I also remember when VHS/Beta videotapes costed between $60-100 per title. This was back in the mid-1980s. I remember wanting to buy my father The Godfather on videotape and it was over a hundred dollars! (I got him socks and underwear instead.)
Now this was during a time when the movie industry thought that videotapes were going to put them out of business. And indeed, many of us bought blank VHS cassettes and taped movies off HBO. I ended up taping about thirty movies this way.
But suddenly the movie industry got a clue and decided that if they couldn't beat them, why not join them? So they dropped the price of pre-recorded videotapes (soon to be followed by DVDs) to where normal people could afford them and suddenly they started selling them in the millions.
How successful was this? It was so successful that box-office bombs turned into profitable hits when released on VHS/DVD for about $10 a pop. It was so successful that box-office hits DOUBLED their revenues overnight on the very first day of VHS/DVD release!
And what about all those movies that we taped off HBO? They are gathering dust up in the attic. Why fuss with a poor quality home-made tape when you can get the real thing with crystal-clear quality and all the bells and whistles (deleted scenes and other extras) for a very reasonable price?
I keep waiting for the day that the recording industry decide to open their own "iTunes" stores and stop ripping off the consumer with these $17.99 CDs. But I am stunned to see that they still apparently insist on continuing on with their doomed "horse and buggy" business model. It's getting to the point now where it is too late for them to recover.
At least it will be fun to watch. Everybody loves to see a train wreck.
I agree with you both. Looking at the iTunes music store things break down this way (or so I've read).
1. 99 cents per song
2. Apple keeps 4 cents per son
3. Music Industry gets 95 cents per song
5. Apple has sold over 500 million songs to date
6. Music Industry has made 475 million dollars (95 cents X 500 million songs.
7. This money is pure profit as they don't have to advertise, produce a CD, make a CD cover including cover art, pay to ship these to a store, etc.
Now who are the greedy bas*ards here? In my opinion 99 cents a track is still too dang high. 99 cents a song is still CD type prices if you break it down by 17 or 18 songs a CD.
Anything else to add?