Subject: Re: SM Sountracks
From: "Miko" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 20:08:39 -0800

>> > Then came the shocker: even at the con we attended, the other three
guys I was with > > were able to purchase CD's for fifteen bucks a piece!
Who made these CD's you ask? > > Son May.
>
> $15 US!?!??!?! What a rip off!!!! (I thought they sold those things for
>$2.50 -3.00 US ... -_-;)
> ...and you can buy the official version (used...?) around that price...

> ...$35 US for the original (offical) CD...? (brand new...?)... that
>sounds reasonable... (very reasonable in the US....)
> As for T-shirts... aren't those things expensive...? (they costs around
>6800yen around here... ($65 US?)

> ...Some bookstores in Japan (actually, a good deal of them...) started
>to sell CDs, LDs, etc. as well, at retail price... maybe Kinokuniya, in
>the US might be doing it... (selling at acceptable price...?) anyone
>checked on this one...?

Kinokuniya in Seattle sells a lot of CDs, but a price of $35 to $40 is
typical.  Across the street and also two blocks up the street are two places
that sell SonMay CDs for $15.00.

Speaking generally, $15 is a very average price for domestic CDs in the US.
Some places sell new CDs for $17 or more, but frequently "new releases" are
offered for as low as $12 or so.  Used CDs can be had for $7 to $10
depending on where you shop.  In Vancouver BC you can find used CDs for as
low as $6 to $8 Canadian, which  at 1.30 to the US dollar is extremely cheap
for a US citizen.  ^_^

And yet, to the best of my knowledge, CDs are cheaper to produce than vinyl
albumns were.  But the price never really came down to even what vinyl sold
for, as was initially predicted, because people are willing to pay $15 for a
CD.  On the other hand, most US citizens aren't willing to pay $35 for a
single CD, so that makes it easy for SonMay CDs to sell over here.

I know some of that to be true because you can find groups selling their own
CDs through the mail for as little as $12, and that includes postage.  Even
with marketing and all, I think a lot of those music companies must be
raking in money on the CD market.

Just a short and almost completely off-topic rant from a lurker on a subject
near and dear to heart (I own nearly 2,000 CDs)  ^_^

Tee shirts for $65?????  I'd never pay that much!  $12 to $25 is pretty
average in the US, maybe $29 for something with a niche market (I think I
bought a recent Ranma 1/2 tee for $29, I wouldn't have been able to get it
anywhere else for less of course!)

Miko!

"If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes
impossible!" --James McNeill Whistler

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