A month after Universal Music announced it was cutting CD prices by as much as 30 percent, shoppers looking for the results in the aisles of music stores may be coming away disappointed.

Retailers, many of them angry over details of the plan that may hurt their profit margins, are instituting the price changes slowly and unevenly. A result is a patchwork of prices, ranging from less than $10 to nearly $16, on new Universal CD's from artists like Ludacris and Edie Brickell. At least one major retailer, Virgin Megastore, has refused to comply with the plan that lowers the wholesale price and eliminates promotional subsidies, selling new Universal CD's like Ludacris's "Chicken & Beer" for $15.99. Others, like the HMV chain, have clambered on board, selling "Chicken & Beer" and other Universal titles for the new suggested list price of less than $13. Other deep discounters, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy, have stuck near their customary prices of just under $10.

Complete Story

goodie, these retailers can die too! Death to all greedy companies, the age of free shall come soon!

I'm not sure if I should care about these companies...

If the retailers aren't going along it's because the industry isn't really lowering margin (they're making the same per cd anyways), they are trying to force the retailers to lower their margins. Basicly it's screw anyone we can so we can make a buck. They are experts on trying to repackage the same old crap to try and make it look new. The only thing is now the public, retailers, artists and everyone getting the shaft is developing a much better sense of smell

thanks for clarifying that... death to the RIAA!!!!, not to the retailers!

i think that this whole "price slashing" thing is indicative of several things. first, that the riaa is scared. second, the riaa clearly isn't planning to affect THEIR bottom lines with this "price slashing" thing. and third, the boycott IS working. i don't know about the rest of you, but MY primary reason for boycotting isn't to see the price of cd's go lower, but to see the riaa dissappear all together. the fact that they're lowering cd prices (wink wink) just goes to show you that they're not addressing the real problem...that cd's are, or at least will be soon, obsolete. keep up the fight troops...we'll take this hill yet...
peace, love and a second helping of indie...
~iscariot

in a way i agree with tasadar24. i stoped buying cd's at wal-mart years ago when i accedently bought a copy of a white zombie release and every other word was a (bleep).
and the fact that wal-mart takes out paupers insurance policies on it's employees. as far as i'm concerned, wal-mart can die with the rest of the corporate greed-mongers.
peace...
~iscariot

I worked for years at walmart and I could tell you stories. however the boycott is real and I agree it's working. the problem is the press doesn't take it seriously. I received a letter from the Tech Editor for USA today scolding me on our boycott. She shaid this is serious business and if we want to do a serious boycott that last's more than a week let her know. it's obvious that the media doesn't take us seriously. thank goodness the RIAA does

Did she give you a chart to show how serious it was?

The RIAA does not want to affect their bottom line, but try to force other biz to do so. Sounds like to me the RIAA is trying to say "we droped our prices but the retail did not, and file sharing is killing us, Washington we pay you to do as we say so fix this" a sham and crap, I agree down with the RIAA, when you are gone music can once again live.

give me your website addy again george and I'll email it to you. She did seem to be on our side but wasn't very impressed with the boycott.

"Other deep discounters, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy, have stuck near their customary prices of just under $10."

compmore, can you read?
The fact is that Walmart and Best Buy have been celling cd's for VERY CHEAP for a VERY LONG TIME. If you know the owners of any independent record stores, ask them where they get cd's. Best Buy and Walmart sell albums for under what the wholeseller sells them to the retailer for, and they have. Because the ad price on new albums brings customers into the stores where they can be influenced into buying all kinds of other shit. It's called "impulse buying".

*Earth to everyone else*
This post is about UNIVERSAL MUSIC slashing their prices...Not the RIAA, the RIAA represents copyright holders in litigation and lobbying...not advertising and sales.

yes I can read. I know for a fact that walmart doesn't set their prices on CD's. it's vender controled and walmart gets a percentage. That's RIAA minipulation. they want customers to frequent the big chains. That was one of the few areas we weren't alowed to work in. I was in management in Walmart, I know how they work and they DON'T use CD's as lost leaders. that's the term by the way.

gdZiemann - she didn't give me a chart. but I'll be happy to email her response to you

I use the term RIAA to stand in for the whole recording industry. When I say RIAA I mean the Recording Industry as a whole(besides indies), not the lobbying arm of it.

