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Vignoble @ Co.
Site Admin

Age: 64
Joined: 02 Feb 2007
Posts: 9160
Location: The Netherlands

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Posted:
Sat Jan 09, 2010 2:18 pm Ian Boddy talks about "Time" in Music (EMP # 2) |
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corporation
Very Cool Member

Joined: 09 Apr 2007
Posts: 195
Location: Darwin, Australia

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:10 am (No subject) |
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Nice interview. I think MusicZeit has made a lot of positive progress, although since its inception a lot has changed in online music distribution (and digital distribution in general). Recent trends indicate that people are doing better with lower price points that shift more units. There's a certain trigger point below which a product becomes "pocket change" and the purchaser thinks "what the hell" and buys it. The higher the price, the more people hover uncertainly over the buy button. Speaking personally, I'd like to see MusicZeit allow artists to set lower prices than they currently do for both EPs and albums. Many consumers see iTunes as being a little too expensive, and they're perhaps not the best role model anymore. I'd be more progressive, and give the artists greater flexibility while still maintaining a minimum price point that allows the service to function. With many more artists on the site compared with two years ago, surely a little more risk is possible?
_________________ http://www.myspace.com/crocodilecorporation
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modulator_esp
One of the Coolest Member

Age: 56
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Posts: 2499

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:37 pm (No subject) |
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I'd agree with you Adam that prices do seem a bit high, I'd be much more prepared to take a chance on stuff if it was cheaper, as unlike a CD, with a download there is no resale value.
_________________ adventures in sound
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RemoteViewing81
One of the Coolest Member

Joined: 04 Feb 2007
Posts: 1707
Location: Minnesota

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:19 pm (No subject) |
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VCO1
One of the Coolest Member

Joined: 03 Feb 2007
Posts: 2417

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:47 pm (No subject) |
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« modulator_esp » wrote:
(...)as unlike a CD, with a download there is no resale value.
Very good point, which I never took into consideration myself so far. But absolutely true. From a pure economical point of view a download is pretty much worthless the moment you buy it. Whilst a cd keeps at least some value, in most cases.
Come on guys... these download prices really must go down!
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ianboddy
Very Cool Member
Age: 65
Joined: 11 Jan 2009
Posts: 197

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:55 pm (No subject) |
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Guys,
Question/Answer number 3 deals with this. It's a small market - we're not iTunes sized. We have a lot of fixed costs. If the prices came down we wouldn't make any money and would have to shut down Musiczeit.
We offer a better product (better sound quality + artwork) than iTunes and most other download services for the niche market we all love. It's that simple really !!
Cheers,
Ian
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ech3
Even more Cool Member
Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 332
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

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Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 10:08 pm (No subject) |
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From a US point of view, MusicZeit is a fantastic bargain.
If I had to order some of the titles on CD (including shipping/handling) from Europe the cost would likely be double what MusicZeit charges.
And that would put many titles above the buy/no buy threshold.
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rattymouse
Very Cool Member
Age: 57
Joined: 19 May 2008
Posts: 158
Location: Shanghai, China

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:35 am (No subject) |
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« VCO1 » wrote:
« modulator_esp » wrote:
(...)as unlike a CD, with a download there is no resale value.
Very good point, which I never took into consideration myself so far. But absolutely true. From a pure economical point of view a download is pretty much worthless the moment you buy it. Whilst a cd keeps at least some value, in most cases.
Come on guys... these download prices really must go down!
Lower prices, or MusicZeit goes out of business. Take your pick.
_________________ Tangerine Dream Fan Forum! http://tangerinedream.myfreeforum.org/
By a fan, for the fans.
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rattymouse
Very Cool Member
Age: 57
Joined: 19 May 2008
Posts: 158
Location: Shanghai, China

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:38 am (No subject) |
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« ech3 » wrote:
From a US point of view, MusicZeit is a fantastic bargain.
If I had to order some of the titles on CD (including shipping/handling) from Europe the cost would likely be double what MusicZeit charges.
And that would put many titles above the buy/no buy threshold.
Totally agree! For slightly more than $11 I can have an EM album, and have it instantly. Each Tangerine Dream album I buy from Eastgate comes with an **$11** shipping charge.
I simply cannot believe the whiners that $11 is too much for an album. Christ, before downloads showed up, a hard CD cost $18 or more here in the US.
Prices have come down, waaaay down.
It is time to support the artists folks. MusicZeit is NOT EMI, Sony, or any other big corporate record label.
_________________ Tangerine Dream Fan Forum! http://tangerinedream.myfreeforum.org/
By a fan, for the fans.
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member

Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:23 am (No subject) |
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+++++MZ filled a niche at the right time with an excellent service+++++
As an access portal, it opened a world of new & long gone releases we would have never heard otherwise.
There must be some minimum cost control otherwise it will be chaos & the end of it all.
I mentioned this before, US always had the lowest prices for everything.
That kind of marketing strategy made the US more of an anomaly than a reference.
I agree there is no resale value in a file nor is there any collectible element, always an issue with this.
But what's it to be:
Ignore downloads and never hear certain things, or try to adapt and accept it as another "media format" .
_________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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rattymouse
Very Cool Member
Age: 57
Joined: 19 May 2008
Posts: 158
Location: Shanghai, China

