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Can Music Survive Inside the Big Box?
_randy_64 writes "In a story that ties in nicely with a recent discussion about the possible reprieve for Net Radio, the Wall Street Journal asks Can Music Survive Inside the Big Box? The article discusses how the 'big box' stores (e.g. Wal-Mart, Best Buy) are cutting back on space and acceptance of music CDs. With 85% of music sales still coming from CDs, maybe this is another thing to push the music industry towards better online sales models? 'Thanks largely to aggressive pricing and advertising, big-box chains are now responsible in the U.S. for at least 65% of music sales (including online and physical recordings), according to estimates by distribution executives, up from 20% a decade ago. Where a store that depends on CDs for the bulk of its sales needs a profit margin of around 30%, big chains get by making just 14% on music, say label executives who handle distribution. One of these executives describes the shift as a tidal wave.'"
...the RIAA has its next round of lawsuits scaled to the amount of shelf space they're given.
Big box retailers are interested in volume and marginal pricing. The range of music they pick, the bands that get prominent shelf space and the albums that appear in the advertising will all be driven by the bottom line.
No - if we want diverse musical forms to survive the big box stores, it will be despite them, not because of them.
Small dealers will help - but at best they can only provide small niche markets. Internet sites tied to such retailers may help a lot. For me though, the future of diverse music depends on the internet providing the resources to find out about less known bands and albums and hear stuff I can't hear on the radio. But right now, the Internet Radio station is on the brink of an extinction event. So support Save Net Radio before it really is too late.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
Personally I think part of the problem big box retailers have is that carrying music requires a finger on the pulse of what is relevant. Nowadays, with so many one hit or one album for a week wonders, that isnt possible for most big retailers (that havent seemed to have caught on to the volatility of the music scene). The smaller music only shops have a much better chance here as they can "specialize" in what's relevant instead of what the industry tells them is relevant (that is then stocked in palette-fulls).
So, no I dont think big box retailers will remain relevant in the music selling industry - even if they go online (against competition such as iTunes and numerous others), and no I dont think it matters anyway. It is quite rare I buy any CD from a big box retailer such as the ones listed just due to the lack of relevance of what they usually carry.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
CDs were put on their deathbed on November 10, 2001 - the release date of a stainless-steel digital music player lovingly called iPod.
Social liberal, fiscal conservative, always sarcastic.
FTA"Music has become a commoditized item," he says. "The CD is perceived by the consumer to be a $10 item, and the manufacturers continue to release new titles at $15 to $18.98." To remedy that situation, he says he has urged labels to move to a "paperback-book model," with no-frills packages priced cheaply for most customers, and more deluxe presentations for die-hard fans."
I think the CD is a $1-3 item, because there are usually only that many songs worth buying. So I buy those 1-3 songs. Music has become commoditized, because there are few "whole works" kind of albums (ie Pink Floyd:The Wall, Holst:The Planets) more just one or two hits and some filler. but we've all said this before.
We are all just people.
Neither the blurb nor the article contain the word "apple".
Music just alienates people from each other and the world around them. TURN OFF your music player. TURN ON your mind.
The problem is that big-box retailers are a terribly convenient way to purchase music for most people. If they don't have a lot of emotional investment in what they listen to. I'm not implying that they're shallow, or sheeples. I'm just saying that its just music to them, not a personal affirmation of identity. If they just listen to top-40 hit radio, then any song they're exposed to will certainly be available at the nearest Wal-Mart, Target, or K-Mart. The people who care enough about musical diversity to be angry about this will still seek out new music from record stores, online, friends, etc. TFA seems to claim that big-box retailers will destroy musical diversity. This is giving them far too much credit. As long as there are people who care enough, new indendent music will be created. It may not be what the masses listen to, but this isn't always a bad thing. Top-40 radio has become what it currently is because of how many people listen to it. It is run by large corporations that, because of their size, are inherently conservative. These corporations would prefer to distribute music that won't disturb the status quo. Smaller, independent music isn't restrained by these conditions; however, it would be provided it became popular enough.