as i said earlier, i wouldn't get music at wal-mart if it was free for the simple fact that if i buy the work of ANY artist, that's what i expect to get...not wal-mart's watered-down, no cuss-words, politicaly correct version. i've also wondered this, what gives wal-mart the right to alter cd's, dvd's ect. and market them as a "real" cd or whatever. wouldn't they be under some legal obligation to INFORM the consumer that the cd they were buying was NOT the origanal work, but a modified one? as far as i'm concerned any retail store that "alters" a cd then fraudently markets it to me as "the real deal" dosn't deserve my business no matter how cheap the cd is. i'm an adult, and if i want to hear music with cuss-words, then, mothaf*****, thats what i want to hear.
peace...
~iscariot

compmore maybe you should that email along along to www.downhillbattle.org as well. They might keep their boycott going longer. I was there (www.stopRIAAlawsuits.com) today and the dates are off the header and the site is still up with the pages that joined.

If she's not impressed with one week maybe mail saying so will prompt them to keep it going and solicit even more pages in support.

I did send it to downhillbattle.org I haven't received a reply yet. my intrest is getting the media to take us seriously as an orginized boycott. When I wrote her I was frustrated with the lack of media coverage and asked if they were unbiased. She took it personally and the response was pretty nasty. even suggested I was working for Cary Sue to try and minipulate things. totally unprofessional for a journalist. I agree, massive emails to these editors might get them to see that we all are serious about the boycott

I haven't bought any new CDs since December of 2001. Anyone been boycotting longer?

I've been boycotting for about a year now, only knew what was going on about a year ago.

lets see...not longer, but feb. 2002...
indie forever!
~iscariot

um is unoversal not part of the RIAA? I thought they were, oh yea they are

isCariotThe1: If you look at the back of some CDs that carry the Parental Advisory sticker (and sometimes this line can be on the front), it says "Edited version also available." Wal-Mart just happens to be the major retailer of the "edited" versions. They didn't used to be like that until someone wrote a song about buying a gun at Wal-Mart and killing someone.

Funny thing is, they sell Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City, both very violent games.

Anyway, back to the topic. Of course record stores aren't gonna slash their prices on Universal works. Since when has a record store ever had a CD priced lower than at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Target? Never, of course.

off topic, but, does anyone know how I can get my original username back? What's all this "register" process at log-in anyway. I just got done reinstalling the dreaded Windows on my old 98 SE personal confuser... I am sure this DMCA like "password and product key" security to post stuff is NOT part of the reinstall... (Only NOW have I been able to get an internet connection back!)

Reformating HD SUCKS...
but being offline a couple days and finding out it is just as hard to get back to your fav site cause they make is so "secure" against us longtime regular posters ontop of all the crap I have had 2 do today (mostly unsucsesfully) to get what few USEFULL progs reinstalled to my computer...

CRAP this is a bad day.

Code, George, Bill, Directive, John, somebody? One of you give me my regular name and pass back. Stop making this whole friging world an EULA and DMCA and only if you PAY PAY PAY type place to be.

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy

you should try e-mailing them

lol sorry about that shmoo aint it a bitch

now we can all worship the best band of all time, mighty mighty bosstones

bosstones rule

Another favorite tactic. Screw everyone around as long as our buck isn't cut. So now to add to the list is the artist, the pulbic, and the record stores that don't turn huge volumes. Next in line is the distribution channels as they try to go on line with selling their crap. If they pull that off, they will put out of work more people than p2p could possilby be blamed for. But we already knew who the thief was didn't we?

thankfully there are no virgin megastores where i live.....no sound wherehouse anymore either....hmm.....

That story dealt mainly with chain stores, but what about the independent stores? Universal's price reduction deal screws them and frankly I don't blame them for not implementing it. A local TV news reporter interviewed somebody from Waterloo Records--a really good independent store in Austin--several weeks ago. They pointed out that stores are required to stock at least 33% of its shelf space with Universal products in order to get the wholesale discount. That would be terrible for Waterloo, which specializes in local and independent music. They were trying to negotiate a better deal, which they may have done (I haven't heard any followups) , but it just points out what Universal is really doing--an anti-competitive, monopolistic behavior disguised as customer-friendly behavior. They're using it as an opportunity to screw indie labels (not to mention other RIAA labels).

