CD's May Soon be Cheaper Than iTunes Downloads?
posted Sunday Mar 21, 2010 by Kyria Gianos
Not too many of us out there actually purchase a physical CD anymore, unless we're interested in the cover art that is. Since it is currently cheaper to just download the whole album from iTunes, what's the point of having the physical disk right? Well, Universal Music Group is hoping to change your mind, by lowering CD prices to a $10.00 maximum.
Beginning in April, almost all of the company's CD's will be cut to a price between $6.00 and $10.00. The drop in price hopes to have an increasing effect on sales. For all those devoted fans out there, UMG has stated that they plan to generate more "deluxe" editions then they currently have, but it'll cost you a little more.
This change has been long awaited for retailers who believe $10.00 is a fair price for a CD, and if it follows in the steps of Trans World entertainment, may allow CD sales to as much as double.
There is a possibility that the price may fall to as low as $5.00, to keep CD's from falling off the map. We've seen this occur before with the transition from cassette tape to the CD. They tried to keep the industry alive by dropping the prices so low, that it almost made more sense to buy the cassette. Now, if we see physical CD prices drop lower than iTunes charges for the same thing, the sales of CD's will surely increase. If this happens, consumers may question why a physical CD is less expensive than the download straight to your computer with the click of your mouse, and that's simply it, convenience. The cost may be more expensive for the iTunes download, but in exchange, you will invest less time in purchasing and receiving the product. Will this allow CD's to remain on the market for years to come, or have music lovers become too accustomed to the convenience presented with iTunes? We'll have to see in the upcoming months.
