The price of CDs these days

[Brian]

Just saw ArkivMusic.com listing new Naxos single CDs for $20 each.

[Todd]

Just saw ArkivMusic.com listing new Naxos single CDs for $20 each.

Vox "Audiophile Edition" titles sell for full price now, so we live in bizzaro world when it comes to recording prices.

[Daverz]

Just saw ArkivMusic.com listing new Naxos single CDs for $20 each.

I guess the days of 3 for $20 Naxos sales are over.

[DavidW]

Just saw ArkivMusic.com listing new Naxos single CDs for $20 each.

Well they're $13.50 on Presto, and Presto has a way better track record on actually shipping what you order and having decent customer service!

[Mookalafalas]

I guess the days of 3 for $20 Naxos sales are over.

Perhaps they had an "end of year financial crunch" and needed some quick funds. If so, apparently they got what they needed

[dhibbard]

I guess the days of 3 for $20 Naxos sales are over.

yup  I used to get 6 for $20 bucks at Tower in the 1990s

[Madiel]

I guess the days of 3 for $20 Naxos sales are over.

I guess music you can play for the rest of your life is worth more than a takeaway meal now. Who would have thought?

[DavidW]

I guess music you can play for the rest of your life is worth more than a takeaway meal now. Who would have thought?

Not only that but Naxos isn't a bargain label like it was in the 90s.  They sign well respected conductors, orchestras, ensembles and performers.

[Brian]

Not only that but Naxos isn't a bargain label like it was in the 90s.  They sign well respected conductors, orchestras, ensembles and performers.

Jean-Luc Tingaud has been a real find and I'm excited for his Franck/Chausson symphonies. He is keeping alive the French conducting style of decades past. (Like Denève before him on Naxos!)

[Madiel]

Not only that but Naxos isn't a bargain label like it was in the 90s.  They sign well respected conductors, orchestras, ensembles and performers.

They frequently signed GOOD performers then. Whether or not they're well respected.

I'm somewhat with Hurwitz in that some of the comments about the cost of music really puzzle me. How much do people think all of that effort to create art is worth? Sometimes I suspect the reason people want each individual disc to be so cheap is because they buy discs so indiscriminately.

[DavidW]

Sometimes I suspect the reason people want each individual disc to be so cheap is because they buy discs so indiscriminately.

I think you just called out half the forum!

[Madiel]

I think you just called out half the forum!

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

[JBS]

They frequently signed GOOD performers then. Whether or not they're well respected.

I'm somewhat with Hurwitz in that some of the comments about the cost of music really puzzle me. How much do people think all of that effort to create art is worth? Sometimes I suspect the reason people want each individual disc to be so cheap is because they buy discs so indiscriminately.

For me the attraction of Naxos's low prices was the way it made it cheaper to investigate unfamiliar composers, especially contemporary and US ones. (Remember I don't download.) I'm far more inclined to buy a CD of unfamiliar music if it's $10 or $12 because it does not feel like a big waste of money. But if the price is $18 or $20 I'm going to think about buying it much longer and maybe decide not to get it.

[Madiel]

For me the attraction of Naxos's low prices was the way it made it cheaper to investigate unfamiliar composers, especially contemporary and US ones. (Remember I don't download.) I'm far more inclined to buy a CD of unfamiliar music if it's $10 or $12 because it does not feel like a big waste of money. But if the price is $18 or $20 I'm going to think about buying it much longer and maybe decide not to get it.

You don't download, but do you stream? Because that's my method of investigation these days. Prior to that it was iTunes 90 second samples (when I had no intention of buying downloads). And go back far enough it was a mix of reading the Penguin Guide and actually listening to discs in a music store...

But yeah, I don't think I ever took the view that the way to try things out was to buy them, not least because of how expensive that could become. Buying things was only when I had at least a reasonable degree of confidence that I wasn't wasting my money. A small handful of duds still glare at me accusingly because I've never got around to disposing of them.

[DavidW]

For me the attraction of Naxos's low prices was the way it made it cheaper to investigate unfamiliar composers, especially contemporary and US ones. (Remember I don't download.) I'm far more inclined to buy a CD of unfamiliar music if it's $10 or $12 because it does not feel like a big waste of money. But if the price is $18 or $20 I'm going to think about buying it much longer and maybe decide not to get it.

You might want to look at an inflation calculator.  That logic I also followed into not buying trade paperbacks for a long time, until I finally discovered that they weren't that much more expensive than I used to pay for mmpbs back in the day once adjusted for inflation.  The $20 price point used to be a premium price point, but now it is more like low midrange.

But still again Presto sells for $13, wouldn't be surprised if jpc was the same.  Arkiv is never been great for pricing except for what is on sale.

[Todd]

You might want to look at an inflation calculator.

Inflation doesn't really apply to recorded music.  Napster killed that decades ago.  No one buys physical media.  Yeah, yeah, I know, some people do, and vinyl sales in the UK just hit the highest level since the early 90s, etc.  But sales data don't lie; physical media are an afterthought.  When one factors in file sharing that still goes on (eg, via Plex or something similar legitimately, many other sites illegitimately), the idea of paying money for physical media is dead and it ain't coming back.  If one accounts for inflation, shellac discs were vastly more expensive than CDs when they dominated the market, and streaming costs peanuts in comparison.  For me, the idea of paying $13 for a Naxos or Vox optical disc is preposterous and I dismiss it out of hand.  I have not purchased a physical Naxos disc is I don't know how many years, and I only purchase downloads when they are less than $5/disc equivalent.  Vox must be cheaper yet.  Here and there something may be worth premium price (>$15 nominal), but that's rare.  In general, if something is expensive, it gets streamed only.  Recorded music is a cheap commodity now, which is great.  It is progress.  It benefits consumers.  It does kind of obliterate the petty invidious distinction that used to accompany owning this, that, or the other physical recording, though.  This forum does not represent the recorded music purchasing population at large - and that's in high income countries.

[JBS]

Kenneth Woods posted this yesterday morning on X/Twitter.

Convenience is THE modern trap.
I've got a collection of 1000s of CDs, but end up playing music via computer 99.9% of the time. Just popped in a CD for the first time a few months, and shocked at how much better it sounds than EVERYTHING I've listened to lately. Gotta do better

[Todd]

A $50 doodad allows for 16/44.1 quality streaming via any DAC with an optical in.  CDs can't sound better than that.

[Madiel]

No one buys physical media.

And yet, that is what we were discussing.

This forum does not represent the recorded music purchasing population at large

It doesn't need to. It doesn't matter whether we are "no one". We are ourselves.

You seem to be the only member of this forum that regularly dismisses the value of the forum of which you continue to be a part.

[DavidW]

I don't think that Todd is meaning to denigrate the forum (I think he still buys music himself), he is just pointing out that cd consumption here is far higher than it is in the general populace.  And that is definitely true.  Even my boomer parents stopped buying cds a very, very long time ago. 

But we'll keep on going!  Attend concerts, buy downloads or physical media and support those artists!!  For me that strategy and streaming are not mutually exclusive.