Rethinking the Music CD

For decades record labels earned their best profits on sales of albums/CDs. The formula went something like this:

1 hit song + 2 mediocre songs + 9 clunkers = $12 average selling price and a hefty profit margin.

But Apple changed all that with iTunes and 99 cent per-track pricing. Suddenly consumers could buy just the songs they wanted -- and that is exactly what they have done, says Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse. As a result, labels are selling lots more individual tracks, but not enough to make up for the loss in CD sales.

"Labels typically have to sell 8 to 10 digital songs to generate the same kind of revenues as they do with one digital album -- this causes a sharp reduction in revenues over time," she tells me in an interview for HBS Working Knowledge.

She has several ideas. Labels could:

• Refuse to allow their CDs to be broken apart track by track -- the solution used by AC/DC. The problem: You won't get on iTunes.
• Sequentially release albums and songs to stimulate more loyal and eager consumers to buy the full CD.
• Improve the attractiveness of online CDs by cramming them with extras such as band interviews, additional track information and photos.

"An album with around 12 songs may be a fine format for some artists, but why would it necessarily fit the majority of musicians? Digital channels give labels great flexibility to try alternative formats. My results show that giving preference to quality over quantity and designing smaller, more consistent bundles may be beneficial."

"It should be about providing real value to consumers, not about tricking them into buying something they do not want."

Please read the entire interview with Elberse, Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music.

(iTunes screenshot by swanksalot, CC 2.0)