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Post by ManicKangaroo on Jul 6, 2004 22:47:36 GMT 1
This article was printed in the Guardian yesterday
Luke Harding in Berlin
Monday July 5, 2004
The Guardian
A media conglomerate yesterday announced that it intended to sell cut-price and "luxury" versions of the same CDs to try to halt the decline in record sales.
Faced with rampant piracy and the phenomenal popularity of musical downloads such as Apple's iTunes, the German company Bertelsmann will offer three different versions of its CDs in its home market from August.
The no-frills version will look virtually identical to a pirate copy, with only the title printed directly on the disc. It will cost €9.99 - about £6.70. The regular version will cost €3 more. It will include a cover and lyrics. A "luxury" version with additional material and video clips will cost €17.99.
"The music industry has sat motionless on its backside for far too long," Maarten Steinkamp, the head of Bertelsmann's BMG record label in Germany, told Der Spiegel magazine yesterday. Record labels have lost a third of their sales in Germany since 2000. BMG hopes that its initiative will increase sales by up to a quarter.
"The cheap version will look the same as one burned at home ... it's our anti-piracy CD," Mr Steinkamp said.
There is unprecedented turmoil in the industry. BMG, the world's fifth-largest record label, is preparing to merge with the music arm of Sony - which plans to sell its own cheap CDs from the autumn, Der Spiegel reported yesterday.
Apple's European launch of iTunes last month saw 800,000 songs sold in a week. Some 700,000 songs are available for 70p, or 99c, each.
Last night Mr Steinkamp admitted he wasn't sure that his initiative would work. But he said changes in technology meant it was absurd to keep sticking labels on CDs saying "Don't Steal Music".
"It would be better for us to write, 'Thanks a lot for buying something from us,'" he said.
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Post by Admin on Jul 6, 2004 23:05:45 GMT 1
£6.99 for a crappy cd :(I'll just get em from cd wow thanks.
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Post by artakke on Jul 7, 2004 12:34:35 GMT 1
It SUX, for once its just that they want money from the fans cos they will buy all 3 albums  |
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Post by ManicKangaroo on Jul 7, 2004 13:28:09 GMT 1
I can't see that happening
surely no fan would buy the cheapest option
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Post by artakke on Jul 7, 2004 13:49:20 GMT 1
We have to see what it will look like but it will be a collectors item...  When will they take into effect anyway? OOOOOOOOPS just read August  |
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Post by ManicKangaroo on Jul 7, 2004 17:19:51 GMT 1
I guess it will become a collectors item if they don't catch on
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Post by artakke on Jul 11, 2004 1:31:38 GMT 1
lmao def  |
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When will they take into effect anyway? OOOOOOOOPS just read August 
