THE BUSINESS 2008

In the current issue of ROCK N REEL magazine (May/June 2008), Ted Carroll voices support for Charlie Mc Creevy's new bill before the European Parliament which will give artists further protection of their rights. Carroll insists that such musicians who, up to now, have not got their just rewards for selling what they have copyright over, deserve better. I think that it is a move which everybody who wants fair play in the music industry couldn't fail to support and Mc Creevy's initiative should be welcomed.

The above looks at the music industry from the perspective of the artist and record company executives. I believe that , as a consumer and also as someone who also has retail experience in the music business, the ordinary consumer has had to carry the burden of having to pay what I would say are exorbitant prices for a long while now.I have ,over 20 years, experience of buying records (latterly CD's) and I can tell you the cost to the consumer has risen consistently over the years. It is now not uncommon to have to pay over E20 for an album. Of course you could say that that is in line with inflation, but they are still quite expensive. However from the retail point of view there are tariffs that have to be paid and this can certainly add up, not to mention the rent and other overheads that all music retail outlets have to incur. Many record shops in my hometown have had to shut down over the past few years and I see the remainder of stores struggling.

The reason for these woes? simple, the Internet! People are communicating at a very swift rate by computer these days and many simply don't have the time or money to buy CD's (LP's are different and I'll be discussing them later). Why go to the bother of paying in the region of E20 for a CD in a shop in 2008 when you can download music for a lot less and filter down only the particular tracks you want to listen to. Downloading has revolutionised the industry worldwide and as a result the chain stores like HMV, Tower and Zavvi are now being squeezed. In my view the stores I mentioned would perform better sales if they had less expensive stock. In the 1980's, when I was at school, I can remember that the average LP would cost about IR£8.99 whilst an average bootleg would cost around IR£4.50 - half the price! No wonder my teenage mates had amassed a load of tapes. Of course the sound quality was usually poor and would bear no resemblance to the original article, but the point was they were LESS EXPENSIVE, a fact that always fails to get mentioned by the industry big- wigs.

As well as getting direct contact with the consumer, the Internet is a good way of bypassing greedy record companies who are always trying to turn up a buck - look at the way major labels pick up and spit out so many bands in the speed of an RPM. For years these companies were beating a jolly path to the bank. I was in HMV recently and spied a copy of "Ramonesmania"(a 30 track compilation of the Ramones best known work) going for E25.When I asked why it was on sale for E8.99 elsewhere the assistant failed to give me a coherent answer - all that can be avoided by logging on. Compilations are very hard to sell from my experience behind the counter, yet they are on sale at a high rate of pay in most outlets.As well as being involved as a consumer and also as an assistant in a record shop, I have had a stall at a number of Record Fairs. CD's are the hardest to sell to the public even at quite low prices however the Record Fair is where you will see vinyl selling regardless of whether they are rare or not. Whilst CD sales continue to slump, the humble LP will always have a good chance of selling at a Record Fair.

Finally I should say that what has led me to put finger-tip to keyboard is my anger about the prices for CD's these days. I think that it is generally well known that certain record labels are more scrupulous than others and I find in the main that CD's with a lot of sleeve notes, written by consultants who know what they are talking about as well as a good sleeve design certainly deserve the asking price. These labels include: Bear Family, Ace, Rhino, Raven, Trojan, Blood + Fire, Honest Jon's, Blue Note, Ninja Tune, Rough Trade, Estrus, Crypt... they all have they're heart in the right place and treat the music on their rosters with due diligence. They may charge a high rate for their product but quality is the name of the game and some of the compilations that they put out are at a budget price. However there is also so much released at very expensive prices and I think that, as quality clearly matters (to all the above labels), the people buying such releases should be entitled to a greater proportion of budget recordings being made available. That would be one way of turning listeners away from the monitor and getting them to switch on their stereos once more!