Best Buy Phases out Physical Media

[BoredSysAdmin]

It's a catch-22 situation or vicious circle, if you may. Everyone wants their original streaming service to maximize profits. No one wants to cross-license their content to keep it exclusive on their platform to prop it up. As a result, every streaming service to add new content must invest in expensive new content production. As a result, the subscription price must go up to cover these costs. Higher subscription prices lead to some loss of subscribers.
So this is why Netflix and, recently, Disney are trying to squeeze more out of their current customers without raising prices, such as going after password-sharing folks.

Shockingly, studios are possibly starting to realize that the Netflix model doesn't work if everyone is doing it.

“Netflix effect” is back as studios license old shows to competitors again

New audiences for Suits and Ballers, but licensing costs may squeeze profits.

arstechnica.com

 

[Eppie]

Then again if all would control their own music and not need help.....

I've been following Laura Kidd from the UK who composes and performs under Penfriend and recently did a colab. with Ratt from Ned's Atomic Dustbin under the name of Obey Robots (the album One in a Thousand is quite good if you like alt-rock and most of the songs are on YouTube). She's posted some personal videos as well and it is clear that as an independent artist it is very difficult to make a living. They were very fortunate to have OiaT reach 14 in the UK album charts without any involvement from record labels or promoters. They did it entirely on their own through YouTube videos, Facebook ads (that's how I found them) and other means. She's more the exception than the rule, I think.

As you're well aware, you can't make a living from streams. That only gets you exposure. The money is in touring and merch: physical album sales and t-shirts, etc. The Japanese Band I follow, Band-Maid, is very heavy in their promotion of merchandise and they are fortunate to have a good global following. While they have a major record label behind them, they design their own t-shirts and are active on social media. They likely make good money playing shows in Japan, but I can't imagine them make a lot of money touring the U.S. in a huge bus with all of the support, not to mention the flight overseas for the crew and gear. I often wonder how much of that pie goes to Ticketmaster who practically control ticket sales.

It really sucks for artists that they can't earn a significant amount from streaming. It's more complicated than what Spotify pays per stream, as Spotify pays the "rights holder" and we are not privy to the agreements between artists and rights holders. Spotify lost a lot of money in the early years so it appears that it's the record labels that still have the most to gain.

 

[isolar8001]

One of my favorite artists since the mid 70's, and now making his living on BandCamp....the exquisite, highly prolific Bill Nelson. One of the finest musicians out there.
I purchase his material here. Bill's health has been failing in recent years, and I hope this reshuffling doesn't hurt him.

Bill Nelson

Founder of Be-Bop Deluxe in 1973, guitarist Bill Nelson wrote all of the bands material. Signed to EMI, the band released five studio albums and scored a top ten UK hit with the single "Ships In The Night." In 1979 Bill disbanded Be-Bop Deluxe and launched Red Noise. As a solo artist he's...

billnelson.bandcamp.com

 

[jinjuku]

I've a few issues with lack of physical media:

What am I getting with a hosted purchase as far as the master file? How to I make it available for offline viewing? How do I legit resell my copy?

I haven't read any recent purchase terms but this happened when Walmart had an online music service that they shuttered.

 

[panteragstk]

Based on your comments, you seem far from a spring chicken, yet still so naive that unwashed masses would ever prefer quality over convenience. Just look at YouTube TV - their price jumped twice. Netflix streaming prices also doubled from $7.99 to $15.49. Both still have plenty of suckers subscribers.

Hey now. Live sports is the only reason I have YouTube TV.

I was watching ALCS yesterday and it looked terrible on my OLED though, so I couldn't pay for it full time. That'd be silly.

 

[panteragstk]

My local BB has sold vinyl for years. They never had the CD/DVD/BD selection my old store in my home town did.

I'll have to see if they still do if I ever wander in there again.

 

[Danzilla31]

My local BB has sold vinyl for years. They never had the CD/DVD/BD selection my old store in my home town did.

I'll have to see if they still do if I ever wander in there again.

It's been so long since I've gone into a best buy store. Ironically the last couple times were for physical media

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hey now. Live sports is the only reason I have YouTube TV.

I was watching ALCS yesterday and it looked terrible on my OLED though, so I couldn't pay for it full time. That'd be silly.

I guess live sports represent the lion's share of these Live TV cost raises, and unless the culture of pro sports being ultra-profitable doesn't change, these price raises are guaranteed to continue.

 

[Hobbit]

Shockingly, studios are possibly starting to realize that the Netflix model doesn't work if everyone is doing it.

“Netflix effect” is back as studios license old shows to competitors again

New audiences for Suits and Ballers, but licensing costs may squeeze profits.

arstechnica.com

Thanks, I noticed that "old" shows and movies were showing (back) up on Netflix.

 

[isolar8001]

I've a few issues with lack of physical media:

What am I getting with a hosted purchase as far as the master file? How to I make it available for offline viewing? How do I legit resell my copy?

I haven't read any recent purchase terms but this happened when Walmart had an online music service that they shuttered.

When you buy from BandCamp, you get a variety of formats....I just grab everything from Redbook Flac and on up.
There is no DRM on any of the files I've seen...you buy them, you own them.

https://get.bandcamp.help/hc/en-us/articles/360009319033-In-which-formats-can-I-download-my-purchases-#:~:text=You%20can%20download%20in%20any,%2C%20ALAC%2C%20WAV%2C%20AIFF

.

