Educated Guesswork: November 2003 Archives
Why should the record companies go along with this? A number of reasons. First, it isolates them from risk. If people are buying in bulk without regard to the details of the collections that they’re getting then the record companies don’t have to worry so much about whether a particular album succeeds or fails. Second, it gives them an opportunity to extract more money. The record companies had revenues of about $12 billion in 2002. That’s an average of only about $50/consumer.
So why do consumers have to do all the work here? This doesn’t do much to overturn the stereotypical image of expensively dressed, ponytail wearing blockheads as representatives of the music industry . . . .