http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080302/media_nm/walmart_dc

Wal-Mart stirs CD pricing pot with multi-tiered plan

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The major music companies have been resistant to lowering their price on CDs, but now they may be dragged to that point: Wal-Mart, the largest retailer of music with an estimated 22 percent market share, has proposed a five-tiered pricing scheme that would allow the discounter to sell albums at even lower prices and require the labels to bear more of the costs.

According to sources, the Wal-Mart proposal would allow for a promotional program that could comprise the top 15 to 20 hottest titles, each at $10. The rest of the pricing structure, according to several music executives who spoke with Billboard, would have hits and current titles retailing for $12, top catalog at $9, midline catalog at $7 and budget product at $5. The move would also shift the store's pricing from its $9.88 and $13.88 model to rounder sales prices.

I am definately for this. I think this is a main reason why the music industry is falling down the drain. People complain that catalog sales are in the dump, but hell... if a CD that was huge in 1995 is still retailing for the same price today it was selling for in 1995, something is wrong with that.

The DVD (and likely Blu-Ray will follow suit after it catches on more) market thrives because catalog titles go down lower and lower. You never see Circuit City or Best Buy having a $3.99 sale on CD's that were popular and out 3-4 years ago, but you sure see it with DVD's. Older albums just don't look attractive at the price they try to sell them for, because the DVD market has shown how much you can boost sales if you drop the price once it's sold all it's going to at one level. I'd be hardpressed to name one DVD that came out in 1999-2000 that is still on the market that hasn't come down in price a tad. But yet there are countless cd's that came out at the same time who still retail for what it retailed for eight years ago, and the industry wonders why it doesn't sell better?

Say what you want about Wal-Mart but I think they have the best intentions and this is possibly the best way to revive physical CD sales, because you just can't persuade someone to spend $15 on a cd that cost $15 in 1993, price is supposed to depreciate in time, it does so with DVD's.

That's why I purchas alot of my CD's at the Hastings store because alot of the older CD's are used but still good and they have those at lower prices. I think this is a smart thing for wal-mart to do I am all for it too