 

[j_garcia]

I don't buy much physical media anymore. I have to like it for one thing, see that it is a good version based on reviews, of whatever it is, AND it usually has to be on sale. Before I would just buy it. Now I have to justify it to myself, taking up space, will I actually watch it more than once, etc... Recently I bought a number of 4K movies, but they were all on sale. With streaming I can watch stuff I don't care about being top quality. If I happen to like it, then I might buy a physical copy if it seems like it might look or sound better. That is becoming increasingly rare. For music, I tend to want the physical copy, whichever format. I don't mind having digital, but if I dump that service, I don't want issues over what I "own" and have access to.

 

[Danzilla31]

I don't buy much physical media anymore. I have to like it for one thing, see that it is a good version based on reviews, of whatever it is, AND it usually has to be on sale. Before I would just buy it. Now I have to justify it to myself, taking up space, will I actually watch it more than once, etc... Recently I bought a number of 4K movies, but they were all on sale. With streaming I can watch stuff I don't care about being top quality. If I happen to like it, then I might buy a physical copy if it seems like it might look or sound better. That is becoming increasingly rare. For music, I tend to want the physical copy, whichever format. I don't mind having digital, but if I dump that service, I don't want issues over what I "own" and have access to.

I do the same thing with streaming watch movies or content to see if I like it if I do thats when I buy the physical copy

 

[lovinthehd]

I kind of view it, as a long-time collector of physical media (still have the vinyl) that it's almost necessary to have online streaming to test stuff out before buying a copy if I really think it's worthy. I haven't shopped in a b&m store for physical media, audio or video, for quite a long time....just hasn't been much of an option....

 

[panteragstk]

I guess live sports represent the lion's share of these Live TV cost raises, and unless the culture of pro sports being ultra-profitable doesn't change, these price raises are guaranteed to continue.

Willing to bet you are correct. Since folks like me don't ever watch live TV unless it's an event of some sort, they're losing out on the off-season because I'm not paying them anything.

If I don't watch more, I'm just going to cancel it again. Not worth it for $80+/mo.

 

[panteragstk]

For music, unless it's something special, I will generally just get .flac files of whatever I'm looking for. I don't even have anything to play physical media on any longer with the exception of my grandma's console record player.

My last PC rebuild removed my optical drive and my platter hard drives. Kind of crazy.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

For music, unless it's something special, I will generally just get .flac files of whatever I'm looking for. I don't even have anything to play physical media on any longer with the exception of my grandma's console record player.

My last PC rebuild removed my optical drive and my platter hard drives. Kind of crazy.

I've had a BluRay drive in my previous build from 2011. I've used it exactly zero times. And this is not just for BD disks, but for ANY optical media. Though I had a hard drive as secondary storage in an old build, it is no longer.
And yes, For music, only one format is my go-to (unless I have no choice), and it's FLAC.

 

[lovinthehd]

In any case for me the last place I'd shop is driving 45 miles to the nearest BB to find their limited pop crap offerings in 2ch. I haven't been there in probably 5 years or so and simply doubt there's anything there worth a drive let alone a look inside.

 

[Eppie]

I will still order physical media for a band that I want to support and the Japanese releases in particular often come with goodies like photo booklets or fridge magnets. Have to admit that I haven't purchased physical media from BB in a long time. Maybe if I get a 4k Blueray player I might add discs again.

Surprised that no one has mentioned that Netflix plans to open brick and mortar stores. Can they succeed where others have failed?
https://globalnews.ca/news/10030047/netflix-opening-brick-mortar-stores/

 

[Movie2099]

Best Buy getting rid of their 4k movies is going to suck. That was my go-to place to purchase 95% of my movies. As a 4k collector, I foresee prices of movies going up. Specifically the 4k editions. I don't think DVD/Blu Ray prices will jump much or at all. But over the last year I've been seeing 4k prices slowly go up. And I think once BB finally removes them from their website, which will force people to purchase on Amazon, maybe Target or Walmart websites, or go directly to the company that released it. With boutique movie companies like Kino, Arrow and Shout, I can see them easily increasing the prices of their 4k releases. Disney has already started raising prices. Right now the new Indy 5 that's coming out soon, the Steelbook version is $42! the non-steel book is $35. On digital it's $20 and on K-scape I believe the price is $25. Older 4k movies that have been upgraded to 4k should all be $20, but I'm seeing those prices jump up to $25-$28. While on digital/k-scape they are selling them for under $20.

Some people in the 4k physical disc community are saying they're happy places like BB and others are dropping their physical media and they'll be glad to pay more for the physical disc. Screw that! I loved getting huge deals on the 4k movies through Best Buy. Movies should not cost over $30 on physical disc. This is just going to push more people onto streaming/digital purchases. There is a threshold people will pay for movies. The super collectors and people willing to pay high prices for physical are a super small percentage. We could potentially see 4k disc prices going over $40 as an AVG price on new releases. In the near future if more and more big box places drop their physical media. If Wal-Mart were to drop it, i think that would be a more significant blow than BB dropping it.

I'm going to go all in on K-scape in my next theater. Make sure I have over 100gigs of space and stop collecting physical 4k dics. As of right now, I don't see a super bright future of physical 4k. I see a super bright future of movies being upgraded to 4k and being released, but I don't think I want to keep paying $35-$55 for a single physical disc when other versions are significantly less.

Just my two cents on the situation. With regards to 4k physical disc.