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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Frank Black of the Pixies sees a world of $5 albums and downloads
Posted by Joel Weiss on Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 2:28 PM
"Doing a Radiohead." Big-box exclusivity deals. "360" contracts. These and other new business models are side effects of the digital media revolution -- a paradigm shift caused by the MP3. The days of $15 CDs are all but dead. Long live the $10 digital album and the 99-cent single, both still dwarfed by everyone's favorite method of acquiring music: illegal downloading. I think in hindsight, considering the events of the past decade, the recording industry would have been happy for a fractional dip in revenue built into the transition from brick-and-mortar stores to iTunes, but factor in music piracy and the numbers aren't even close.
Bottom line: recorded music is not worth what it used to be, and count Pixies mainman Frank Black among those who understand. In an interview with Britain's NME about his newest project, Grand Duchy, he makes several very interesting points about the devaluation of music:
I think what has to happen is everyone has to get used to making less money and have to charge less money. Everything's got to get cut down to more of a $5 world. People will say, "Oh yeah, I'll pay five bucks to see that or for a T-shirt or a record." I think it's gonna become more of a five-dollar world than a $25 world, $50, or a $150 world.
Perhaps anticipating negative feedback applying the above comments to the Pixies' upcoming Minotaur boxed set (pictured right -- is that male genitalia on the cover?), Black rationalizes:
"I realize to some people I may sound like a hypocrite because the Pixies are getting ready to release a box set. I think the limited edition version retails for [$495]. But that art already exists--the demand for that particular product has been researched by the people putting it out. If people don't buy it, we'll all be fools.
I think Black's key sentiment is here:
"I think everyone should sell whatever product they want to sell for whatever price they want to sell it for, but ultimately the market will dictate what it is and people will have to charge less money for everything. Record companies have been overcharging people for way too long and now this is the trouble that they're in. They created this situation because they were just a little too greedy."
The Pixies are touring Europe this summer - their first shows since 2006. The debut album by Grand Duchy - Black and his wife Violet Clark - is entitled Petit Fours and came out in February.
"Debaser" from T In the Park, 2006
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