Posted by 17,000 and counting on 7/5/2009, 12:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Where can we buy the Evacuate the Dancefloor single?"
99.225.239.91
I hate to respond this way but I wish to make a few legit and valid points (not stir up controversy).
Amazon ...... DOT COM .... yes, DOT COM - that means a website and payment by PayPal (which requires linking to your bank account online, I still don't think it is as safe as legit online banking through your own federally (or state) regulated institution) or credit card.... not CASH!
I will say a lot of fans of the material Robbins puts out are probably not old enough to have a credit card and it isn't wise to beg to use their parents card either.
Yes, I can see in North America singles are a dying breed but why is that? Is it because labels in general (let's limit this to the "big 4" to make it easier) would rather spend money on other forms of promotion and not include CD singles into that category? Depending on manufacturing/packaging and shipping costs (and remix budget) singles could lose money, but why can't they be considered "loss leaders" like when stores put a product 75% off to attract customers in the store who'll end up buying more items thus offsetting the loss on the sale item?
To me it smells like stubbornness from the industry. Sadly to say I think the RIAA (and the big 4) - I won't go into too many details - lag behind the rest of the world in adapting to innovation and methods of funding collection.
Next, iTunes - this you can buy a pre-paid card for at Wal-Mart so it's not limited to credit cards BUT what use is the digital download???
Think about it for a second - what's better: holding the physical single in your hands and being able to look at the CD, the imagery, and the credits OR just some downloaded paid-for file?
I'll admit its likely faster and less tedious to download the paid file and burn it onto a mixed self-compilation or copy it to an mp3 player than to rip the CD and then do the same BUT what benefit is it? It's not like iTunes is selling WAV files for 99 cents? Your physical CD is basically a set of WAV files (uncompressed audio) whereas the digital download could be up to 320 kbit mp3 (the least compressed of it all).
So here's my argument - WITHOUT a physical CD single present (and let's use ANY record label that doesn't release CD singles anymore - you can name them for me, I'm too lazy to think) what is more convenient: paying a minimum 69 cents to download an mp3 or going and finding the mp3 and downloading it for FREE?
Seriously, I'd rather pay $5-7 (higher-end for domestic version of an international artist, lower-end of the price scale for a domestic artist) for a CD-single / CD-Maxi with radio edit, extended mix, and at least TWO other remixes than to pay $4 for the same 4 mixes downloaded off iTunes.
I'd rather download for free than pay for it - my money should rightfully be exchanged for a physical item, not virtual!!!
Thank you all for taking the time to read this... let's see what other people have to say about our precious and unfortunately dying breed - the physical CD single.
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