Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

    Well, I for one am in full support of this practice; I'm sure you'll
    find most CD collectors are. Most companies are starting to realize
    how reluctant consumers are to paying $15-17 per disc. As you already
    know, some companies have begun various series of mid-priced discs;
    list price ranges from $12.00 to 9.99.
    
    I see several reasons for the introduction of these mid-priced lines.
    First, more and more pressing plants have become operational, which
    has lessened demand for discs. Second, selective shopping by collectors
    (as you outlined) has caused overstocks on some issues. Third, the
    record companies seem to be adopting a policy which is to sell
    re-releases at a lower cost than new releases. Finally, it has been
    reported in several magazines what the profit ratio on CD's is -
    the companies are making big bucks on sales of CD's. Another possible
    thought on CD price reductions is the ever growing business of trading
    CD's - something that didn't (understandably) happened with records
    and tapes because of the wear factor. Obviously, this would contribute
    to a lessening demand for the disc after the inital release, as
    people barter to build the collection they want.
    
    I do practice the principles that you outlined, and so do all the
    collectors I know. But, you have to admit it's awfully hard to put
    back a disk you've been seaching for for several months, just because
    it carries a $15.98 price tag. We've all had it happen to us when
    we didn't buy a disc the first time we saw it, only to look for
    it later and never find it again. 
    
    
                                      Ken
    

    I think this may have been mentioned elsewhere in this notesfile,
    but how many of you out there were aware that the record companies
    have conned artists into taking *half* royalties on CDs?
    
    This because the companies say the CD does not allow sufficient
    profit margin...
    
    Just like the DAT recorder will bankrupt Polygram....
    
    Another excuse for them to drop LPs altogether....

	Comming from Stamford Ct. recently, I found it almost impossible
to practice such a policy.  In Stamford, where one would suspect price
fixing if the morality of sales people was beyond question, discs usually
go for $17.00-$18.00 and that is if you can find the disc.

	I've actually been known to spend $23.00 on a single disc
twice and it was worth it both times:

	1: Misplaced Childhood: MARILLION

	2: Wind and Wuthering: GENESIS

	Both of these discs I got from a store that had very reasonable
prices on most discs.

	By the way, I've only seen 2 other Marillion discs and
1 was bought in Germany.

    rep .2     Hmmmm..... According to an article in 5/24 Boston Sunday
    		Globe Business Section, record companies are claiming
    		that they are paying the artists higher royalties on
    		CDs. They're using this excuse to partially justify
    		the higher cost of CDs. I can understand the high
    		prices that existed for the first couple of years of
    		the CDs existence, but to me it seems that greed has
    		kept them from dropping.
    
    Ken....

    It may be greed but I think it is more a case of supply and demand.
    As long as people are willing to dish out big bucks for CD's the
    record companies will naturally milk it as long as they can.  After
    all, isn't that the American way?  We CDholics have to send a message
    by spending our money more carefully.
    
    Just an added note:  I've noticed that almost all new releases in
    the pop/rock category are on sale for $11.98 at Lechmere when they
    first hit the shelves.  They are usually on sale for a week and the
    supplies are adequate.
    
    				John  

    re: -.4
    
    I saw the Globe note too and now I am confused.
    
    I think that most royalties are based on a percentage of the retail of
    the recording.  If the recording costs twice as much, the artist
    gets twice as much.  On the other hand, if the royalty rate is halved
    and the price doubles, the amount the company pays to the artist
    is the same.
    
    The reason the companies asked artists for lower royalties (probably
    *rates* in this context) was supposedly to keep from inflating the cost of
    the CDs.  However, it is *possible* that even with a lower royalty
    rate, the companies are paying higher *dollars* per copy to the
    artists.
    
    BTW, royalty rates are negotiated on an artist by artist basis. Folks
    like Neil Diamond and Kenny Rogers have high rates and guys like
    the Georgia Satellites have low ones, based on how much clout they
    have with the company relative to their sales.

    I'm all for lower prices and all that; one would have to be
    a fool not to be. Still, look at it this way: if I didn't
    think these were worth the $15.99 or $18.99 or more (in the
    case of double-discs or imports), I wouldn't pay it. There
    are some discs that I'd love to have, but won't get unless
    I find them used of at big discount prices. On the other
    hand, there are some that I've been pleased to get at full
    price.
    
    And to echo what someone else said, I could have been listening
    to ABBEY ROAD on CD a couple of years ago if I hadn't been too
    cheap to pay the $21.99 that Rock'n'Mania wanted (actually, it
    wasn't a case of my being too cheap, but a feeling that I'd
    rather find something else I like as much for a lesser price).
    
    --- jerry

    
    All MCA label CDs are on Sale this week at Lechmere for 11.98.
    I've already got two and am going back for more.
    
    Things on MCA include:  all of the WHO
    			    Steely Dan
    			    Lynyrd Skynyrd
    			    Elton John
    			    Mamas and the Papas
    			    Motown
    
    MCA classics are on sale for 8.98 (!!!)  I got Vivaldi the four
    seasons that's really good quality.  (DDD)
    
    Also Beatles are on sale for 11.98, but I don't know about
    Sgt Pepper, which is just hitting the stores today.
    
    Bill O

        Re: .8
        
        Sgt Pepper is on sale for $11.98 as well as the other Beatles
        discs.  I purchased it and three other Beatles discs (the first
        four I had previously purchased for $10.98 each). 
        
        I have paid $23.00 for a disc: that's what I paid for DARK SIDE
        OF THE MOON over three years ago.  It was worth it, it had been
        played a tremendous number of times before the it was available
        for sale at a more reasonable price. 
        
