£13.99

I think the internet and supermarkets have had a big impact on the costs and other retailers have had to lower their prices to compete.

Additionallyy (sort of thinking out loud here) with more and more people buying singles/albums of download sites there might actually be a lot of unsold CD's so prices are lowered to a fiver to shift the excess stock.

tractorboy:

That's how much I paid for a chart CD from Virgin back in 1997. Flicking through some CDs today I noticed one that still had the price sticker (I usually take them off to avoid reminding myself how much I spend...).Now, obviously £13.99 was a lot more 11 years ago than it is now, and these days I wouldn't pay more than 9 quid for a CD, and there are racks and racks of recent releases at a fiver.Why have they come down so much in price? I doubt it's just because the manufacturers / retailers are really nice guys...Any thoughts?

ÿ

I remember very well paying around that £14 mark for Bjork's second album while still being a student in Leeds round that time (95-96 maybe?)...

Anyway, prices have come down. Look no further than: Internet & e-tailers, iPods & such, Broaband at home & piracy. Et voil….

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£13.99 in 1997 is about £16.94 in todays money according to an online inflation calculator

Try the Bank of England calculator here:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/inde...

tractorboy:

Try the Bank of England calculator here:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm

basshound:

According to that £13.99 would now be £19.08 and who am I to argue with the BoE!

tractorboy:

basshound:

According to that £13.99 would now be £19.08 and who am I to argue with the BoE!

Indeed. They are a model of reliability and good economic thinking

Another key reason for prices of CDs falling since the 1990s is,  of course, that they're typically now made in China - cost of manufacturing has decreased significantly (plus the production process itself has become more efficient). Of course now costs have gone up again....

The first CD I remember buying was Brothers in Arms in 1987 for £12. That would be £25.29 today. Amazon.co.uk has it for £4.98.

Music is ridiculously cheap now. That is what I call progress

hammill:

The first CD I remember buying was Brothers in Arms in 1987 for £12. That would be £25.29 today. Amazon.co.uk has it for £4.98.

Music is ridiculously cheap now. That is what I call progress

My first CD was Dark Side Of The Moon and it cost £13. Sad but true. It's really quiet compared to modern cds but the sound quality is fantastic.

basshound:

tractorboy:

Try the Bank of England calculator here: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/inflation/calculator/flash/index.htm

According to that £13.99 would now be £19.08 and who am I to argue with the BoE!

Meanwhile at the Bank, 'excuse me Mr King, but you will not believe what they are using our highly sophisticated inflation calculator for!'

I'm pretty sure the main reason is the reduction in the cost of manufacture and possibly changes to the way record companies receive license revenue (youtube, lastFm, MySpcace, etc).

From a Manufacturing Engineering perspective all manufactured goods have a lifecycle which starts with the product being expensive as manufacturers exploit their scarcity value and try to recoup R&D costs. During the Maturity phase goods reach a peak and plateau with consumers happy paying a certain cost £9.99 in this case. Eventually, the manufacturing process becomes very simple and the equipment cheap (I'm sure you can buy your own CD making kit on eBay) so new companies can start-up and undercut the original creators of the technology. This drives prices downwards and of course the internet helps to make these prices accessible to all. Eventually, the item gets superseded and is only bought by a small number e.g. CRT TVs or Video players which you can still pick up new for about £40. Of course Chinese manufacture has speed up the cost reduction phase.



Obviously things like turntables can blow the theory away since they should be 50p by now
I guess they have changed their target market to mainly high end consumers. If someone brought out the cheapest possible turntable it may well be £12.99

Sorry if that was really boring.....

....92% of ALL on line music is downloaded illegally ...go figure!

ashworth_rich:

I'm pretty sure the main reason is the reduction in the cost of manufacture and possibly changes to the way record companies receive license revenue (youtube, lastFm, MySpcace, etc). From a Manufacturing Engineering perspective all manufactured goods have a lifecycle which starts with the product being expensive as manufacturers exploit their scarcity value and try to recoup R&D costs. During the Maturity phase goods reach a peak and plateau with consumers happy paying a certain cost £9.99 in this case. Eventually, the manufacturing process becomes very simple and the equipment cheap (I'm sure you can buy your own CD making kit on eBay) so new companies can start-up and undercut the original creators of the technology. This drives prices downwards and of course the internet helps to make these prices accessible to all. Eventually, the item gets superseded and is only bought by a small number e.g. CRT TVs or Video players which you can still pick up new for about £40. Of course Chinese manufacture has speed up the cost reduction phase. Obviously things like turntables can blow the theory away since they should be 50p by now I guess they have changed their target market to mainly high end consumers. If someone brought out the cheapest possible turntable it may well be £12.99 Sorry if that was really boring.....

You work for the Bank, go on admit it, don't be ashamed!