Album prices reflect old music industry inefficiency.

[beats me]

I’ve been noticing a pattern. New albums by popular low to mid tier artists are often $7 while long established popular top tier artist new albums usually go for $13+. Is the quality any better? No. I don’t think it’s even just label greed. I think the longer established artists have too many people involved (to be paid) in making an album out of habit and favors, like Bruce Springsteen walks into a studio and demands his guitar tech team be present. The newer bands guitarist’s tech team is a plastic Korg tuner. Probably the same result at the end of the day.

That’s my theory.

[Angstrom]

hahaha, no.
Music has sunk costs for sure, but that's not how it gets priced. It gets priced on "value".
Extrinsic value is abstract, it is outside the product or service and is projected onto it. Concepts like "Bruce Springsteen represents my youth, and that girl I loved, except I never met her, and how I always wanted a Mustang but my damn wife took all my money in the divorce the bitch but I still believe in Americcaaaaaa".

People put more extrinsic value on certain things. PR agencies spend a lot of time to imbue items or people with "Brand Value". It's been going on forever Johnny Cash is a rebel bad boy . Seasick Steve is a railcar hopping hobo throwback , Richard D. James is a maverick genius, etc.

Humans relate to music contextually, and giving a lot of contextual cues to the originator makes the product have more of this Value to their specific target market.
this is why Bruce Springsteen can charge more than Bryce Springreens. One of these two is a "Brand"

source: I have been sent from space to study you "people" and your ways.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_theory

[Emanresu0891]

source: I have been sent from space to study you "people" and your ways.

Take me with you when you go back... Unless they have three tits.

[beats me]

hahaha, no.
Music has sunk costs for sure, but that's not how it gets priced. It gets priced on "value".
Extrinsic value is abstract, it is outside the product or service and is projected onto it. Concepts like "Bruce Springsteen represents my youth, and that girl I loved, except I never met her, and how I always wanted a Mustang but my damn wife took all my money in the divorce the bitch but I still believe in Americcaaaaaa".

People put more extrinsic value on certain things. PR agencies spend a lot of time to imbue items or people with "Brand Value". It's been going on forever Johnny Cash is a rebel bad boy . Seasick Steve is a railcar hopping hobo throwback , Richard D. James is a maverick genius, etc.

Humans relate to music contextually, and giving a lot of contextual cues to the originator makes the product have more of this Value to their specific target market.
this is why Bruce Springsteen can charge more than Bryce Springreens. One of these two is a "Brand"

source: I have been sent from space to study you "people" and your ways.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_theory

When you put it like that maybe part of it is also determined on if the artist’s demographic is used to paying for music or not.

I think over time with on-demand music services becoming the norm the price of buying music is going to go down overall.

[Angstrom]

For sure it depends on the demographic. I recall dimly that Metal fans pay up more often than most genres. Most likely because they identify strongly with the artists, but also they cannot operate computers.

The issue most musicians have is that entertainment had moved on. There are more socially viable avenues for a young audience to inhabit.

If you ever pay attention to Twitch and watch a gamer "personality" receive a steady and huge flow of tips just for shouting at a screen you'll see there's still money being paid in "entertainment" - but the sense of where the value is has changed.

[beats me]

If you ever pay attention to Twitch and watch a gamer "personality" receive a steady and huge flow of tips just for shouting at a screen you'll see there's still money being paid in "entertainment" - but the sense of where the value is has changed.

I think we’re moving towards a “watch other people do what you could be doing” society. I’m an expert on watching other people using plugins and producing music.

[auto-lock]

If you ever pay attention to Twitch and watch a gamer "personality" receive a steady and huge flow of tips just for shouting at a screen you'll see there's still money being paid in "entertainment" - but the sense of where the value is has changed.

I think we’re moving towards a “watch other people do what you could be doing” society. I’m an expert on watching other people using plugins and producing music.

expert here too.

[doghouse]

It has nothing to do with inefficiency. Lower prices on unknown artists stimulates sales. Established artists will sell regardless of price. Deep catalog releases are sold at low prices (like the Sony "Nice Price" line in the USA) unless it's a premium artist like the Beatles. It's all about setting the price appropriate to the target audience.

[beats me]

It's all about setting the price appropriate to the target audience.

"Due to your loyalty over the years we’re going to charge you a premium for the artists you love so that the kids don’t have to for their favorite artists. You’re welcome."