IDM Mailing Archive

non-idm stuff: What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK? I know your economy is generally lack-luster, but I always thought the music industry was as big over there as in the US--surely they would squeeze out vinyl in favor of larger profits with CDs. BTW, what's the going price for CDs in the UK? I generally pay 20-25$ for UK imported CDs and 10-13$ for domestic (US) CDs. I remember back in the mid-80's paying around $18 for import CDs and $15 for domestic. What happened? -- Brian sex = differentiation = death bhostetl@indiana.edu bhostetl@silver.ucs.indiana.edu

On Fri, 11 Mar 1994, Brian Hostetler wrote:

quoted 3 lines non-idm stuff:

> non-idm stuff: > > What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK?

Well actually we're all poor subsistance farmers here. I've only ever seen one CD player. And that was just a glimpse. I didn't get to touch it or anything.

quoted 4 lines I know your

> I know your > economy is generally lack-luster, but I always thought the music > industry was as big over there as in the US--surely they would squeeze > out vinyl in favor of larger profits with CDs.

Thats exactly what they are doing. Go into any big 'record' store and all you see is rows and rows of poxy little CD's with their shite tiny artwork and naff plastic cases Woah. Came over all funny there for a moment. *Any way*....

quoted 4 lines BTW, what's the going

> BTW, what's the going > price for CDs in the UK? I generally pay 20-25$ for UK imported CDs > and 10-13$ for domestic (US) CDs. I remember back in the mid-80's > paying around $18 for import CDs and $15 for domestic. What happened?

Filthy greedy bastards is what happened. There is *no* other excuse when CD's are actually cheaper to make than vinyl for CDs to be 5 pounds more expensive. There have been government inquiries and stuff, but still no change. R.H Kirk 2xLP = 8.99 pounds R.H Kirk CD = 13.99 pounds Nuff said methinks. We now all know the state of the CD vs vinyl biz. greg 3 0 3

quoted 7 lines What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK? I know your

> What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK? I know your > economy is generally lack-luster, but I always thought the music > industry was as big over there as in the US--surely they would squeeze > out vinyl in favor of larger profits with CDs. BTW, what's the going > price for CDs in the UK? I generally pay 20-25$ for UK imported CDs > and 10-13$ for domestic (US) CDs. I remember back in the mid-80's > paying around $18 for import CDs and $15 for domestic. What happened?

Partly, the problem is that the music industry is trying to make too much money out of CD's over here. It's not unusual to pay 13 quid (about 30 dollars) for a UK domestic release on CD! For whatever reason, the UK is about 3 to 4 years behind the US in terms of the death of vinyl. In fact, the (bogus) excuse that the record companies give for their high prices is the extra cost of having to release on 3 formats (CD, cassette and vinyl) compared with 2 in the US.... Cosmic

quoted 3 lines Partly, the problem is that the music industry is trying to make too

> Partly, the problem is that the music industry is trying to make too > much money out of CD's over here. It's not unusual to pay 13 quid > (about 30 dollars) for a UK domestic release on CD!

1 pound == US$1.50 +- .35 depending on the economy 13 pounds == US$21 still expensive, of course

quoted 3 lines Partly, the problem is that the music industry is trying to make too

> Partly, the problem is that the music industry is trying to make too > much money out of CD's over here. It's not unusual to pay 13 quid > (about 30 dollars) for a UK domestic release on CD!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ooops, that should say "about 20 dollars". But the point still stands.... we're paying more over here for a full price UK release then you are in the US for an imported UK release! Cosmic

quoted 5 lines Can you say "dumping"? Can you say "protectionism"? Unfair trade pract

> Can you say "dumping"? Can you say "protectionism"? Unfair trade practices? > Muwwwwwhhhhaaaahahahahaha. What about our US record industry trying to get a > share of the market in the UK? How much more difficult is it for foreign > record interests (outside of the EEC => the US, Japan) to get market share > when you have *artificially* inflated prices at home?

I'd confused as to how *high* prices can be considered dumping. Yes, imports are even more expensive, but I think that's basically because the record shops know they can get away with it. After all, if people are prepared to spend 13 pounds on a UK release (and they are) then they're certainly prepared to spend more than that on an import. And yes, our government is investigating the record industry for unfair pricing practices.... I have grave doubts that anything will come of it, though..... Cosmic

quoted 1 line What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK?

> What's with the lack of CD player owners in the UK?

The other point that I perhaps should make (sorry for replying to the same post 3 times) is that in the UK vinyl isn't quite dead yet. So vinyl-lovers haven't really been forced to go over to CD yet.... I only bought a CD player last year, though I've had a good quality record playing system for many years..... Cosmic

In article <9403111358.aa14562@delta1.uucp>, Michael King <mike%delta1@cs.tulane.edu> wrote:

quoted 5 lines How much more difficult is it for foreign record interests (outside of

>How much more difficult is it for foreign record interests (outside of >the EEC => the US, Japan) to get market share when you have >*artificially* inflated prices at home? Is the UK unfairly jacking up >its CD prices in a *protectionist* act to hinder the *choice* of the >people to purchase US goods? I say yes.

I'd be interested to know just how you can work this out. Intellectual property (particularly when it comes to culture) is a rather different kettle of fish to manufacturing industry. The true import market (shipping the CDs themselves) is a *tiny* fraction of the music industry. The vast majority of sales in other territories are of licenced material, pressed locally for a fraction of the cost of shipping stuff halfway across the world and with the only import duty payable on the price of the blank DAT used for the master. In the UK you will find no consistent price difference between material from US-owned companies' UK divisions, US-owned material licenced to European-owned companies or local material on UK-owned labels. Generally throughout Europe the price of all CDs seems to be set at whatever the big 5 record companies reckon the market can bear in each territory. This is currently being investigated by the Monopolies Commission in the UK and I understand some other European governments are also looking into it. In terms of share, around a quarter of the UK market is taken by companies from outside Europe, in Germany it's closer to a third. True imports are a speciality market with the price even less important to consumers when making their choice of what to buy. In this case, yes there are import duties for material coming in from outside the European Union. However, this seems to take second place to the laws of supply and demand and with a baseline dictated by the current price of domestic releases. Both European and American import 12" singles currently go for UKP 6.50 to UKP 8.50 ($9.50 to $12.50) and import CDs for around UKP 13 to UKP 20 ($19 to $29). US imports have risen faster in price, primarily due to them not being shipped over in such large quantities since American soul, rap and R&B have fallen from favour with the dance community from a peak in the mid-eighties. The US's faster abandoning of vinyl hasn't helped either. Prices of imports from other countries in Europe have generally remained stable, despite bigger quantities now coming into the UK and the dropping of import duties under the Single European Market. -- Stephen Hebditch TQM Communications steveh@orbital.demon.co.uk