Apple: Greedy and/or Complacent

I enjoy Greenday from my youth (Dookie was released just as I was becoming an expert at being a "bored teenager"), thus I took a look at purchasing the new album from the I-Tunes Store. I was taken aback by the price ($14.99! CD's USED to cost $14.99, but downloads in 2009?). So, I decided to take a look at Amazon MP3. Same album and an automatic load to I-Tunes for... $4.99.



Has Apple's dominance made it complacent or do they have the ability to overcharge users by 300% purely because people are too lazy to search for a better deal? While I do love my IPhone and IPod, I know where I'll be going to for music going forward.

Is the Album Dead (Part II)?

Following this morning's Albums Sales Breakdown, here is another chart showing just how fast sales have declined across all genres.



Surprising to me was the drop in classical music. I would have guessed incorrectly that the classical base would not have shifted away from physical CD's.

Source: Yahoo!

Is the Album Dead?

Looking at top 10 album sales from 2008 vs. 2000, we see sales 1/3 the level from those just 8 years ago.

Click for ginormous chart



The Big Picture asks:

How many of these do you own the CD of? How many do you own legally? How many have you borrowed or downloaded?

The bigger question inferred... is the album dead?

Source: NY Times / EW

When 50 Cent is Worth $150 Million

While we're waiting for July's Producer Price Index to be released in about an hour, lets turn it over to Forbes: Hip-Hop's Cash Kings 2008 for an update on how the recession is effecting our favorite Hip Hop stars:

The new king of hip-hop wealth banked $100 million after taxes on one deal alone when his stake in VitaminWater's parent, Glacéau, was bought by Coca-Cola as part of a $4.1 billion deal. 50's portfolio also includes the popular G-Unit clothing line and record label, plus films, videogames and a slew of platinum albums, including last year's Curtis. Also in the works: a mining partnership with South African billionaire Partrice Motsepe (see "The 50 Cent Machine").

Of the top 20 Hip Hop earners, 50 Cent / Jay-Z / and P-Diddy pulled in more than half the group's combined $550mm+...