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Time For More On The CD

   The music business is experiencing a recession where record sales are
reaching all-time lows. All record companies have in the last few years
experienced a considerable decrease in sales. Finding the cause or causes
of this has naturally become a major concern for all of them.
   Some blame the recession in the West in general, but that can hardly
explain why one industry is losing out so much more than others.
   Music today is less from the heart than it used to be only ten years
ago. It is mostly a purely commercial product to be used up and thrown
away. A lot of modern music has a short but intense life span. People are
not prepared to pay as much for a 'disposable' product as they are for a
'reusable'. The hit song of the week is fed to us all through radio and TV
so intensely that we need not buy the record. And when it is no longer
broadcasted no one remembers it.
   Attempts to change this and promote more quality, depth and originality
in music have not been very successful. The whole entertainment business
is ruled by trends and, quality seems to have gone out of style
   To simply lower the price of a CD is a commonly suggested solution,
naturally advocated by the buyers. But no business favors such a remedy.
Not only since it reduces their income but also because it sends out the
wrong signals to people. It gives the impression that the product is worth
less and that the customers have been charged too much before. And if the
price can drop by ten per cent this year people might expect it to drop
another ten per cent next year.
   A better settlement could be enhancing the product and giving people
more for their money. Thanks to modern technology there can be so much
more included on a CD than just music. A computer with a CD-ROM drive,
which is becoming quite common, allows us to read several different kinds
of information off a CD. A short interview with the artist or 'behind the
scenes' features can be included as so called 'Quicktime movies'. Lyric
sheets, discographies, extensive biographies and even sheet music can
also be added easily. Text files have such small memory requirements
compared to sound that the Bible can be stored in less space than a normal
length song! There have already been several Cds released which include a
lot of this, maybe it is time to make it a standard feature.
   Since the Internet is also becoming more available to the public
several artists have got their own homepage with news and up to date
information. These homepages could be elaborated considerably and come to
include games and interactive programs. Such programs may let you make
your own mix of your favorite song and you could also download sound
samples, or MIDI files which will play on a keyboard plugged into your
computer.
   The most interesting parts of these homepages could be made available
to 'fans only'. To access it you would need an application program or hard
disk authorization available only on the CD. If the customers start
visiting the home page more frequently the record companies also have an
excellent opportunity to market miscellaneous merchandise and even other
artists. That would be extremely desirable in times of a decreasing market.

   If people feel they are paying too much for a CD and the price cannot
be lowered there is only one solution: the product must be enhanced! In
order for record companies to survive into the next century it is time for
them to evolve.

Word Count: 584