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So the record companies are finally going with the flow, trying out some new tactics, Trying to Sell CD's by Adding Extras according to Chris Nelson/NYTimes.
Bundling an album with a raft of value-added extras - while charging just a dollar more than the standard price for a CD - may sound like a costly move for P.O.D.'s label, Atlantic Records, part of AOL Time Warner. But it is a testament to just how desperate music companies are to stoke consumer interest and reverse a three-year sales slump by pulling fans away from making free downloads of music from Internet file-trading sites.
While the P.O.D. album, scheduled for release Nov. 4, is unusual in the amount of extra material it will carry, it is just one album in a flood of new CD's promising extras. Recent discs from artists representing a broad cross section of genres - from R.& B. diva Mary J. Blige to singer-songwriter Elvis Costello to punk band Pennywise - have come with extra material.
The newfound zeal to include extras on music CD's might just be working. On the latest weekly Billboard 200 album chart, the top six spots are held by albums making their first appearance on the chart. All of those artists - OutKast, Dave Matthews, Limp Bizkit, R. Kelly, Obie Trice and Nickelback - include some type of bonus with their albums: an EP of extra songs, access to online content, a chance to meet the musician or two CD's for the price of one.
Others like Vivendi are doing it, as some retailers are trying new things (like customer service - how 'bout that) with knowledgeable sales people and places to hang out and listen to music before buying, seeing as the merchants have little control over the merchandise itself.
Enticing customers is even more difficult when the music industry's main physical product, the CD, has become increasingly unimportant, particularly to young people who have grown up with music as digital computer files. "My 17-year-old daughter loses the jewel boxes as fast as she can," said John Esposito, president of WEA, AOL Time Warner's music distribution arm, referring to the plastic cases that hold CD's.
Go figure. Seems like they have a ways to go before they get that CD is a losing medium. Maybe Esposito should try usability testing his kids. People want flexibility, portability, ease. CDs are awful, they scratch, they peel, and you can't mix up 200 songs and play them in random order on the cheap the way you can with electronic media. I ripped all my CDs years ago and I would never go back. It's so much more fun this way. And yet, given the extras, I'd buy a CD verses buying downloads, and then rip it for playing with all the other stuff I've already ripped.
Posted by Mary Hodder at October 06, 2003 12:53 AMI disagree that CD is "a losing medium" -- I may be old-fashioned, but I still like having something physical to show for my money. I like the liner notes and lyrics (when there are any) and I prefer CDs to MP3s any day. That said, I do rip mix CDs for car trips and such, and they're still overpriced. The industry's main problem is price, price, price. Out of more than 800 CDs that I own, less than half have been purchased new -- the bulk of my collection is made up of used CDs because I just can't see spending $15 or so on a CD. I usually spend about $8 for a used CD, and I think that should be the upper end of the price spectrum.
Posted by: Zonker on October 10, 2003 09:54 AM