67 ms·

I do want to pay per album, per movie, per game, per book, etc. I just want to pay 1/5th of the current cost. Distribution is now free, so why are we still pay

• wtvanhest 14y ago
  Because, the price isn't determined by cost. Each artist is its own Monopoly, so pricing is determined by what people will pay for access to that monopoly product. There are plenty of artists who are coming up who charge much less.
  • smarsh 14y ago
    Then perhaps piracy is an indicator that the pricing is considered too high, above the threshold at which a potential customer decides to either not buy it or pirate it. The question then is how the ability to pirate affects that "reasonable price" threshold, amongst other hard to quantify effects of piracy.
    • wtvanhest 14y ago
      Then perhaps piracy is an indicator that the pricing is considered too high, above the threshold at which a potential customer decides to either not buy it or pirate it. For some customers it is absolutely too high so they resort to piracy. For others, it is the correct price or even too low. In a perfect world, the seller could use your income to determine price (or some other even better metric for what you are willing to pay) and charge everyone differnet amounts. Very wealthy people would pay huge amounts, impoverished people would pay very low amounts, maybe even nothing. The question then is how the ability to pirate affects that "reasonable price" threshold, amongst other hard to quantify effects of piracy. I imagine it pushes the price down slightly, but who knows if the record companies are acting rationally (pricewise) or could even predict the correct price they should charge to max profit. (I imagine they have some very smart people modeling pricing, but models can only get you so close).
• cageface 14y ago
  I want the product of whatever it is you do for a living, but at 1/5th of the price you're wiling to sell it for. Ok?
  • debacle 14y ago
    Right now the industry is doing the equivalent of adding an 18% gratuity to a take-out order. Only there's no effort on their side to take your order, and it's way more than 18%.
    • cageface 14y ago
      If you disagree with their business practices then boycott them and use your money to support alternatives. Stealing their stuff just empowers them to get dumb laws passed.
      • daenz 14y ago
        Supporting piracy is supporting an alternative. Piracy along with donating directly to the artist seems to be a great solution for many consumers that I know personally. > Stealing their stuff just empowers them to get dumb laws passed. Theft is the removal of ownership. It's not stealing, it's copying.
      • bediger4000 14y ago
        Infringement is not theft. Even narrowly legally, and certainly not morally or ethically. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowling_v._United_States_%281985%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowling_v._United_States_%28198... However, strict ideas of "Intellectual Property" can constitute suppression of freedom of speech. That's a principle we can all get behind. "Intellectual Property" is at least moderately un-American.
        • cageface 14y ago
          That's a bunch of self-justifying sophistry. Let me guess - you either don't write software for a living or you're lucky enough to write the kind of software that can't easily be copied?
• moron 14y ago
  No shit you want to pay 1/5th of the current cost. Everyone wants to pay 1/5th the current cost of everything, all the time. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Things like music are not priced according to how much it costs to deliver to you.
• rprasad 14y ago
  Because good editors and typesetters cost money, just like good programmers and designers. The marginal cost of printing a book is in the pennies because the cost is spread out over millions of books (across multiple titles). Materials only add a dollar or two more in costs. The majority of the cost of a book is in fixed costs prior to printing, i.e., proofreading. Moreover, distribution costs real money (unless you also own the pipes).