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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2003)
six THE BAIT/ ■ATION THE BATTALION 9 A Friday, September 5, 2003 ersit) Universal slashes CD prices ahead L By Alex Veiga THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ’s editions. “Whc copies of the ong know. tman District Atto 'rest, in an inter ■ LOS ANGELES ■niversal Music Group, whose ■ster of artists includes 50 lent, U2 and Elton John, will , cut the price of its wholesale " Cl s and push for a $ 12.98 retail 11 ’ ' l|saiss I * 1C ^ «p on its discs to woo music any, criminal fans back into record stores, applicable to a ban: 1 The world’s largest recording iBmpany hopes retailers, who istrict attorneyhave suffered as industry-wide try to seek Di>: lusic sales dropped 31 percent le last three years, will follow its lead and pass on the savings to consumers. I Universal hopes the actual Itail price of most of its CDs lill end up about $10 or less, comparable to the $9.99 retail price that music fans enjoyed in le early 1990s, at the height of a price war between the record ing companies. I “Our new pricing model lill enable U.S. retailers to offer music at a much more appealing price point in com- fcrison to other entertainment products,” said Jim Urie, presi- Bent of Universal Music & ■ideo Distribution. “We are confident this pricing approach Bill drive music fans back into Itail stores.” I If retailers also drop their prices, Universal’s move would lake CDs more competitive Bith online services. I It was not immediately clear Bow retailers would respond to the move. Company officials said they had not discussed the pricing strategy with retailers, ^ho would be notified formally i Thursday. Kevin Milligan, vice president merchandising at Torrance, alif.-based record retailer Iherehouse Entertainment Inc., stiid he had not received notice from Universal, but that in gener- B. the move is good news for Consumers. | “Whether it will ultimately be good news for retail? I think CD prices may soon drop Universal Music Group, the world’s largest recording company, is slashing the suggested retail price of its CDs to $12.98 beginning Oct. 1 in an effort to boost sales. Average suggested retail price of a CD CDs shipped from record companies to retailers* $22 <>-$21.50 20 % 15 $15.00 m his home stale formal extrai request was sc Maryland (f Robert Ehriidi. Baylor cotnr. members earlic the audiotapes { other infonra: from their ime\ tiofl would be & available to loci, officers to deir whether any i were broken. "Baylor a what Baylor *> ^tid See rest lal Cote n and ir 10 5 0 CDs were first introduced in 1983 1.0 billion .8 .6 .4 .2 83 •02 0 •83 ’02 *Net after returns; includes direct markets such as music clubs and other special markets. SOURCE: Recording Industry Association of America Forrester Research, Inc. V coni rnt Roben S Ktsketball prx, »n ib;tt ion. Be o evidence Detention Cenii l. He faces a i laity of life impi on vie ted. after hem lence of pay counts of Denncli ormer player, res® le told campus in's his role in impn 1 -ments. hy’s disappearanct , and the naming a “person of infei; ise. prompted ime f Bavlor and its bast it’s still up in the air,” he said. Officials at the National Association of Recording Merchandisers did not return calls Wednesday. Officials at EMI, BMG and Warner Music Group declined to comment; Sony Music Group officials could not be reached. Universal’s current whole sale price for a CD album is $12.02, with a manufacturer suggested retail price of $18.98. Under the new pricing structure, the wholesale price would be $9.09. The wholesale price for CDs by a handful of performers, including Eminem and Shania Twain, would be about a dollar more, said Jim Urie, president of Universal Music & Video Distribution. The company also said it would cut wholesale prices on cassettes and change the sug gested retail price to $8.98. Latin recordings and multiple disk packages or CD box sets would not be included in the pricing change. The price changes would go into effect by Oct. 1. The decision to cut prices underscores how badly the industry has been hurting, said Josh Bemoff, an analyst with “That’s basically saying ‘we give up’,” Bemoff said. Revenue from album sales has declined from $14.6 billion in 1999 to $12.6 billion in 2002, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, a trade group that rep resents the largest recording companies. The recording industry blames its sales slump largely on illegal music swapping over peer-to-peer networks and is expected to take legal action against hundreds of suspected file-swappers this month. But industry critics say the record companies have, for more than a decade, ignored the effects of soaring CD prices on sales. They also contend the artistic quality of music has deteriorated. “This is something that the industry has failed to address ... You could make downloading music go away tomorrow and the industry would still face challenges,” said Sean Baenen, managing director of Odyssey, a consumer marketing research firm in San Francisco. “All the data suggests that quality and price are major fac tors to the equation.” Nsf Om tee tf Its Snell! * SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 7th % 2-6 PM IntbeMSC M Questions? Call 845-1515, and ask for the ED of Marketing MonI/ifompthq? Visit http;//macopenhou»e.tamu.edu I (3) myWebCT Beginning of Semester Help is available at the following locations: Sept3, 1:30 - 3:30pm Blocker Sept 3, 5:00 - 7:00pm SCC Sept 4, 8:30 - 10:30am SCC Sept 5, 10:30am - 12:30pm West Campus Sept 8, 9:00 - 11:00am Blocker Sept 9, 2:30 - 4:30pm West Campus Sept 9, 5:00 - 7:00pm SCC Sept 10, 1:30 - 3:30pm SCC Drop by any time during the above hours icy landing helicopter was h»’ Dm a North Texas i the landing pad- shattered the cops Medical Center . Jesse Garcia di': ‘knew he was haf . So as a lastefW ad" edic and a nurse P o respond to an en a request and the? f the building, hee< are very thankful t lid. om for neck andd d landing." Alive! ng your to the DOLLAR DAY BACK! ALL WHOLES ARE *3.00 (except #20 - $ 4.00) ALL HALVES ARE *1.50 (except #20 - $ 2.00) OPEN TILL 3 A.M. IONITE! OUTTA Lib: i a* D bout the dation please 8193 Ddu/studentfoundatiot Open House i-5pm Hours: Sun.-Wed.‘til 10 p.m.,Thurs.-Sat.‘til 3 a.m. 301- A College Main, Located directly in front of the northgate parking garage 846-8593
