Mother Russia, What Happened!?!

First there were instruments.  Then there was the phonograph.  Then came the tape-reel, followed by the vinyls, the 4 and then 8 tracks, cassette tapes, CD's, minidisk, and finally, Justin Timberlake...er...Shawn Parker.  Napster kicked off the digital age of music that was led by the underlying consumer sentiment that if content were delivered digitally and essentially free of shipping and transportation costs, then it would cost less, sell more, and create a more efficient entertainment consumer as the concept was extrapolated over different media.  But the Old Reich still reigned, though not for long.

The old school entertainment industry has kept the price of a new album, regardless of the method in which it was played, at a range of $10-$20 for at least my entire life.  When content wasn't as diverse, plentiful, or easily accessible, that price point made plenty of sense, as there was essentially a price markup for convenience and access (which touches on the 'convenience fees' charged by oligopolistic industries today, but those fees are unreasonable, given the fact that there is no cost to the provider of the 'convenience.'  Those fees are simply fees just to do business with those industries and are, in my mind, criminal).  But today, you can go to one of thousands of websites that sell audio content for download, Big Box retailers that carry the physical CDs, and any number of boutiques or resellers for those trying to find more rare content.

It is this consumer-based interest that has had me scratching my head over the iTunes store for a good six years, now.  $.99-$1.29 per digital song download equates to $14.85-$19.35 per 15 track average album, of which the consumer receives no physical product, no artwork, and did not require any shipping, packaging, or shelving cost to the distributor.  This never added up to me.  Recently, Amazon's mp3 division has made great strides, and their Cyber Week deals this past holiday season allowed for many album prices under the $5 price point.  Amazon almost made a convert of me, except that was only a 1 week promotion, when it should be the standard.

Since 2005, I have used the site GoMusicNow (http://www.gomusicnow.com/), a Russia-based music e-tailer that sells its content online for $.15 per track, and adds a 10% discount to album purchases.  Yes, that means I'm used to paying less than $3 for a digital album, which is a fair price point, considering all of the extra costs the distributor doesn't incur, and the lack of physical product that the consumer receives.  Additionally, as the Web is Worldwide, content can proliferate with greater ease, and potential markets can be opened much faster than before, so potential revenue streams are much more open-ended.

However, it's been a full month since ANYTHING has been updated on the site.  Though you can still access all of the archived albums, no updates have occurred since Christmas Day.  Come Back, GoMusic!  I miss you, and refuse to bow to iTunes!