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 3:26 am (No subject) |
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« phaedra2008 » wrote:
I mentioned this before, US always had the lowest prices for everything.
That kind of marketing strategy made the US more of an anomaly than a reference.
.
I dont get your point here. MZ charges US$11 for a FLAC album. This is a huge discount to what we normally paid for albums before downloads. If you are in the EU, and you state that albums there are more expensive than in the US, then the discount is even greater.
Seems like everyone wins with MZ.
_________________ Tangerine Dream Fan Forum! http://tangerinedream.myfreeforum.org/
By a fan, for the fans.
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member

Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:51 am (No subject) |
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Nothing to do with MZ which works pefectly, as stated a few lines above.
Kind of getting fed up with some speculating artists/distributors incomes and referencing US "cheaper" prices.
My point was suggesting that people consider global prices when buying products globally.
Some just seem to want more for less.
I buy stuff from all over the place, amazon US ships a CD to Oz for $7, amazon.de has a flat rate of 14 Euros for the same thing, and on it goes.
It is a choice people have to make and should not be expecting the the best, bigest, fsatest, etc at cheaper prices.
More to the point, I see little sense in these cost comments and the polite countercomments, examples: someone walks into a shop, the product's on the shelf with a price tag: take it or leave it,
or, argue with BMW why a 335i is 15% cheaper in the US than Germany, UK 10% more than Germany, or in my case here in Oz, twice as much as the US...
_________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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corporation
Very Cool Member

Joined: 09 Apr 2007
Posts: 195
Location: Darwin, Australia

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:58 am (No subject) |
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« ianboddy » wrote:
Question/Answer number 3 deals with this. It's a small market - we're not iTunes sized. We have a lot of fixed costs. If the prices came down we wouldn't make any money and would have to shut down Musiczeit.
Fair enough Ian, but my comments were prompted by the fact that MusicZeit is not unique these days. Other services like Bandcamp arguably offer a better service for musicians: FLAC and other formats, better reporting tools, and the ability to set any price for individual tracks and/or albums. What brings me back to MusicZeit is the fact it concentrates on the EM genre and it's easier to find new releases of interest to me, but it's not necessarily the cheapest distribution channel out there anymore. I hope this focus on EM, its clear strength, is enough to keep it going.
Don't take these comments the wrong way. I'm a big supporter of MusicZeit and I love it, but frankly I'm more curious about where you see it going in the face of online distribution trends.
_________________ http://www.myspace.com/crocodilecorporation
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ianboddy
Very Cool Member
Age: 65
Joined: 11 Jan 2009
Posts: 197

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:35 am (No subject) |
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Guys,
Well it's nice to have some positive views coming through but I'm a little "depressed" that there's so much focus on price. This is not and should not be the main focus of what we provide at MusicZeit. We have designed a good service that works very well and certainly serves our EM community better than anywhere else. It's a shop - walk in (virtually), look around and if you see something you like buy it - or not! Sure there's other services and like being in a shop on the high street it's your call whether to buy elsewhere or not (although many of the tiles we stock are exclusives).
Please remember as well we built MusicZeit for the musicians as much as for the customers. Many of them appreciate the fact that their albums can't be bought piece-meal track by track. In our genre albums often flow as a continuous suite of music and for many of them this was an anathema. And yes this does buck the industry trend. The fact that we also offered them instant access to their own log-in area, FLAC files, full cover artwork and the ability to set their own prices (subject to this much talked about minimum) are all seen by many as big plus points.
So happy that you're discussing things I raised in my interview but come on guys let's get off this price hook thing. You have to realise what it is you're actually buying when you purchase some music on whatever format it arrives in. I mean you wouldn't pay for a CD case with cover and a blank CDr in now would you - it's the music you're buying And some of what you pay for goes back to the artist - the less you pay the less the artist gets.
It's really all a balance between providing a service that works commercially and provides a service that people want/like.
Anyhow enough for now - I need to go and write some music
Cheers,
Ian
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phaedra2008
One of the Coolest Member

Age: 66
Joined: 09 Aug 2009
Posts: 4035

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Posted:
Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:03 pm (No subject) |
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Well said Ian,
the cost topic seems to hijack just about every MZ related thread.
If it is such a sticky point, someone should open a new thread dedicated to cost, any cost from anywhere.
That way we can focus on the artistic side of things.
I did not amass 4000 CD's and 1000 LP's over 28 years bargain hunting.
Living @ the ar2e end of the known universe, meant, everything had 2 come from somewhere, I had no negotiating options about post or anything.
The only choice I had was carrying on or stop....that choice still exists today.
I am now close to 200 flac downlaods.
Thank you MZ et Co, and, do what is needed to be there 5 years from now.
_________________ Imagination is more important than knowledge
Albert Einstein
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