By CARRIE KENNINGTON
kennington@du2.byu.edu
Cost of production has kept CD music prices up, but new technologies may change that, music industry representatives said.
Tom Jones of Jones Recording Studio on 1160 S State St in Orem said CD's themselves cost about a dollar, but consumers are paying more because it can cost a lot to record.
Jones said the cost of recording depends on how elaborate the production is.
Recording costs range anywhere from $50 an hour for a project to $20,000 for the whole thing, Jones said.
Even though recording costs haven't gone down, Jones said that CD prices may lower when a new media is produced.
Sara Pratt, manager of CD Warehouse on Brigham's Landing, agrees that CD prices will change.
'It'll probably get cheaper because more people are having the technology to record their own stuff,' she said.
Tommy Cavalier, a singer with J-Bird Records, has a different idea of why CD prices will fall. Cavalier said Internet competition is what will drive CD retail prices down.
Cavalier said CDs are cheap on the Internet.
'CDs have cost so much in the past because during production CDs change hands so many times,' said Cavalier.
First, he said, a band goes to a recording studio and is charged for their session. This covers the cost of equipment in the studio and the recording room, the engineer, the master copy and any safety copies. The master CD then goes to a manufacturer for duplications, then to a distributor who sells them to retail stores. The costs of managers, CD jacket art and advertising all has to be paid for as well, Cavalier said.
'They all make a good living off CDs,' Cavalier said.
Cavalier said after leaving a recording company an individual CD may be marked up between $4 to $6. After leaving the manufacturer, each CD may cost as much as $8 to $9. When sold to the retailers, it is again marked up a few more dollars to sell to the consumer, Cavalier said.
Most bands don't make very much money after all the costs are taken care of, and that's why CD prices have stayed the way they are for so long, said Cavalier.
'Cheaper alternatives lay in independent recording companies,' Cavalier said. Companies like www.jbirdrecords.com offer smaller bands more attention and more opportunity to make money, hopefully bringing CD prices down, he said.
Richard Olsen, music card company distributor at Teleservices Internet Group, offers another explanation as to why CD prices are marked up so high.
'Record labels sign 50 bands and pay them 'x' amount of money,' Olsen said, 'but only one or two bands will actually sell enough albums.'
Olsen said record companies' solution is to raise prices on each CD they sell to cover costs of those that don't sell as many.
'They never know which band will be the next one to have a big hit,' he said.
A cheaper alternative to retail CDs, Olsen said, is to purchase them via the Internet. Olsen said CDs at a Web site can be purchased at $10.99 each with a club card, new or used.
'We may lose a little money on the new CD sales, but the used sales cover the costs,' he said.
Olsen said their concept has been received very well by the public because it is convenient to buy over the Internet and they have a bigger selection.
With more and more people buying music over the Internet, Olsen said, eventually the channels of distribution will change to digital downloads, which will also cause lower CD prices.