On Friday, Nicoli’s problems at EMI became considerably worse, or at least more apparent. Disappointing Christmas sales of the latest Robbie Williams CD — and of a remix album by an up-and-coming young act called The Beatles — forced a profits warning out of the group.
And what should EMI or any other record company expect? This is what they have lined up to sell? Robbie Williams and a remix album? Let me say it once again, and again. The price of a CD isn’t worth the plastic it’s on. $15 is quite a bit of money for recycled music that all sounds the same, where the interest in a particular song has a time frame of about, oh six weeks. Believe me, nothing that EMI in general that was released over the holiday season will be remembered five years from now.
When you invest in good artists, that write their own music, play an instrument and produce their music, and is not recycled or sounds like every other Billboard top 100 song, call me. I’m tired of the RIAA and record labels whining and claiming that record sales are down because of piracy. Does piracy exist? Yes, definitely, and while not justifiable, it’s understandable. People feel that they shouldn’t be paying for poor quality music. I think record labels should stop subsidizing poor selling artists by charging high prices across the board.
Here’s an idea, let the buyer bid their price and per per album or per song. Also, make the music downloadable and able to play anywhere, not DRM’d to death. Also, for good artistic values music, offer lossless quality formats for true audiophiles, mp3 for the rest of the world, and you can tier that pricing too.
The music dies for EMI’s Nicoli – Sunday Times – Times Online
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