The question arose in another thread: What is a fair price for a cd of music?

What about digital downloads?

mp3's?

In a big box store, $15 seems like a fair price for a commercial release. I'm comfortable paying around $10/disc for uncompressed digital downloads or releases bought directly from independent artists.

I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for an mp3 or anything, for that matter with dram? restrictions placed on the end user. (eg: unable to burn to disc after download.)

lw

I am not sure why you want to pay less for self produced music. If you did plunk down the extra 5,in this case it goes directly to the artist, not Walmarts CEO.

Too many people want to get paid, too many people that don't contribute to the art form.

Well, I expect to pay more for the service of a middleman. Big stores keep big inventories and that costs money. Convenience is another reason I expect to pay more in a store.

Don't get me wrong, if'n an independent artist wants $15 for a cd and I want the disc, I have no problem with that. But $10 is a fair price for an independent release, imo.

lw

Have you figured the pressing and artwork costs? The Bayou Boys discs cost close to $5 a piece not counting studio time. Ron sells em for $15 or 2 for $25 (he keeps his whole cataloge in stock). He sure ain't getting rich.

This is part of the problem of sticking with yesterdays tec. Small scale cd production is very expensive. JRL, your mind is fixed on selling a cd and T shirt to a few patrons. Nothing wrong with that and nothing wrong with having a hat passed around or a tip bucket. Also, nothing wrong with focusing on small local shows. But there are better ways.

Newspapers are dying as is over the air broadcast tv. They are yesterdays dinosaurs watching their numbers dwindle. You can choose to join the survivors or stay with the dinosaurs. High priced cd sales are so yesterday it isn't even funny anymore.

I've told what I see as the future of music and got growled at and a club swung at me for my efforts. Why pay $20 or even $15 for a cd when you can dl it over the net for pennies? JRL, you need to get in line for some of those pennies. They do add up.

In the future I see less burning of cd's and even less recording on various hard drives and etc. I see people using downloading instead of storage. When you want to play a tune, you just have your device dl it from the net and pay the nickel charge or less than that if you pay by the month. People will pay $13 a month for all you can surf instead of maintaining and upgrading a home library of tunes.

Play it once, put your best into it and then focus your efforts on promotion. Put out banners saying "click here for some jam up zydeco" or whatnot and they get a free clip from one of your tunes. Or their choice of clips from your tunes. Then they could dl whole tune for a dime or dial it up on their all you can surf account and you get the click. A million dl's will be the minimum cutoff for anyone worth talking to. And it better be in a short period of time.

Or stay back on the bayou with the tip jar and a stack of cds. Your call.

I think the CD's and tip jar will work better for a man in my position. The demise of big record companies is not gonna hurt me one bit. I am so out of that sweepstakes, a nickel a download doesn't look that attractive on this side of the mainstream. I mean how many millions of Zydeco fans are there world wide??

Stoney, I don't disagree with your model so much as I don't feel that it works for ME.

When I go to a show and buy a CD I am not thinking about building a music collection as cheaply as possible. I am putting my money where my heart is and hoping that some of it will trickle down to the sidemen, knowing full well that the odds say that it won't.

ALL touring acts rely on merch sales, the gig money is not enough to make it worthwhile.What they are doing now is: before the show you pay $20 or so and after the show you wait 20 minutes and get a disc of the show you just saw.

To be honest, I don't look at cost so much when purchasing music. If we want a release, we buy it. And I'd rather buy directly from an artist.

I just don't see how personally insulting a professional musician has any place in our discussions. Especially when the insults are coming from outside of the music bidness from a person with no real world experience in the bidness at hand.

lw

"If we want a release, we buy it. And I'd rather buy directly from an artist."

Good point, I try to do that as well.

"how many millions of Zydeco fans are there world wide??"

I don't know, millions for sure. I imagine that there would be a lot more if more people were exposed to it. At $20 a pop under the old system, you don't grow your base very fast. Radio is the closest to the internet that we had with the old ways. How many new fans do you think you got from the radio? A bunch I bet. Give people a cheap alternative and you will find your fan base expanding exponentially.

lw, don't start in again. We were having a good discussion.

Its not a good discussion when insults fly. JRL has been a pretty good sport, but clean it up or stay the hell out of this thread.

lw

Alright, that's about enough of that. I've tried everything now I'll try a 3 day suspension. If that doesn't work....

Jeez Kids -- Play nice mmmkay???... This has been an excellent thread and I still think it is.... Great outlooks on the art as well as marketing... Because some folks really seems to have a penchant for crossing swords does not really matter much to me, one way or the other... "course, it's just my own little observation, but I don't think anyone was being unduly harrassed here.. Opinions are gonna vary, 'tis the way of the world.... Being a tad catty, or whatever is not the end of the world......... That said, I'm purdy sure nobody gives a rats petuniia 'bout senors opinion anyhoo --------

And just to add some injurious insult in here:::: Senor has been a drummer since forever, and really appreciated the Beatles contributions to the scene.... That said, senor always thought Ringo was a cool enough character, but a completely "average and uninsiring percussionist" !!!!

Come on guys. I can take care of myself please.

As far as Ringo goes, he might have been unispired but he sure inspired a lot of guys! I like him, he's "the luckiest man in the world" and he handled it well. His drumming to me still sounds unique and personal and that is hard to do from one of the seats in back. The other lads loved him and he was an iron man in the studio, playing take after take while they created their masterpieces. For me its hard to seperate the man from the music, its one ond the same, and I will always love Richey Starkey