Economics, "Bang! The Future of Rock And Roll," the past

[Jim Topp <jtopp@ophelia.ucs.indiana.edu>]

>...and the labels are reselling us music we
>have already bought anyway. Dark Side Of The Moon has been reissued three
>times now ("newly remastered") and I can't wait to see what they do with it
>next...add Wizard Of Oz as a CD-ROM or DVD? The point is they are making a
>fortune selling us the same thing over and over again. The profit margin is
>insanely high. They could have remastered/remixed and added bonus tracks the
>first time, but they CHOSE not to! The music industry was in the toilet
>before CDs came along, but they labels LOVE selling us the same things over
>and over again.

Mark,

It seems to me that you explain this with your own comments: "If people
support such a thing, they've got only themselves to blame." "... we buy it
again. Who loses? If anyone, we do...but it's our choice!" Insanely high
profits? Perhaps, but remember the fundamental question of economics:
Q. How much is it worth? (Regardless of what "it" is)
A. Whatever someone will pay for it.
See eBay for evidence.
Do I hate having to replace my CD catalogs of The Who and The Kinks because
it wasn't done right the first time? Sure I do. Do I do it anyway? For my
favorite artists, including these two, yes. For others, no. As you say,
it's my choice.

>And if bands who have not yet gone national/worldwide want to market their
>music themselves, how do they get known without the label's support?

I would think creative and effective marketing is not limited to large
record companies. They Might Be Giants got started by putting their songs
on a telephone answering machine and advertising the phone number. Besides
what good did "the label's support" do for The Who's Isle of Wight?

>How many great and deserving artists are going to fall by the wayside
>because they cannot be noticed in the already tangled jungle of MP3s?

You could say that about almost any field at any time. I don't think that's
new or unique with MP3s.

>And exactly how far away is the technology which will allow even the most
>non-musical type to create their own music?

I won't name names, but don't we have that now? Don't we also have
non-literary types who write books? And is this a bad thing? In the sense
of personal "artistic" expression, it's probably a good thing. Whether the
free market will support these products is another story.

>However, the bottom line as I see it is that people still want something
>definite in their hand. Like a tape, a CDr is nice to have but anything
>someone really wants they'll buy. Many is the album/CD I taped from a friend
>only to buy later on. Fortunately blank CDs are dirt cheap, and you can't
>help considering them somewhat disposable.
>I can tell you from experience: people want something professionally made.
>They want packaging. They want advertising. Especially when the price is
>reasonable (like Best Buy or Target prices, rather than the $18.98 you find
>at Mall music stores). As I said, being financially involved in this matter,
>I am keeping an eagle eye on this situation, but so far I think people want
>"the real thing" over a burned CD. So far.

It depends on the product. Set the Way-Back Machine for 1978 and apply your
theory/opinion to LPs and blank cassettes. I bought the Who Are You LP
(which I then put on cassette for listening convenience). I wanted the
packaging, etc. However, for Supertramp's Breakfast In America, taping a
friend's LP was good enough.

Jim