Even ticket sales are pretty much moot for the artist - the ticket sales pay for the tour to continue. Ya got Roadies, lightning riggers, sound mixers, truck drivers, tour managers, etc, etc. to pay too.. all that money is flushed, and the artist takes it right up the ass in the whole deal.

There are exceptions to the rules, but the numbers are so small, they're not even worth looking at.

[Danny]

ive allready said in a another thread i only own a HIM and a CKY cd, but have around 500 songs on my pc, hmmm, free mp3 file or 20 quid for a cd with only 4 tracks you'll regularly listen to on?

hey RIAA blow me bitches!:cool:

[capncnut]

Unfortunately I'm one of the sheep filling the bosses pockets with gold as I have a big cd collection but now I am growing weary of parting with my dollar. I like obscure bands and sometimes the import fees are staggering. Not too long ago I picked up an import of Metamorphosis by Iron Butterfly and it cost me 18 quid ($36) for a 37 minute, 8 or 9 track cd. I had a ganders on LimeWire the other day and I could've downloaded the whole thing for nowt. The same goes for The Ramones first album which is only 29 minutes but HMV still charged me £14 ($28). This has got to stop.

[_liam_]

try picking up "this is free" by the mothers of invention or "headless cross" by black sabbath :eek: too f***in pricey man

[coma]

try picking up "this is free" by the mothers of invention or "headless cross" by black sabbath :eek: too f***in pricey man

Headless cross is wack. dude. It aint worth 10 cents.
You UK fellas get raped for Cds big time.

[DVW5150]

liam - I have just the article for you, by producer Steve Albini. Check this out, it will break down what all the money goes to and disgust the living hell out of you in the process:

Steve Albini - The Problem With Music (http://negativland.com/albini.html)

Just to give you the quick summary:

A band of 4 people make a record, get signed to a major label for a 4 record deal. They get an advance of $250,000 for studio time, merchandise, etc. They sell 250,000 copies of their record and the record company makes three million dollars profit from them. Guess what? each band member makes approx. $4,031 USD off the deal for that one record. Think about that. FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. most bands are on a 2-4 year cycle with putting out records. how the sam-fu*k can ANYONE live on $4000 worth of income a year, let alone over the period of two years?

Read that article carefully and take a look at the numbers. That right there was the main reason I never had the desire to make it "big" with my band. At least playing local clubs and all we could get paid $600-1000 a night - in cash, under the table, split between 4 people. That's one hell of a lot more money per year than these poor souls in Albini's example.

The music industry was made to get music heard, but doesn't give one damn about the musicians. Kinda odd, isn't it? :(


All this being said, I still buy certain CD's from certain artists, but I mostly I go buy a concert ticket and buy a t-shirt or program or something from the concert. Bands DO NOT MAKE MONEY ON CD SALES. The only way these people survive is by being put on tour for 300 days out of the year, hoping the will make cash on merchandise sales. Even ticket sales are pretty much moot for the artist - the ticket sales pay for the tour to continue. Ya got Roadies, lightning riggers, sound mixers, truck drivers, tour managers, etc, etc. to pay too.. all that money is flushed, and the artist takes it right up the ass in the whole deal.

There are exceptions to the rules, but the numbers are so small, they're not even worth looking at.

You got the right idea . Great article too . My teenage dreams of playing music for a living like my mother & her father (Don Wilson , dixieland jazz piano player @ The Bayou in DC ,1947-56 )will not happen . My Mom still sings the occasional torchlight piano duo gig for society types . She says sometimes she sings "Feelings" alittle off key just to mess with the sitch . No one ever notices , and when she gets to sing "Green Dolphin Street" it falls on deaf ears . At least I can fall back on my weapons specialist skills I learned in the service ... NOT .
Anyway , a few on this site are getting a sample disc of "Blindfold" , and I hope it is well received . You have to really love expressing yourself via an instrument , because the odds in fortune & flame are nil . Thats why I play guitar / write chord structures , I cant stand a day w/ out it .

[capncnut]

You have to really love expressing yourself via an instrument, because the odds in fortune & flame are nil.

Couldn't have said it any better. Looking forward to the cd man, I got a bottle whiskey all ready for it bro. :D

[EvilNed]

I've bought a total of 5 albums in my life, or so. Not because I'm a huge pirater. But because first off: I'm not a big music fan. I like Queen, Rolling Stones and David Bowie. I can borrow those CDs from my parents and just rip them to my computer.

As I said, not a big music fan. But I'm a big moviefan. I download movies alot (altough not as extremely as other persons) but the films I download are mostly old b-movies from the 70's and 80's. Those films are the ones that are hugely overpriced in stores anyway.

If I like a film enough, I'll definetly buy it. And I have upwards 240 DVDs.

[kortick]

i pay about $2-5 at pawn shops for cds
and dvds are not much more

you will be surprisd how many things
people will pawn
for drugs or other stuff

lots of good stuff too
all kinds of music and movies

[Danny]

ah man music zone used to sell dvd's and cd's for 3 quid each which is only like 5 or 6 bucks and there brand new, and not bottom of the barrel either im talking good stuff like the big lebowski and pulp fiction in dvds and in cd's ozzy and for the more rap inclined the beastie boys, but now its sealed up with all the stock inside with a big "sorry but cus we were so cheap HMV has filed suits forcing us to close :( ", sign, smiley included, and damn that pisses me off, i still wont buy from HMV though, 30 quid for a dvd just becuase its in the "world cinema" section is a rip-off, id rather go to the local cash conveter and buy em second hand from there, and my film proffessor gives us free copies saying there ~"for academic purposes only", though for some reason he gives out metallica cd's and **** too:D

[capncnut]

i still wont buy from HMV though, 30 quid for a dvd just becuase its in the "world cinema" section is a rip-off...

I dunno man, world cinema titles are expensive wherever you go. Virgin charged me 26 notes for the original Solaris! :confused:

[Danny]

ebay man, thats the place for em.;)