Music and Toothbrushes

Here's one of those funny things that you might not think about. Today we got a Costco coupon book in the mail.

Years ago, I first encountered the Costco "bulk" form of retail in Sam's Club. You could get 24 cans of generic soda for about $6. Extremely cheap, Jason Emery's parents went there a lot.

So this coupon book had "put thousands of dollars in your pocket from these savings!" Incredible, I mean really incredible. I can actually have lots of money in my pocket just by BUYING THINGS! Okay, we've all understood this illusion, it has been around commercial enterprise for years. Spend more to save more. The smart ones don't "buy" into this at all, but instead look for the best price only for that which they need.

But then again, where is the reference for what it really costs? Cost of manufacture of course is a complex array of information. But there's something to be said for just how much you feel is fair to pay for something. Most intelligent folk probably have the following figures somewhere in their head:

Fast food meal: $5-$8
Car: $15000, tops
House: $100000, tops
Bed: $500-$800 depending on side

Anyway, here's the kicker: how much do you pay for a toothbrush you use only for personal cleanliness once or twice a day for 6 months for 30 seconds at a time? Around 3$, maybe as high as $5. Now...

How much do you pay for a song that fills you with joy each time you hear it, and you use it anytime you want, for 3 minutes (sometimes more), for the rest of your life? iTunes has set the standard value at $1.

Think about it.

Comments

[suneel]

question is can money replace the emotional ecstasy that one discovers in a song? for me its more about having the uttermost respect in my heart that i have for the artist who makes the connection with my soul and adds meaning. its a work of art and brilliance.( hmmm...who could this artist be? )

i do agree that artists need to get payed so that they may proceed to cultivate their musical endeavors by getting the $$$. if the artist is independent and not affiliated with any agency then he/she can set the price to vary for different tracks. kind of similar to how in the art world paintings from different artist have different prices.

But if the artist uses itunes to sell music then i do agree $1 is a bit low. maybe 2-3$ would be fairer where more of it goes to the artist. But the problem is that nowadays due to the software explosion, we are seeing a lot of artists, which is both good and bad. And i feel some of the content is quite redundant.

Anyways the song preview must be played for the entire song length, not the 30sec micro preview. let it start say with a count of 5 for the 1st day, then 4 the next day and by the 5th day no more previews, because you clearly liked it and so its justified to buy the song. but the current 30sec preview is a joke and its not possible to understand what the song is trying to convey. eg trance music has build ups/ breakdowns that may go for like 1min, ambient tracks have extremely long pads and so its hard to get the theme the music is signifying in that short 30 sec.

[kitsu]

Well I can usually guarantee that a toothbrush won't suck.

[Jeremiah]

I try not to think about it - it makes me suicidal.