AudioNervosa

Music Ward => Music Discussion => Topic started by: tmazz on January 03, 2017, 07:04:21 PM

Title: Music Prices
Post by: tmazz on January 03, 2017, 07:04:21 PM

I friend of mine was telling me that he had an  RCA Shade Dog LP that he had purchased in 1959 for $3.75. That got me thinking and  I went the the US Bureau of Labor Statistics web page and pulled up their Consumer Price Index Inflation calculator.

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm)

Well just accounting for inflation alone  $3.75 in 1959 equates to $31.10 today, just a tiny bit shy of the $32 Chad was charging for his Living Stereo QRP reissues before he raised the price to $35 a few months back, which even that is not that much more especially considering that the QRP pressings are 200g vinyl and come in very high quality glossy covers. (I don't know how the $3.75 price compared to other LP prices back then, but I would think that a RCA LSC was pretty much what was considered a premium LP back then.)

Thinking a little further I remembered that I paid $16.98 for my MoFi version of DSOTM back in 1984 (No, I do not have a photographic memory, I have a sealed safety copy with the price sticker still on it, not that this will come as a big surprise to any of you.  :roll: ) This equates $39.44 in 2016 dollars, which is a little higher but still in the same ballpark as what MoFi charges for a single 33/1/3 LP right now.

Looks like the more things change the more they remain the same. (Except of course that you can get the same music today on CDs for considerably less money that their LP counterparts.)

Title: Re: Music Prices
Post by: sleepyguy24 on January 17, 2017, 07:29:21 AM

I think this article relates to Tom's point/findings.

http://www.varietynewsclub.com/2017/01/vinyl-on-track-to-become-billion-dollar.html?m=1 (http://www.varietynewsclub.com/2017/01/vinyl-on-track-to-become-billion-dollar.html?m=1)

From what I'm seeing with current vinyl prices vinyl will be a billion dollar industry. Some of the cheaper LPs are $17 each but others are $30-$40 per LP in physical stores. I don't know who can keep buying these expensive LPs constantly.