Study: CD prices sing the blues

The average retail price of full-length CDs fell to $13.29 in the first quarter of 2004--a decline of 4 percent from the same period a year ago, according to a new study.

The top 50 CD sellers nationwide sold discs for an average price of $13.36, a drop of 3.1 percent versus a year ago, said a survey released Thursday by the NPD Group. Meanwhile, catalog CDs--comprised of titles that are 18-months-old or more--dropped below the $13 threshold to $12.99.

NPD President Russ Crupnick attributed the decline in part to a changing market due to the file-sharing boom. In addition, competition for entertainment dollars has become tougher for the recording industry in an environment that saw DVDs and video games growing at double-digit rates, he said.

Universal Music Group slashed retail prices of its titles by 5 percent between the first quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2004. However, a study by Harvard University researchers who tracked music downloads said file sharing does not affect CD sales.

NPD Group earlier had said that digital song and subscription site consumers were buying up to 80 percent more CDs than those who did not subscribe.

[DaveWulp]

Sob Sob

We are supposed to be concerned because the super profits of the recording industry is declining? Pardon me, but we all know how much it takes to produce a CD.

[tompeters]

If the music industry would pull their heads out of the sand and figure out that by lowering prices they in turn may sell more units, maybe then they might, just might, be able to turn things around. Now with that they would have to lure the downloaders away from what they are doing (not an easy task). Let's just imagine if the price of a CD was lower in a store than it was to download. That could be something too. I prefer the whole CD rather than just having one or two choice songs - today's music buyer has gotten used to just wanting a couple of songs and not getting into the habit of hearing the whole album - the way the artist had intended their album to be heard. That is probably the biggest shame of all, maybe even more so than the music industry's greed. You know what they say...you don't know what you got until it's gone.