Comments on: SaulK’s views on Nokia’s Comes With Music

By: Nicholas Hustler

Nicholas Hustler — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:25:05 +0000

You obviously havn’t been into Musica in a while. Standard cd price is around R169 these days. It’s still a good deal at R100 a cd, plus its the unlimited thing you should really be looking at. But whatever you’ll always find a reason to justify why everyone should do things your way. Which is funny cause they were doing these thing asking you if you wanted in, and you were saying no I don’t want in but I’ll take the spoils anyway. Whatever though. Bless yourself.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:27:00 +0000

SaulK – (1) Long time since I bought a CD; you are right it is closer to R150. BUT my principle remains the same – how do you slash a huge chunk of the supply chain out of the cost structure and yet keep the costs the same(itunes cost model)?
Saulk (2) The argument is not moot as I have now bought a product that I am restricted to use on either one device (the phone you have been given as a freebee to punt) and one PC. Great – how do I transfer to my iPod or my phone gets nicked and I want to transfer the data to a new phone?

Bert – I would pay the artists using exactly the same cost model that allows Nokia to distribute unlimited tracks for R100 per month. As Saulk says, he has downloaded 2 cd’s plus a whole bunch of single tracks for R100 – therefore the music industry in some twisted way is actually agreeing with my contention that the consumer is being ripped of and that there is an alternative financial structure.

And finally – Dcb – I have no problem with paying for music, and will willingly pay to see a live act, buy merchanise, etc, but I have a serious problem with getting ripped off. And that gentlemen is the crux of my argument.

I want to buy a product at a fair price, and be allowed fair use of that product. Easy.

By: Dcb

Dcb — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:04:26 +0000

Jack, If people aren’t willing to pay 100 bucks a month for a phone, some free airtime, some free sms’s and 1 year unlimited music downloads I feel very sorry for the future of the music industry…

By: Nokia's Comes with Music - Introducing people to music! | Moral Fibre Magazine

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:01:49 +0000

[...] (Saul Kropmann) [...]

By: SaulK

SaulK — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:00:16 +0000

Looking at Musica.co.za I see a CD costs between R150 to R180 so I don’t see what you’re on about?

Looking at the Apple iTunes store it’s 99 cents a track which roughly works out the same at 8 bucks at the current exchange rate. As such 10 bucks seems pretty reasonable.

The debate though is moot as we’re talking about the unlimited music downloads option which is frankly a brilliant service considering that it’s actually has a very cheap entry point.

By: Bert

Bert — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:58:37 +0000

Now Jack, while you are dead on concerning the shorter (more profitable) logistical chain, I believe it was said that there is a flat rate of R100 a month… for as many albums as you like. Sounds good to me. Question is, how do profits get distributed to artists in this kind of market?

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:15:42 +0000

Come on – get real. You are being ripped off paying R10 per track. As long as the music industry rips consumers off I will pirate music.

Why do I say we are being ripped off? Simple. Musica/ Look & Listen, etc sell a 14 track CD for R100 – or less than R10 per song. Now I buy a digital song off the internet and wipe out an entire chunk of the logistical chain – No disk(so no production costs), no retail outlet (so no rent), no sales staff (so no salaries), no shrinkage, no stock holding costs, etc, and then the music industry buys off “reporters” to make us believe we are getting a good deal!