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Music Industry Compared to Movie Industry
tgibson writes "The Denver Post has an article comparing the missteps of the recording industry to the movie industry's success with DVDs: 'The best-selling "Chicago" movie soundtrack is available on CD starting at $13.86. The actual movie, with the soundtrack songs included, of course, plus additional goodies ranging from deleted musical numbers to the director's interview and a "making-of" feature, can be had for precisely $2.12 more...'"
instead people spend 30 on going to hear the music. Its called a gig.
The more people that say this, the greater chance the music industry will start paying attention to their customers' wants again.
No, the MPAA is just as bad as the RIAA, and the only thing keeping them from an RIAA-style attack on the customer base is that current broadband technology doesn't permit easy sharing of movies. Remember that the MPAA was implicitly complicit in purchasing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act from Congress. I hear they got it for a song.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Josie and the Pussycats DVD: 17.99 pounds ($29)
Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack CD: 19.99 pounds ($32)
Same retailer, same movie, two pounds ($3) less for the DVD than the soundtrack CD ! It's ironic really, because the movie is only OK, but the soundtrack is utterly fantastic - I have it on auto-repeat at the moment...
I don't know about Canada, but in the Netherlands you're allowed to download as much as you like; you may not redistribute the stuff you download to 3rd parties. There is a tax on DVDs and CDs, but we already had video and compact cassettes taxed. To Dutch law, downloading is not much different from recording radio or tv broadcasts.
This is something I've thought about as well, because I own quite a few music video DVDs ( The Cure, Run DMC etc ) and would like to be able to listen to them on the bus, etc, without lugging a laptop around. I'm not sure whether I should feel obligated to buy another copy of the albums in question...
To answer your technical query, if you have access to a supported platform, mplayer has a ao ( audio out ) driver for dumping wave data to a file. Team this up with playing selected chapters from the command line, and It's quite easy to use if not absolutely painless. As far as I know this is the only way to get the original theme from Buckaroo Banzai on CD. >:-(
I should get off my ass and craft a GUI for this: ( cue people to post their already existing GUI's below... ).
YLFI
One god, one market, one truth, one consumer.
I don't know how many of you remember this, but back in the day the RIAA was suing people for posting lyrics on their websites.. I'm sure they still are.
This is not a breakdown of the cost it takes to make a CD, it is where the money goes from the purchase of each CD. The price now is not the minimum price they could sell CDs at; it is the price the industry has long conspired to charge the consumer. They could charge less, still cover their costs, and make more.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
This is monopolistic pricing clean and simple. They are charging what you are willing to pay rather than basing the cost to you on their costs plus profit. Considering that a movie costs 2 to 3 orders of magnitude more to make than a CD and the actual medium costs about the same, CDs should be a lot cheaper. If there was any real competition between the record labels prices would drop dramatically but they're all in on this together so you pay through your noise for something that should be very cheap.
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
The relevant link is here.
The important bit is that it is legal to make a copy for personal use, but it is not legal to make a copy for the purposes of distribution (whether or not it's for money) or for "communicating to the public by telecommunication" (which could be argued to include P2P systems).
You're right, it's not a fair comparison...but your analysis is incorrect.
First, the vast majority of films lose money during their theatrical release.
Second, most movies don't have any tie-ins so there is no revenue stream there.
DVD sales (and home video sales in general) saved the entire movie industry and allowed it to move to the current huge budgeted movies that are produced (you decide if that's a good thing). The movie industry did not go into this model peacefully. Under Jack Valenti's leadership, they did everything they could to stop it but alas, it ended up saving them and took them to new heights of profitability.
The movie industry business model changed despite the resistance of the industry. The music industry business model will change despite the resistance of the industry. Once the music industry finds a workable model to earn money in the current world, they will be fine. The longer they insist on the old model, the more they will see their industry continue to erode.
By "music industry" I only mean the RIAA members who insist on their control of distribution.
The fact is, even taking inflation into consideration, the cost of CDs is extremely high. Comparing it to other forms of entertainment and it is REALLY high. That's why you see video game and DVD sales increasing. They are better value propositions.
If the music industry cannot make their product more valuable, then the laws of economics require the industry to die. Too bad. So sad.
Touring
Ringtones (more profitable than singles)
T-shirts
Radio play
Sheet music
Advertising/Sponsorship (how much is Justin Timberlake getting from McDonalds).
Fan clubs
Concert videos/DVDs
Rights for songs being used in Movies
There's also a lot of movies that have little merchandising. I don't recall The Sixth Sense having any merchandise except maybe the soundtrack.
Of course, you as a taxpayer are being forced to do this every time the National Endowment for the Arts mails out another check to an elephant-dung "sculptor," urine-stain "painter" or scatologically-inclined "author."
At least you can REFUSE to purchase the CDs.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.