eclectica
2003-09-30, 00:07
CNN, 2003-09-04 (http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/04/news/international/universal_cds/)
Universal cuts CD prices
Music company lowers prices up to 30% in attempt to win back customers downloading songs.
September 4, 2003: 2:03 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN) - Hoping to win back customers lost to free music downloads, one record company is slashing prices.
Universal Music Group said Wednesday it is cutting the suggested retail price of its compact discs to $12.98 from current prices ranging from $16.98 to $18.98.
The change is effective Oct. 1.
NY Times, 2003-09-29 (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/29/business/media/29TUNE.html?ex=1065412800&en=fc40e664efd9a024&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
The retailers main complaint about the plan is that it squeezes their profits. Under the plan, Universal is cutting the standard suggested consumer price for its new CD's by $6, or almost a third, to $12.98 from $18.98. But it is cutting the standard wholesale price much less. That price was about $12, or in effect about $10 after standard discounts and subsidies. Under the new plan, the standard wholesale price will be about $9 for most titles, with no additional subsidies or discounts — essentially lowering the effective wholesale price by a dollar, or about 10 percent. After an initial outcry from retailers, Universal scrapped a plan to post the suggested retail price on each CD, although stickers will still refer to the new lower prices.
So it turns out that Universal is not cutting its CD prices by 30% as the original news on September 4 suggested, but instead by about $1 per CD. All the hype about them cutting CD prices was misleading, because they meant that the retailers would be cutting CD prices. How generous of them. It is not a responsible way to guarantee that the customers receive a cut in prices, because they rely on someone else to cut prices rather than themselves. All this was a lie on their part that came just four days before the 261 p2p users were sued.
Someone ought to pay a visit to RIAA headquarters in Washington DC to punish them for their cheapness, their pettiness, their brutality, their insensitivity, their lies, their deception, and their hubris.
:bomb:
Universal cuts CD prices
Music company lowers prices up to 30% in attempt to win back customers downloading songs.
September 4, 2003: 2:03 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN) - Hoping to win back customers lost to free music downloads, one record company is slashing prices.
Universal Music Group said Wednesday it is cutting the suggested retail price of its compact discs to $12.98 from current prices ranging from $16.98 to $18.98.
The change is effective Oct. 1.
NY Times, 2003-09-29 (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/29/business/media/29TUNE.html?ex=1065412800&en=fc40e664efd9a024&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)
The retailers main complaint about the plan is that it squeezes their profits. Under the plan, Universal is cutting the standard suggested consumer price for its new CD's by $6, or almost a third, to $12.98 from $18.98. But it is cutting the standard wholesale price much less. That price was about $12, or in effect about $10 after standard discounts and subsidies. Under the new plan, the standard wholesale price will be about $9 for most titles, with no additional subsidies or discounts — essentially lowering the effective wholesale price by a dollar, or about 10 percent. After an initial outcry from retailers, Universal scrapped a plan to post the suggested retail price on each CD, although stickers will still refer to the new lower prices.
So it turns out that Universal is not cutting its CD prices by 30% as the original news on September 4 suggested, but instead by about $1 per CD. All the hype about them cutting CD prices was misleading, because they meant that the retailers would be cutting CD prices. How generous of them. It is not a responsible way to guarantee that the customers receive a cut in prices, because they rely on someone else to cut prices rather than themselves. All this was a lie on their part that came just four days before the 261 p2p users were sued.
Someone ought to pay a visit to RIAA headquarters in Washington DC to punish them for their cheapness, their pettiness, their brutality, their insensitivity, their lies, their deception, and their hubris.
:bomb: