Chris' First Rant - The Price of Music

There's something to be said about record companies who panic about the downloading age and the piracy of music: They don't understand.

I'm more of an old-fashioned guy. I like to go out when a new record comes out and purchase it. But as far as buying music goes, those new release prices are the lowest you'll see. Don't tell me about used CD stores. Just don't. I've been there, done that. They have decent selections but are still very limited and aren't even that cheap anymore.

It bothers me, as a person of eclectic musical tastes, to try and buy an album from an artist who is not Kelly Clarkson or Radiohead, and have to pay upwards of $25 for one disc of music. It's ridiculous. Yes, I know, they don't print as many copies of CDs for more unknown bands. Whatever. That's no reason to really gouge a person out of a huge chunk of their paycheque.

"Ooh, the new Keri Hilson album is so cheap! Wow, I'm so excited, I just wet myself several times over!"

Do I download music? Yes. But I prefer to purchase all of my music in the end in order to have the best quality recordings as I can get. I'm not asking for every CD to be $4.99 or something very low either. I understand that big corporations need to make the dough. However, if you're so concerned with people downloading music illegally, why are you raising the damn prices? In an age where inflated prices are appearing left, right, and center, why drive people away from buying music with insane prices? Yes, I already answered my own question: Inflation. I don't buy it. You can't raise the price of music so drastically and expect people not to download it. That's retarded. People don't care if it's illegal, and companies seem to think they will care. That's not how it works anymore.

Now, instead of addressing the problem properly, their solution is one that you can see in stores today: A free DVD with new music! "Like, OMG!" Who gives a shit?! You buy music for the music, not to see how it's made. That's what YouTube is for. I love my favourite artists because of what they produce, not how they produced it. That's like buying an apple grown in Ontario, and then tracking down the farmer in order to see how it was so juicy and ripe. You'll watch the free DVD once and then it goes back in the case never to be seen again. Deluxe editions to albums need to stop. I don't need a free diary or picture book. Nor do I need to see these guys jerking off in the studio and laughing about musical terms I'll never understand. Enough, already.

Now, I know it won't change, but why are you charging me up my ass for one CD? Just encourage me to download illegally some more, please. Don't even get me started on the selection of music these crappy stores have. I'm starting to order music from sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to get the CDs which are more difficult to locate, but I still prefer to have my music right in front of me and not take 3 weeks with a delivery charge tacked on.

I won't say much else, but it gets on my damn nerves to only get special discount prices on new releases. "Ooh, thanks so much, good sir." I'm tired of seeing older CDs with price tags like $19.99 and $22.99 (which are for single discs! Holy ass.). I'm not even talking about older albums from the 80s or whatever. I just saw one yesterday which was released in 2007 (If you must know, it was Porcupine Tree's 'Fear of a Blank Planet'), and it was ridiculously expensive for a disc of music. I get fed up. For an age where I have to shell out $50 for a full tank of gas, I better get some damn good deals on retail purchases.

My rant's over. There hasn't been any improvement, and if they don't smarten up, they're going to find a lot of business going downhill, to the point where people just download from the internet for every musical wish. You guys wonder why you're losing business when you do this kind of thing?

Shit.