Napster UK goes live today 20 May

[Frenchie]

http://www.napster.co.uk/

[Frenchie]

Marvels of free market...

On the same day Napster UK opens, its rival OD2 http://www.ondemanddistribution.com/

cuts its prices by 1/2.

Now 40 songs for £20



http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,3...9155269,00.htm

free market yes but the record industry majors have made sure they have a lot more say in the price and way material will be available.

[Frenchie]

Fully agree with you.

They have different names in each country, but they are run by the ones who pay them: the majors.

In UK, the BPI British Pornographic Industry explained during the CDWow! and PLAY.com cases:



“all of the costs in creating the music are accrued in Europe; the record industry has to charge European prices in Europe to stay in business. Just because prices are lower elsewhere in the world it doesn’t mean they can be lower in Europe.”





http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?...3345&area=news

[Azrikam]

Originally Posted by Frenchie

?all of the costs in creating the music are accrued in Europe; the record industry has to charge European prices in Europe to stay in business. Just because prices are lower elsewhere in the world it doesn?t mean they can be lower in Europe.?

Wouldn't that just account for the albums that are actually recorded in Europe? Why would it cost more to release an America-produced album in the UK than in America? And that doesn't account for the discrepancies between European CD prices (UK vs everyone else, for instance). Sounds like a lot of propaganda to me.

Back on topic, I won't be using any of the legal download sites for two reasons:
1. Costs should be cheaper than buying a CD. All the manufacturing costs are gone and CDs are overpriced across the world, IMO.
2. If I buy music, I want to own it. (that means no DRM) I don't want to shell out hard-earned money for a music collection that I might not be able to get back if (when) my PC crashes or my hard drive dies. Leasing music just doesn't interest me, and that's exactly what you get with many of these services.

I agree a lot of propaganda. I have my suspicions that the majors are trying to look hard done by so that when the next round of attempted mergers come round they'll have a stronger case with the MMC. That all said I still like to own the physical product rather than a down load, although its nice to hear stuff your unsure about for free before you buy.
Prices vary for many diff reasons, some are tax related, others are due to distribution costs in diff territories, some of it is simply to do with what the suppliers can get away with charging and there is also quite alot of influence from the actual deals made between artists, 3rd party licensees and labels and the bottom line price agreed by all parties with regards royalties which is where the real money is.

[Miyazaki]

I hate to be the cynic here, but how do Napster (Uk or otherwise) who's sole audience before they went legitimate, were teenagers downloading music for free, expect to entice the very people with the idea of, "pay for downloading our music", when they can get the same stuff, of the same quality, free on the likes of bit torrent and kazaa?

I accept that I-tunes does well, but that is a different ball-park to Napster, as Napster is from the "market", if you will, of music "pirates".

[whiteflyer]

I can't see the point of services like Napster. MP3's DO NOT sound as good as a real CDs, and a 99 pence per track, 10 tracks for the average album that £9.99. You can buy nearly every album for less than a tenner so why download when you dont get the sound quality, the booklets, or the CD covers and YOU have to provide the actual disk itself.

Prices vary for many diff reasons, some are tax related, others are due to distribution costs in diff territories, some of it is simply to do with what the suppliers can get away with charging and there is also quite alot of influence from the actual deals made between artists, 3rd party licensees and labels and the bottom line price agreed by all parties with regards royalties which is where the real money is

Prices vary for only one reason, thay charge what ever they can get away with.

If Amazon USA can charge me £9.98 incuding postage from America, why do Amazon UK charge £14.45 for the same CD?

[Kaleb500]

Have you tried this site

www.allofmp3.com