If the hardware guys (computers, consumer electronics) can figure out how to cope with price reductions of 10-30%/year, it's time to see the software guys (releasing mostly crappy, lazy "music") get with the program and do the same.
If CDs were $5.99 instead of $15.99 (cost of production: about $1.25 fully packaged in volume) the vastly increased sales due to decreased piracy would result in a much better bottom line. But they really fear the precedent, so are exploring copy protection.
Problem for them, though, is simple: either the protection is cracked, or people just won't buy. Period. They need to learn to compete instead of paying lobbiests in D.C.
Correct! How much of that $15.99 do the musicians see? Unless they have good lawyers, the answer is often zero. There are a handful of star acts that could lose money from people copying CDs, but to let the record companies force travesties like DMCA down our throats is to give up our rights mainly for the benefits of these greedy, corrupt, mafia-infiltrated, tax-dodging, nose candy snorting bufoons.