I also read somewhere that stores don't get the wholesale discount unless they buy a certain number of each title--I think the number was 30. That's clearly aimed at supporting the chains, while screwing Mom and Pop. I hate chain stores, and I don't care if they go out of business. Wherehouse was crap, and deserved to go under. So does Tower, which is having trouble right now. I wish Musicland would go out of business. They have to be the worst chain in existence.

However, I think we should support local, independent stores that make an effort to support local, independent music. I hope the result of all the bullshit strings Universal attached for retailers is that Universal titles will NOT be discounted in most stores, and customers will be more likely to buy music from other labels.

I also have a serious problem with the way Best Buy and Wal-Mart engage in predatory prices. I buy a lot of stuff online these days, straight from the label (indie-non-RIAA labels), but I enjoy going to places like Waterloo that are run by music lovers, hanging around with other music lovers. The thought that Best Buy and Wal-Mart could put those stores out of business pisses me off.

I totally support the RIAA boycott, but I think we SHOULD be spending money when we can at locally owned stores even if it costs a couple of bucks extra (there are limits--one local store I go to has a great selection, but its CDs are too expensive for me). If you go in a store and it's not a chain, and they're playing good music, and the guy behind the counter knows who Interpol is, or the Wipers, or Cornelius, or some other indie band, and the store actually has indie music for a decent price, buy something there when you can. These people are on our side.

That's too bad, because I NEVER buy CDs. The RIAA never gets my money, and neither does Target or Walmart when it comes to that. I have yet to walk into a Target or Kmart and see Julian Perez or Frankie Knuckles or some other underground House music DJ in a section near some pre-fab Disney Channel teenie-bop product who ends up fading out after 2 months. The record stores are all going to feel the same fate that Sony is feeling right now.

negatyve

"This post is about UNIVERSAL MUSIC slashing their prices...Not the RIAA"

Since Universal Music is a member of the RIAA, what't the difference? Besides, isn't it obvious that the pricing schemes in place by ALL members of the RIAA designed to make themselves money and SCREW the independent record store? Again, I have to ask, isn't this ILLEGAL? Since when are you allowed to use pricing to dictate WHERE you want to sell your product??

Last time I checked this was illegal, but when is the Justice Department going to do something about it? They don't hesitate to jump down Microsofts throat the minute they link things together they shouldn't, but a whole industry is driving mom and pop record stores out of business, and the Justice Department doesn't do a thing!

This just goes to show how inept our government is. Which is one of the reasons we are in this mess to begin with.

Keep slashing prices til prices die the death of a thousand cuts, the RIAA and its bastard labels shall not profit from me!
~Code

Yeah we can't blame these retailers for not wanting to comply. The industry basically slashed retailer's profit margin, and took away any and all promotional support. Basically saying, okay the public wants lower prices but we want our money so we the industry's dictator are going to take it out of your ass. It's hard enough making money in retail, especially with a product with as much contraversy as music. The industry is going to watch these outlets go out of business and add gas to the fire when needed and then they will blame it all on piracy.

wow, and i was really looking forward to buying ludacris' album

hahahahahahaahahahahahaahah

I just want all the major labels to fall

add gas to the fire when needed and then they will blame it all on piracy.

My thoughts exactly, and blam p2p and internet for the whole thing.

When the news about Universal CD prices slashes were first announced here, I already stated the issues of consignment fees from retailers.

One of the big problems with the industry is that they are way too many middlemen who want a large piece of the pie.

Record Companies
Record Labels
Record Producers
Record Retailers
Additional promotional expenses __
_______________________________
= Pennies for Artists

This traditional equation has always been a travesty

I haven't bought a new riaa* cd since at least '96 or '97 when they finally released some of the Rainbow Bridge Hendrix tracks that they kept hidden since the early 70's. Notice I said some! They tried to make it into at least 3 cds to get all the tracks...

Since then if they weren't used cds they did not get bought! I've have been supporting local artists for years and still do buy Indie music but the majors can hold their breathe until the Sun turns to a white dwarf before I'll buy anything else from them!

Support Indie Music! ... Supress riaa Music!

*note: Intentionally not capitalized. They do not deserve the
significance that would imply.

Don't worry retailers. Costumers will resist to buy anything from you or walk in your store.