Atlas Hugged« Fashion and Irony Unite! | Main | in austin and everything after... »
September 7, 2007
reflecting off of your cd
today i made a trip to corporate to show my face around the building - pick up some supplies - and generally catch up on any and all office related gossip i might have been missing out on in the past several months since my last visit. of course i ducked out early because i wanted to hit up the old shopping center on lebanon pike that consumed so much of my petty cash during my misspent youth in nashville. i wandered through marshall's - finding nothing that i could not live without (for the first time in my life i'm coming to the conclusion that i might have just the right amount of clothing. maybe even a little bit too much. especially in the light jacket category) i then decided to head down to the other end of the strip to the used cd store that yielded some decent finds in years past (see an original {not re-released} edition of uncle tupelo's still feel gone and richard buckner's since which directly inspired me to write the song $5.99 because that's exactly how much i spent on that cd.
i browsed the racks pretty carefully but save for richard thompson's street warrior - the one where he allegedly goes electric again with...electric results...i didn't find anything i couldn't live without. i started to pick up the cd to make the purchase but then i turned it over and saw the price tag $9.99 and i placed it immediately back in the rack. with a fair amount of disgust. where do these used cd stores get off? when did it suddenly become socially acceptable to charge more for a recently released cd and/or a classic album by a well regarded artist. it really is outrageous. i distinctly remember complaining about this issue to heidi at one time and she rolled her eyes at me because i was being obtuse. i don't think she actually said that i was being obtuse - nor did i see any eye rolling since the conversation took place over the phone....but it totally happened.
when the used cd market first became a thing the going rate for a used cd was $7.98 and this was top dollar for any and all cd's in good used condition. prices were not scaled based upon popularity of artists and/or bad assery of artwork. pop - rock - heavy metal - alternative - country it was all $7 .98. for albums that were in slightly rougher condition there would be a $4.95 bin and then of course somewhere in the store a $1 bin could be found. i prefer to think of these as the golden days. but sadly those days have long since passed us by. independant and mega record stores alike are closing left and right due to a maelstrom of really bad overpriced pop music the dawning of something ominously known as the digital age which really isn't even that ominous sounding. even if you say it in an ominous voice it's still something of a letdown.
obviously times change - inflation happens and prices increase. it's a part of the glorious capitalism that we as u.s. americans adore. but there are always exceptions to the rule. and the price of compact discs is an excellent example. it would make perfect sense that if the cost of music had increased over the past 10 years the value of that music - even used would increase as well. but the truth is the price of cd's has dropped significantly over the past decade. wal-mart target and amazon (not to mention {ominous voice} apple) have flooded the market with brand new music ranging from $9.99 - $14.99. the average price at a tower or other mega record store was generally $14.99 - $18.99. and sure they would have sales but for the most part you'd have to be nuts to pay those prices especially with the advent of downloadable music whereby any album could be had for roughly $9.99
this being the case i simply cannot wrap my brain around the idea that the gradual decline in new album prices somehow makes used products that much more valuable. i should qualify here and say that the folks running this particular cd store are not necessarily the best or the brightest. on several occasions i came across used cd's and/or dvd's that were more expensive used than they were brand new at the target less than 200 yards away. the same target that they were undoubtedly stolen from in the first place. but by and large it seems the more used places i walk into the more i see this disturbing trend of ever escalating prices. and as much as i love music. and especially as much as i love collecting musical artifacts with artwork and liner notes and whatnot i will simply not abide this kind of outrageousness. even if it means never purchasing another used cd ever again. because that thing i said earlier about too many clothes...i can never have too many cds.
oh - and to all those poor souls who camped out for days on end to buy a $600 i-phone. suckers!!!
| By young_christopher | 7:28 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://atlblogs.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/10078
Comments
Posted by: Nick at September 11, 2007 2:42 PM