        But I would not pay that price now.  With the current selection
        and sales, I can get a reasonable variety for $12.50 or less per
        disc.  It is worth it, by looking for cheaper CDs I have been
        able to afford to get 400+ CDs and I can normally find something
        in my collection to play when I want some music. 
        
        There may be a few discs that I will never get because of this
        strategy, but I would rather have 90% of the CDs I want than 60%
        because I could not afford as many.  If nobody ever buys any
        non-import CDs priced at $16.00, the music industry can't help
        but notice. 
        
        					B.J.

    Last night I picked up a Classical Disc which is DDD at Lechmere
    for $8.98.  MCA has a new line of reduced price CD's that are all
    digital that normally sell for $11.98.  I'm new to classical music
    but I have to say that this disc is great and you can't beat the
    price.  There are about 10 different selections to choose from
    including Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and more.
    
    Unfortunately, they had run out of Sgt. Pepper because of a delivery
    problem.  They expect to get 300 copies a day for the rest of the
    week at the Nashua, NH store.
    
    I was talking to the manager of the CD Dept. at Lechmere about prices
    and he said that some major labels are lowering their prices again.
    New releases for $13.99 and $14.49 are good signs.
      

    WRT .8, the MCA classics version of Vivaldi Four Seasons *is* a
    good deal.  The performance is a new (so DDD) one by Jaime Lairedo
    (sp?) as both soloist and conductor.  I don't remember the orchestra,
    but it is good.
    
    On the other hand . . . it is only about 37-38 minutes of music!
    They could easily have put another Vivaldi work on the disk, Lord
    knows he wrote enough good stuff!
    
    So is 38 minutes at $8.98 better than 65 minutes at $13.95?  I guess
    it depends on whether you like the whole disk, or only the one
    selection you bought it for.
    
    Anyway it's good to see prices coming down.  Hold the ground, don't
    pay top dollar.
    
    John

    re: .11
    
    Good point, I guess I'm used to 40 minute disc's because most of
    my collection is pop/rock.  I think the Bach Violin Concertos runs
    in the low 40's.  
    

    Wait a minute! I saw a bunch of those MCA discs and they were all
    over 60 minutes. They are called MAXIPLAY, in big letters on gold.
    (Hmm, maybe that wasn't MCA...) I got one called "Best of Handel"
    or something, DDD, over 60 minutes. It was 11.98 before the sale
    at Lechmere. Has Water Music, Messiah selections, and Fireworks
    Music. It's a good disc, at a good price.
    
    Marty

    Have any of you volume buyers tried to negotiate prices with a store?
    
    I've finally decided to spend the money I've been saving for CDs,
    and it's going to make a hefty one-time purchase; one or two grand.
    I plan to tell all the stores I can find, "Here's a list of the CDs
    I want.  I'm showing it to lots of stores.  What's your price?"

    Have any of you tried it?  Have you any advice to offer?
    
    Tim

    
    Re: .14  When the 3 Beatles discs (before the white album) were
    released simultaneously, I tried to get a discount from a salesman
    at Strawberry's.  They were selling them for 13.99 and I wanted
    them for 12.99.  He wouldn't sell, so I waited about 2 weeks and
    got them for 11.98 at Lechmere's.  So far I've gotten all 9 of the
    Beatles I own at Lechmere's on sale.  I wonder if the salesmen and
    managers at chains like Strawberries aren't allowed to bargain when
    faced with the prospect of multi-cd sales.
    
    A note about midline cd's.  I bought Beethoven's violin concerto
    on sale (EMI/ANGEL midline) for 8.99.  It runs about 46 min. and
    is played by Menuhin.  A week later I saw a release by RCA on sale
    for 11.98, played by Heifetz (sp), and it had both the Beethoven
    violin concerto as well as the Brahms violin concerto (D minor I
    think).  I love the Brahm's vio.conc. and I don't own it yet.  But
    my thought is, for $3 more, I could have had them both played by
    one of the great violinists of this century.  When it comes to
    classical cd's, the midlines may have a lower retail price, but
    they may not be the best value.
    
        (another) Marty
    

Strawberries DOES have a discount policy for volume buyers.  I know this 
because I saw it happen once in Sudbury.  The man USED to be a DJ, and still 
had the discount privilege when he went in that day.


				Mark

    I bought the entire Stones catalog from Strawberries in one swell
    foop for 20% off...
    
    Vinyl though, not CDs.
    
    Edd

    Go to a small-ish store, not a large chain. I haggled over some
    CD's at BCD in Cambridge and got 15% off.
    
    I would also think that for 1 or 2 grand, a wholesale distributg}ior
    would be interested. Try PC Music in Nashua, I recall they have
    a distributors warehouse out the back.

    ...But there's a catch:
    
    Buy 10 SONY UX-ES C90 cassettes, get a free carrying case. 
    Lechmere has an offer which gets you one free CD, 
        up to $16.99. (valid through 10/3)
    (Tapes are on sale for $20, usually $26) 

    Buy THE WALL (Double CD=$32) - 20% discount = $25.60
    Subtract your $16.99 maximum CD voucher :== THE WALL, $8.61

    Not Bad!       -Brian

RE: .17

Yeah, I made the same mistake (only I avoided the peripheral records like the 
live albums, greatest hits collections and "Flowers").  I have made mention in 
several notes about how disappointed I was, and by how impressed I was with 
the CD versions.  As I also mentioned, they are not the same; that is, the 
difference in quality has nothing to do with the "superiority" of CD's over 
vinyl (although it might have to do with the record company trying to force 
that impression on people).

I am still waiting for the price of Stones CD's to drop below $15 so I can 
gradually replace my mistake with listenable versions.  And I won't be stupid 
this time and buy the whole set in one fell swoop during a "one-week-only" 
20%-off sale.


				Mark