Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Yes, my copy of Mister Heartbreak (1984) cost me £13.99. I still remember swallowing hard when I saw the price sticker.
The Changing Price Of Music
- Thread starter BertieWorcester
- Start date
alan967tiger
pfm Member
Yes, I remember my dad paying £14.99 for my first CD, Queen's Greatest Hits. That was early 84 I think.
kingston12
pfm Member
I remember paying £11-£14 for new release CDs in the mid-80s. I lived in a small town then so the main ‘record shops’ were Woolworths, WH Smith and Boots!
Trips to London and larger towns brought access to proper record shops, but I think prices were about the same.
Trips to London and larger towns brought access to proper record shops, but I think prices were about the same.
When I started to buy CDs in 1986, the standard price for a full price disc was £11.99. As different price ranges were introduced, a mid-price disc was £7.99, a budget price disc £5.99 and a super-budget disc (Naxos) £3.99. The VAT increase of 1991 saw some odd pricing until everything got rounded up to the nearest 50p. Naxos went rapidly to £4.49 and then £4.99.
I did find it very annoying that multi-disc CD sets were always priced at single disc price times the number of discs. This didn’t apply to vinyl, e.g £5.99 for ‘In Rock’ but something like £7.99 for ‘Made In Jaoan’.
I did find it very annoying that multi-disc CD sets were always priced at single disc price times the number of discs. This didn’t apply to vinyl, e.g £5.99 for ‘In Rock’ but something like £7.99 for ‘Made In Jaoan’.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
I clearly recall CD's being £15 ish in the early days. Compilations and best of's maybe £10. I haven't bought vinyl new from a record shop since maybe 1995!! In fact pretty much all my vinyl would have been purchased no later than this apart from maybe 40 ish from charity shops and car boot sales. Several more as freebies from a (late) mate who was a second hand record dealer. I would never buy new vinyl now as it's too expensive.
claire.foxx
-⃝⃤
A single in 1977 was 69p (I have been looking at old 1st gen Punk singles and many have the price sticker on them) A Petty Vacant i have is 69p. LPs like a 1st press of the Jam’s In The City is £2.99, The Clash’s 1st LP was £2.99 from Woolworths on the sticker making it about £16.80 in today’s money. On the whole I prefer the single as a medium for this genre to this day.
Inflation cumulative to then is at about 460% using the various calculators out there so it’s easy to do the math. Other things also drag up price like increased costs for plate making and lacquering and mastering, plus vastly increased postage charges and so on for mail order, (access to recording and cost of gear is a huge can of worms I won’t go into here). Certainly if I am to release a 7” single DIY-like then it goes above that because it’s more expensive to press now as it’s fairly niche with way fewer outlets now and fewer people buying music. All the then cost saving practices (B&W labels instead of 4 colours print) have all gone by the wayside, though colour vinyl isn’t that much of a load on unit production costs anymore.
Inflation cumulative to then is at about 460% using the various calculators out there so it’s easy to do the math. Other things also drag up price like increased costs for plate making and lacquering and mastering, plus vastly increased postage charges and so on for mail order, (access to recording and cost of gear is a huge can of worms I won’t go into here). Certainly if I am to release a 7” single DIY-like then it goes above that because it’s more expensive to press now as it’s fairly niche with way fewer outlets now and fewer people buying music. All the then cost saving practices (B&W labels instead of 4 colours print) have all gone by the wayside, though colour vinyl isn’t that much of a load on unit production costs anymore.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Yes, beer has been an excellent investment over the years. I’m glad I put so much of my income into it.