MPEG4

[jdm at synthcom.com]

At 12:55 PM 4/17/98 -0700, Kurt Dwight Bleach wrote:

>> Why is it that an average CD costs 85 cents to make, yet popular titles
>> on CD retail for $16.95? And that's US prices! $20-25 in the UK.....
>
>Well, you could factor in hundreds of thousands of dollars in studio
>costs, marketing, promotions, tour support and overhead, amortized
>across the cost of each unit, and that gets you pretty close to the
>wholesale cost. Not to mention the millions invested in acts that never
>sell a copy, recouped through the very few acts that do actually make
>it. 

But what your equation does not include is that cassettes cost more to
manufacturer than CDs (for many years now), yet CDs still sell for $4-5 more
than cassettes.  

I'm not going to touch the other comments on the inadequacies of the major
label record distribution system.  Way off topic.  Do what you can to keep
the RIAA from turning the Net into a DIY-unfriendly environment (which they
would love to do).

JDM