"I bought three or four to give to friends!"<\/p>\n
We were sitting inside the cafeteria at Mid-Vail during the blowingest snowstorm imaginable and struck up a conversation with the sixtysomething gentleman who sat down at our table.\u00c2\u00a0 Turned out he was a restructuring specialist from Dallas.\u00c2\u00a0 He’d booked this trip long ago.\u00c2\u00a0 If he hadn’t been talking with us, he’d have been checking his BlackBerry.\u00c2\u00a0 Business was raging.<\/p>\n
After hearing what he did for a living, this bloke asked us about ourselves.\u00c2\u00a0 And when he heard what I did he asked me, did I get into concerts for free?<\/p>\n
Then I asked him, did he go to a lot of concerts?<\/p>\n
Not really.\u00c2\u00a0 Just the Eagles.\u00c2\u00a0 "Hell Freezes Over", the opening of the new building and just recently, for "Long Road Out Of Eden".<\/p>\n
Then this guy starts testifying about the album.\u00c2\u00a0 Says he wasn’t enamored of Timothy B. Schmit’s contribution, but loved Joe Walsh’s. And he thought the title track was a CLASSIC!<\/p>\n
And he said the tracks the band played live from the new album were the exact right ones.<\/p>\n
This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.\u00c2\u00a0 The audience for classic acts is supposed to go to the bathroom during the new material. Conventional wisdom is the audience doesn’t want new material.\u00c2\u00a0 But if this is so, how did the Eagles sell in excess of three million copies of "Long Road Out Of Eden" at Wal-Mart?\u00c2\u00a0 THE PRICE!<\/p>\n
All the salespeople at the major labels have been pooh-poohing the Eagles numbers, saying Irving is lying.\u00c2\u00a0 But did they ever think of the value?\u00c2\u00a0 Two CDs of new music for $11.88?<\/p>\n
God, the industry didn’t only fuck over the artists with high CD prices and low royalties, it also screwed the fans.\u00c2\u00a0 Music was no longer a casual purchase, but something you debated.\u00c2\u00a0 And when you paid fifteen or seventeen dollars for a turkey album, you swore off.\u00c2\u00a0 But, if music was a deal, like the Eagles’ project, you’d buy packages for all your friends.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve heard this again and again over the past year, people went to Wal-Mart and bought multiple copies of "Long Road Out Of Eden"…\u00c2\u00a0 They’re not buying multiple copies of Rihanna’s album, or anything purveyed by the major labels.<\/p>\n
Pricing is out of whack.\u00c2\u00a0 The only way to grow this business is to lower prices.\u00c2\u00a0 To the point where people make multiple purchases, maybe not of the same album, but different ones.<\/p>\n
The CD era killed experimentation.\u00c2\u00a0 Experimentation has been rekindled in the Internet era, it’s just that the purveyors have not been paid.\u00c2\u00a0 Stop trying to sue the public into submission, start offering them enticing deals!<\/p>\n
Ninety nine cents a track works for no one other than Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s too much and people buy too little.\u00c2\u00a0 Raise the price point and deliver more.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what the Eagles did.\u00c2\u00a0 Twice the amount of music for about the cheapest price you could find for a single CD.<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the line, everybody became convinced that music is a cash cow.\u00c2\u00a0 That acts were entitled to be millionaires and executives could live private jet lifestyles.\u00c2\u00a0 So, all the calculations are worked in reverse.\u00c2\u00a0 How can we reach this financial milestone?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, we have to charge x.\u00c2\u00a0 But the public thinks x is too much.<\/p>\n
Think of computers.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s the machine you’re reading this on truly worth?\u00c2\u00a0 Come on, it’s a technological marvel…\u00c2\u00a0 Twenty thousand dollars?\u00c2\u00a0 But you can buy a computer for $400.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they sell so fucking many of them.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, costs have come down, but costs have come down in the music industry too.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s cheaper to record and cheaper to distribute.<\/p>\n
Stop telling me about the value of music.\u00c2\u00a0 If it’s so fucking valuable, why don’t you find a way to price it reasonably, so everyone can partake, filling your coffers along the way.<\/p>\n
Open the doors, let people experiment cheaply.\u00c2\u00a0 Then they’ll become fans.\u00c2\u00a0 And fans will give you ALL their money.<\/p>\n
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