I meant to share some thoughts with everyone back on Monday when I saw this news blurb on HipHopDx but haven’t had as much time as I had hoped. Well apparently, Universal Music Group is going to be introducing a new pricing program that will “hopefully” increase CD sales. I have to stress the word HOPEFULLY. They are calling the new program “Velocity.” Under “Velocity,” CD prices will now be 10 dollars or less. The chairman/CEO of UMG Distribution said “We think it will really bring new life into the physical format.” Retailers are agreeing with UMG’s move in fact one retail executive said “Things are not going to get better for CD sales unless the price point is addressed.” I was really happy to read this little news clip because FINALLY someone wants to address the sales decline. I almost laughed at the same time because CLEARLY labels are still not getting it. I don’t know if they have ANY idea how music is being consumed these days and for a long time but a pricing cut now is like putting a finger in a damn with a hole in it. Music sales haven’t just began to decline. The fact that Jay, Em, Wayne, Sade or anyone can sell a million units is amazing. It shows the power of music and marketing. However, if Blueprint 3 would have dropped 5 or 10 years ago, it would have sold at least 5 million. The amount of publicity, press and advertising that Jay-Z received for BP3 was unreal. He performed at the World Series for god’s sake. I have been saying this for so many years. CD prices needed to drop as soon as albums started getting bootlegged on the internet. Instead, labels have been done nothing to combat this issue. Eventually, CD’s will be irrelevant. I am sure that some labels had trouble adjusting to 8-tracks, cassette tapes and CDs but like all newer technology, “out with the old, in with the new.” Music is digital nowadays. Regardless of pricing, the convenience and accessibility of music now outweighs the “experience” of having a physical copy not to mention the price. Even the pricing on digital downloads is discouraging to consumers when they can get the music free, weeks before it’s released on itunes. If labels really wanted to encourage CD sales and even digital sales, they should have dropped CD prices to 5 bucks and digital downloads to even cheaper because there is no cost to print up materials. I guarantee if CDs cost 5 bucks for a physical and 2 or 3 bucks for a digital album, album sales would be a lot higher. There is no reason for an artist like Wale to only move 30K in his first week especially after all of the marketing and publicity that he has. He is one of the most well-marketed, new artists that I have seen in recent years. Imagine what his numbers would have been if his CD would have cost $4.99 at Best Buy and $1.99 on itunes. I know it seems like it’s cheapening the artists project BUT at least it encourages people to actually PAY for the music. I bet Wale did several million free downloads on the net. Maybe it’s the age of label execs that accounts for the disconnect with music fans and consumers or maybe they have made so much money for so long that they are clinging to the “old” ways until there is absolutely no more money to milk from it. I can only speak on hip hop because I don’t follow any other genre of music as closely but I would be curious to know how country sales are. I applaud UMG for FINALLY attempting to do something but it is a decade overdue. Does anyone remember when Napster was free?????? Instead of lowering prices on CDs then AND suing them, they just had Napster shut down. Well, that was all great until Audiogalaxy, Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, Limewire, Bearshare, etc popped up. Labels are not looking at the real issue here, they are just going against specific violators. There will always be a demand for illegal anything. Music, drugs, movies, prostitution, etc but if people fail to recognize the REAL issue and don’t take the power away from the “criminals” then nothing will change. Oh yea, CDs have been $9.99 for a while so, they better drop the prices significantly. Please share your thoughts and opinions.