Simply put, people who care enough will seek out new music from alternate sources; either to pander to their sense of individuality or through another social/politial motivation. People without this emotional/politial investment will seek out new music from a more convenient source such as big box retailers. This may be through laziness, or due to caring more about other things. In the end, neither side loses much, and capitalism is served.
If the name is Schrödinger, we won't know if music survives until we open the box to find out.
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
Step 1: Cut a hole in a box
Step 2: Put the music in a box
Step 3: Make her open the box!
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Why not set up music kiosks where there is a server on the premises that stores music or can retreive music from other databases and then let the customer burn their own cd on the spot.
Or you leave a list of music you want at the store and pick up your custom made cd in a couple of hours or the next day.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
All the radio stations in Canada are playing mostly 30 to 40 year old stuff and the only bands that are popular are bands that make new music that sounds exactly like the old stuff. Most of the new music is unpalatable crap that no-one wants to listen to.
In the USA, radio stations are paid to play what the RIAA feeds them. Every few years they are fined hundreds of millions of dollars by the FTC, but that is no deterrent. It makes me wonder what Americans listen to, since I can't believe that they listen to their radio...
BTW, I just bought a nice new 2007 rock CD 'Embrace the Curse' by a band called 'I Hate Kate' (http://www.myspace.com/ihatekate). They make nice Rock music that sounds almost exactly but not quite unlike something from about 1975, but they claim to be 'alternative'. I guess it is a good 'Alternative' to 'Rap'...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Yeah because you need to be in the PC while the download happens.
It is absolutely impossible with current technology to start downloading something and go away and do something else. Sure.
Shitty argument.
We are Turing O-Machines. The Oracle is out there.
The problem for the labels with this is that they no longer have any power in the relationship with their retailers. Since Wal-mart became the biggest music retailer, they have total control in the relationship. They only have music to drive people into the store anyway (notice how it's always placed near the expensive electronics?). If Wal-mart dropped their music retail, it wouldn't affect them one bit, but it would be disasterous for the record industry.
The problem with Big Box retailers is that they treat everything as a commodity - and music other than the current "hit" is anything but a commodity - someone looking for Tangerine Dream is not likely to pick up the latest Britney Spears album.
Kinda OT, but one of the most heartening thing that Ganz, the creator of Webkinz, did was to specifically not sell to the likes of Stuff*Mart, Target, etc.
A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
Here's my take. Music, on a large scale, is already dead. Listen to what the MAJORITY of people who actually BUY CDs are buying and listening to. Fly-by-night rapers, one-hit-wonder pop stars, etc. The true fan's music store has closed shop because of: Walmart, Online sales, Online piracy, but most of all, alienation between the record label and the consumer.
The kind of music Wal-Mart stocks is the kind of music people will buy, the kind of music people will buy is pure crap, and I'm not old my any means at 22, so don't claim I just don't understand music now days. The question is not "WILL music survive Walmart," it's "Will it survive the physical disc, or better yet, will it ever make it to the true fan's ears?" The majority of music I like isn't typically stocked at Walmart or iTunes, and forget about finding a real music store. Here's how you obtain it: Get it from the band's page, get it from internet radio, get it at amazon.com or the like, or just d/l it for free. Three of those methods are either illegal or becoming illegal through the ling hard fight by the RIAA. They're trying so desperately to make sure the bands doesn't communicate directly with the public in any way.
Seriously, I don't really care what Walmart does anymore, get the music you like, get it cheaply and if you really care about the band itself, try supporting them directly without the aid of the recording labels or large chains.
Also, I don't typically believe that CDs only contain 1-3 good songs with filler songs in between...Maybe the music you're buying. It's all about the artist. Many of my CDs are good from start to end, that is, if it's a good band. Sometimes I get albums that are are half good, and the ones where the band's terrible but I happen to like 1 song, I just get that 1 song, it's that easy.
It can survive in my big box for a long time.
I have gigs and gigs of the stuff.
Don't worry humanity. I'll keep it going through the apocalypse.
What many warned about has happened. Music labels sold out to the big retailers, who could sell the CD cheaper then the dedicated music stores. So the dedicated stores lost business, being unable to compete with the big retailers.
Aparently nobody at the music labels noticed that the big retailers stocked a far smaller selection of music.
With the smaller retailers gone, the music selection available to the customers has shrunk. So what happens? The music labels do NOT immidiatly put a ban on big retailers and go down on their hands and knees and bag small retailers to forgive them.
Nope, instead they kowtow even further for the big retailers and reduce the number of albums by limiting wich artists to sign-up.
Big Retailers do what they always do, they squeeze and having learned what sells and what doesn't in their stores limit their selection. This is expected. You may notice that from time to time new flavors are launched for products. Vanilla Cola, white KitKat, etc etc. They are given a space for a while. If it sells, well it gets to keep its space. If it doesn't. It doesn't.
Music was a new product, it was launched big and now it is time to cut out the flavors that don't sell enough.
So even less music is available, leading to fewer sales to customers, leading to the big chains squeezing even harder on their selection.
How is it possible that nobody at the music labels noticed this and flat out refused to sell to the big chains on their terms? It would have been trivial. Walmart refuses to stock "controversial" CD's. So any music label could simply have refused to deal with a retailer who does not agree to stock ALL albums in its catalog. Claim it as a stance against censorship and you would even be seen as the nice guy.
But no, simply bloody minded greed and vision restricted to the next quarter over-ruled common sense and now you got the current mess.
Well, allow me to say just this: HA HA.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
With such a low mark-up, I'm surprised CDs are still as expensive as they are. It indicates there's plenty of room for shaking out more expense and lowering prices further still. If things keep dropping, the recording industry may survive. Hell, if prices can reach $6 or so per CD, I may start buying the damned things again.
Stupid, but ok, fine I'll move to online Music...
/etc).
I usually purchase CDs for two reasons, I can rip them where I want and how I want, and I can get the audio quality I want, no iTunes watered down quality if I don't want.
However if we are pushed to an online buying model for the media, I will just make adjustments in life and move on.
I however will not lock myself into a single vendor model, so sorry iTunes, you lost my online business. I would rather choose to use my Zen M if I want. I also like software that doesn't crash every 5 minutes and has wonderful new daily holes via its Quicktime reliance.
So this leaves me with the choice of about 5-10 online music providers, not counting the MS Live video content coming to Vista later this year (think XBox 360 content / IPTV
Out of the online stores, I, like a lot of individuals will finally bite the bullet and go the Cable cost model, and for 5-15US a month I will do a subscription and have access to virtually ever song ever written.
And besides the copy or sending to friend's issues, isn't actually too bad. And if most of my friends are using a subscription service, I can just forward them the link or name of the song and let them grab the song themselves anyway legally.
I spend the same amout on 1 CD a month, and for that I could have access to millions of songs and reload my MP3 players daily with 1000 new song mixes.
Oh, and since Apple is poo pooing subscriptioin based models, it looks like another reason I won't be an iTunes customer.
Apple ? Why is this article put in the Apple section ? /. ?
Has "Apple" become another word for "music" at
We are talking about the music labels here, those are the same guys who think they can make a business model out of suing six year old kids... Is this enough explanation.
I however will not lock myself into a single vendor model, so sorry iTunes, you lost my online business. I would rather choose to use my Zen M if I want. I also like software that doesn't crash every 5 minutes and has wonderful new daily holes via its Quicktime reliance.
I use iTunes, and I use eMusic, and I buy music directly from band websites, and I buy CDs from Amazon, and all of this music plays on any player, including my car's CD player, without DRM. The DRM in iTunes is barely "honor system" quality, everyone knows that, Apple even tells you explicitly how to get rid of it. Using iTunes doesn't lock you in to anything.
And if you're worried about security holes in software, then you better worry about Windows Media Player and Real's music players. All of them use Microsoft's HTML control to display content... and that's been the premier attack vector for malware for the past decade, due to its deliberately insecure and unsecurable "active content" design.
You're refusing to shake hands with someone who's got the flu, then going to bed with an Ebola patient.
I'm confused here. Are there still people who pays for music on physical media? That's so 1990s!
No need to read the article. Like any physical medium that purely exists to give the impression that you are buying it instead of the information stored on it, CDs as are dying. It's just so much more convenient to download it directly to your computer and mp3-player. Of course this process can (and probably will) take time. But claiming otherwise is to deny reality. The only people buying music on CDs today are doing it either out of guilt, habit, fear of new technology, or lack of knowledge. This isn't going to continue forever.
I think everybody ignores the biggest issue hurting music CD sales: the ridiculously high price for a new album-length CD regardless of source (record stores, big box retailers and even online stores).
They should price new CD's at a more appropriate US$12 per disc, not the US$17-$18 per disc as is common practice now. That high price not only discourages sales, but also increases the economic incentive to "cheat" system (e.g., music piracy). By lowering the suggested retail price to US$12, you can drastically cut the incentive to pirate music, which actually benefits everyone all around.
By the way, I don't think movie piracy is as big a problem as people think. I cite the following reasons: 1) Pirated DVD's usually have pretty poor quality video and audio; 2) Downloading a movie from BitTorrent takes a long time unless you have extremely fast broadband (very few people have anything over 6 mbps download speed broadband); and 3) DVD pricing is still reasonable considering what you get on a DVD nowadays with all its extra features.
The push by RIAA to eradicate Internet radio and the emergence of the "Big Box" retailing model do the same thing: they reduce the choices available to consumers to the few CDs that RIAA member companies want to push. They want a return the the glory days when the music-consuming audience was all on the same page, listening to and buying the same "hits" that were manufactured and controlled by the RIAA cartel.
Music Industry needs pricing flexibility. In other words, the business needs to face reality. They are selling every title at exactly the same price. The only time that a CD disk goes to a lower price category is when it doesn't sell for a LONG time and the retailer wants to get it out of the building.
This retail methodology is based on the concept that every customer has a different level of interest in each music CD title being sold. Rather than be flexible on the price, the retailer marks everything at the same price and has customers buy according to their want. If a customer feels that the release by the Anal Probes is worth $40, then they get a 'deal' by being able to buy it for $18, which is more or less the average price of all new CDs. Some other customer who doesn't feel that the new Probes CD is worth the standard $18 sale price won't buy, or will postpone the purchase.
So the business model is based on retail storage of the selection of CD titles. If the cost of the retail storage time of a CD title is greater than the rent or opportunity cost of the space that the title has on the store shelf, the retailer loses money on the title. If the particular CD is popular, it sells quickly and the profit on the sale is greater than the cost rent for of space that the physical CD occupies during the time that it was physically in the store.
A different business model would be to have the customers bid on the individual physical CDs that are in a retail store. The store would have ten copies of the latest Anal Probes CD. Buy_It_Now price would be $30. Each week two copies of the CD would be auctioned. The two high bidders would come to the store the day the auction finished and pay the high bid that the individual CD received. Half of this price would go to the retailer and half to the record company (who would toss a few pennies to the band, if they felt like it).
In this model there is constant turnover of CD stock and people would be more likely to try and buy new music based on written reviews and word-of-mouth. This model was never adopted in the 20th century because it required enormous amounts of record keeping. But now that we have cheap powerful computers, keeping detailed and extensive records is not an issue. The issue is the record companies and retailers being willing to try a new form of marketing. Which they are loath to do.
So the next time that you hear about some media retailer complain about how difficult it is to do business in the age of downloading and how castration is the only suitable solution to P2P users so that they don't reproduce, ask them quite pointedly and emphatically if they EVER considered a different way of conducting their business. Explain this CD auction concept to them. They say "It's an interesting idea, but not practical". In other words, it would mean that they would actually have to adapt to a changing reality and actually work for their free money and they don't want to do that. Much easier to just to get psychopathic lawyers to extort thousands of dollars from randomly selected former customers in order to bring back the good-old-days of Fleetwood Mac-Rumours and Saturday Night Fever-level record sales.
But those days are gone. So adapt or die.