How much does it cost to make a CD?

Just think of it this way, once in a while you can get a bundle of 25 cdr's for free after a mail in rebate. So how much can it really cost to begin with?

I have no link to back this up, but a couple of years ago I remember reading somewhere that to manufacture a cd it costs about .10 cents. Of course there are other things (printing labels, shippng, etc.) that go into it before we get it.

 

Ive also read that it costs approximately 10 cents per CD. I have no link to back it up though.

 

What a lot of people don't understand is that when you buy a cd from the store, you're not buying a circular piece of plastic...even if the physical compact disc costs nothing to make, the music will ultimately be what you're buying.

I guess one could make analogy with painting. For instance, a canvas might run a few bucks max, but if its a nice painting it could go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Once again, it's not the medium that's important, it's the art.

I despise people who refuse to buy music, and hide behind the weak and tired argument that the record companies charge too much for it. If someone can afford a computer, they can afford a ****in 13 dollar CD.

 

Re: Studio Time

I think most CD's cost $20-25,000. But there are the ones that go $100,000 +

We spent $15,000 on our CD (studio, mastering, duplication)

We charge $10 per CD at shows and $12-$13 on the internet (depends on where you buy it).

 

That's part of the reason good bands get overlooked and this twinkie ass watered down pop crap gets so much run. It's a lot cheaper for somebody to sing over a synthesized, pre-recorded track than to have five guys play actual musical instruments in a studio...

 

Make sure that you mention the fact that it's far cheaper to produce a CD than a casette tape, although the retail prices on CD's are higher. Also, it's my understanding that the cost of producing both has gone down as digital technology has improved -- no more need for a bunch of reel-to-reel master copies.

Also, when looking at the "market price" arguement, the price of CDs should drop over time. A new release should come out at full price, and the price should drop as the music becomes not-so-new. Just like movies, books, cars, etc. That usually doesn't happen.

One interesting aspect to look at would be DVD's. While the price of audio CD's has remained artificially high or increased, the price of DVD's has steadily dropped. New release DVD's have dropped from $30 to $20 and now to the $16 range new. Older movies you can get for $6-10. You can get a feature length motion picture, with all the deleted scenes, 3 languages, 4 kinds of subtitles, and other goodies, cheaper than you can buy the soundtrack.

 

Courtney Love testified in front of Congress about file sharing, the costs of CDs, the treatment of artists by the labels, etc. I vaguely recall that Salon had a transcript of that testimony.

Anyway, you need to add promotional and distribution costs to your list. There is also the "mechanicals", song writing fees.

To bolster your $10 a CD argument, Target sells CDs from newer artists for ~$10. I would be very surprised if labels were losing money at this price. The artists in question may be waving their royalties though.

You should post your paper here when you get done, so everybody can see what you came up with.

 

Here are some link to check out:

http://www.melodicrock.com/industry/industrynotes.html

http://www.melodicrock.com/interviews/theinsiderinterview.html

http://www.melodicrock.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=41

 

This could be a rather complex subject, and it may be difficult to get any reliable figures from the music companies in regard to costs.

If I were writing the paper, I would focus on research that you can do on your own. You could do a survey of your classmates, asking them about how much music they download and how it has affected their buying habits.

I'm sure you could probably find some figures on the internet in regard to number of CDs sold per year. You could take the figures from your survey and compare them to the number of CDs sold over the past few years. Use some nice colorful pie charts and graphs and it should come out great.

 

I cant tell you definitive figures, but when we (the band I used to work for) made our self-produced CD...it costs us well over $25,000 to record and have printed a run of 500 CDs...

Some of the guys I worked with in the industry tell of costs of around a million or better for bands to have their albums recorded and put out small runs of 5000-10000.

rest assured that it costs even more than that for the major acts.

 

Rolling Stone had an article regarding that as the reasonm why the Beatles and Zepplin were not on board with it... Maybe last months issue?

 

OK Nicos, I don't know if you are in high school or college, and I don't know what your teacher is expecting from you. The subject you have picked is interesting, and I would think that there would be some journal articles or newpaper articles dealing with the subject.

I don't know what research tools you have available to you, but when I was in college the school library had online research tools for the students.

When you mention that file sharing affecting sales is VERY MINIMAL, do you have anything to back that up or is this just your opinion. I would guess that the music companies would disagree with you.

If you are unable to find any articles or statistical information for your report, I still think a small survey could be useful. Even If your sample group only included 20 people or so, it could give you some idea how people in your peer group feel about CD prices and file sharing.

You could ask them a few questions such as how often do they download music and what do they think is a fair price for music.

Good luck.

 

We might also note that CD sales were at their peak, when Napster was at its peak. Coincidence?

 

So...is it safe to say that file sharing hurts small time bands and struggling artists that are scraping to put together a production run?


Or is it hurting the big-time radio and concert stars, who pull in millions and millions per ad/concert/memorabillia sale/tour?


And who is more likely to be downloaded?

 

I think file sharing does ultimately affect cd sales. In fact I KNOW it does. It helps sales in a way as well. Take the All American Rejects. I heard Swing Swing, dl'd it from KaZaA, dug their **** and bought the CD. Same goes for Good Charlotte, The Ataris, Wilco, a few others. But there are hundreds of other newer artists that I just yank their **** and don't buy it. Same goes for all of you guys I am sure. And this comes from a guy that is hurt by this practice. It's just too easy and the quality is too good. The onus lies on the record industry and the artists themselves to reinvent themselves and find a new way to make a dime. I know we are trying.

CD's at 10 bones will help. For awhile. But why pay $10 when you can get it for free? We, as an industry, have to get smarter.

There will be some holistic beniefits from P2P music sharing and the digital and technological evolution of music recording.

1. Prices will fall.
2. The best of the best out there will be better than before.
3. The selection will be greater.
4. The posers will disintegrate leaving way for better better product.

We produced Greatest Hit in house for about five ger.

 

Indie artists don't get shared as much as the big time artists. Without promotion, indie artists will also be unknown by most anyway. It is kinda hard to search for artists that you have never heard of.

 

I've heard .20 cents per CD (nothing to back it up either) so some place in between i'm sure. They are making a killng whatever the price is.