You just hit the nail on the head - not that most of the industry is likely to listen. They're working on the scarcity principal: that there's not much out there so they can over-price it and everyone will buy it because they don't have any other choices. That was somewhat true before, but times have changed.

Now we know how much it doesn't cost to make cds/dvds so when people see the prices keep going up and up, they quit buying. Then the labels say 'oh woe is me' and try to blame it all on downloading. Well if they made a decent product at a reasonable price, a lot of people would buy it even if they could get it free online. Esp if any of the money was going to the artist.

It's no surprise that some bands are making albums and posting them online, kind of like iTunes. They may not have the reach of big label distribution (yet) but they get paid a lot more than if they'd signed with a label.


--Previous Message--
:
: If the products offered were reasonably priced, and the
: packaging and whatever else offered with it were of good quality
: and worthwhile, I could see it selling much mroe than it
: currently does.
:
: The fact of the matter is that physical media is too expensive
: and does not have enough to show for it. I continue to collect,
: but given prices currently, I have bought 4 CDs in the last year
: (latest Metallica, latest Laura Pausini, latest Metal Church and
: latest 3 Inches of Blood) when if prices had been much lower I
: would have bought much more. Same deal with DVDs and Blu-ray.
: Plus, digital media, if well stored, will not be eatten away
: like physical media. CDs and DVDs so easily scratched, and
: Blu-ray discs though scratch proof continuously fragil when it
: comes to cracks and breaks. My plan is to get a few external
: harddrives and eventually backup all my physical media. I think
: this is the best to do.
: