HMV Canada Cuts Music CD Prices

umStefa notes a CBC story reporting that the largest music retailer in Canada, HMV, has slashed prices on CDs and is attributing the move to demand by customers for lower prices. The back catalog of popular artists will see price cuts of up to 33%; the cuts average 20% across the board. The Canadian version of the RIAA is spinning the news as being a direct result of music piracy.

Comments

direct result of music piracy.

[oliverthered]

Let's here it for music piracy, the only thing that's putting some competition into the market.

Somewhere in Bentonville... Always lower prices

[Animats]

Somewhere in Bentonville, Arkansas, a Wal-Mart executive is deciding how to respond to this pricing move. When the decision is made, calls will go out to record companies, telling them what Wal-Mart is willing to pay. That's what really scares the RIAA.

More Insightful Article on Why HMV's Doing This

[theshowmecanuck]

This article from the Globe and Mail provides some more interesting insight into why they are doing this.

However it raises more questions. Like if younger people are buying more old Pink Floyd albums (errr... CDs), why is HMV charging $10 dollars more than newer CDs? After 30 years on the market you would think that 'Dark Side of the Moon' or the 'Led Zepplin' CDs had made their money and maybe could be reduced to the price of say, a CD produced in 2007?

And for those who don't know, HMV is the Canadian equivalent of, for example, the chain of Virgin record stores. In fact, HMV recently took over the Virgin location on the corner of Burrard and Robson in downtown Vancouver.

Re:Right...

[AGMW]

Now, call me old fashioned, but isn't The White Album quite an old album? Didn't they make a killing on it from the original vinyl, then again on tape, 8-track, MD, DAT, and now CD. Surely this is just milking the populace?

This is the problem the recording industry has got: The 'n'th pressing of some old album onto a new media ought to be cheaper than the original, as they haven't had to re-do anything, other than maybe shrink the album cover to fit a CD. What is the cover of The White Album anyway [googles] Hmmmm. OK. Can anyone guess?

So they accuse us of pirateering, and we accuse them of profiteering! It's a racket and they know it is. The whole screaming and shouting about pirate downloads et al is just a smoke screen in the hope we don't realise they've been shafting us for years!

As has often been said, they need to wake up and smell the coffee! Cheaper CDs in the shops - say £5 a CD - would likely mean people buying 3 CDs. Pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap!

Or wander over to sellaband where you can help unsigned artists get into a top studio by pre-buying their next CD for $10 (10 US Dollars), and you get a (small) cut of sales, Ad revenue, and downloads. Might not amount to much, but if they're as good as you think they are, who knows!

Pop into my Sellaband Shop for some free downloads right now, or buy tracks for 50 US cents for DRM free quality mp3s.