Dove Brothers to change CD prices
The Dove Brothers sent out an email update yesterday that they will be changing CD prices in their website store. Here’s the announcement:
Effective July 1, 2008, all of Dove Brothers CD’s will go up to $23.00 which includes shipping and handling fees. So to get any Dove Brothers CD at the regular $18.00 price, then purchase them before July 1, 2008.
DBQ
I double-checked the calendar, and no, it is not April 1. So I assume they are serious.
Could this be a move to encourage fans to purchase the digital copies of their CDs, still available for $9.90?
EDIT (5/29/08, 6:11 PM): It looks like my speculation about encouraging digital downloads just might be on target. The Dove Brothers sent out a second announcement, which includes these paragraphs:
Since we released our pricing changes. Some were concerned about how it would effect merchandise pricing at concerts. This pricing is for our online store ONLY! Due to shipping costs as well as the handling charges, we are having to raise our prices to compensate for this. This does NOT effect concert merchandise. These are seperate departments for us. Sorry if there was any confusion about this.
Now, we have just received word from our record company that we can now release our entire recording catalog through our digital downloads store. That’s right! Soon you will be able to purchase and download Life, Never The Same, Anything But Ordinary or down to the first recording done through Crossroads Music. You can buy one song or purchase the whole album! Mix and match songs that you want on your very own Dove Brothers recording. All of your favorite songs downloadable for you to make your own Dove Brothers favorites CD!
Comment by Donna (May 28, 2008, 8:01 am)
To me, $18 is a little high for CDs. But $23?????? Even if it does include S&H, that’s way high!
Comment by Amy Rogers (May 28, 2008, 9:20 am)
Yeah, they just moved a lot lower on my priority list. GV, L5, GVB - These top-tier groups don’t get that much for a CD. They taught me in economics class that in order to get consumers to pay more for something, you had to first make them believe that it was worth more …
(I’m not upset; it’s DBQ’s business. But it looks like it’s better calculated to decrease sales than increase them.)
Comment by natesings (May 28, 2008, 9:44 am)
I’ll all for using the digital store. It’s just too bad the most recent project is 2004’s Born Again.
Comment by natesings (May 28, 2008, 9:45 am)
oops that should have been “I’m”
Comment by Bev (May 28, 2008, 9:47 am)
It doesn’t really surprise me that they raised the price of CD’s. I’ll bet that other groups will also do the same. They may even raise the price of ticket sales for concerts. I feel sorry for all of the groups that now have to pay more for the price of gas. How can they survive? Can you imagine what it cost to fill up a tank of gas for their buses. All I can say is God Bless them all.
Bev
Comment by Seaton (May 28, 2008, 10:21 am)
There are already several groups who charge $17 per CD at their product table than the normal $15. The local Christian Bookstore will cost you anywhere from $14.99 to $17.99 for new releases. I think this will distract people ordering product directly from the artist when S/H is involved.
As digital downloads become more readily accessible that will be the way to go. I already purchase most of my new music this way.
Comment by Baritone77 (May 28, 2008, 11:21 am)
Why does SG always seem to go the opposite way of the rest of the music industry??? In a day when CD prices have fallen thanks to digital downloads, the Dove Brothers are going up?
They’re just going to force people to buy from other places like
http://search.deepdiscount.com/search?w=Dove%20Brothers&
Where they have their CDs for $13.97 with free shipping. I sell a lot of stuff on EBay and it costs less than $2 including packaging to mail a CD first class.
I know times are tough but they need to rethink their business model.
Comment by Mickey Gamble (May 28, 2008, 12:03 pm)
Response #3 Natesings. The Dove Brothers 2005, 2006, and 2008 releases are available at the Crossroads.com store in both CD and digital download versions at normal prices.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (May 28, 2008, 1:10 pm)
#7 - McCray Dove is no dummy. He’s proven time and again that he has a pretty good idea of where he wants the group to go.
When this news came out, my initial reaction was that they were forced into it by rising costs. But then it occurred to me that perhaps it was a very intentional move, to get people used to paying $9.90 for a digital version instead of $23 for a hard copy. That’s why I posted the question in today’s post.
Comment by Amy Rogers (May 28, 2008, 1:15 pm)
That’s possible, I guess. Just adjust the prices to make the same amount of profit on either format, perhaps. All the same, I’m thinking a lot of their biggest fans aren’t interested in downloading music. I’m thinking of the poll on SN forums on how folks listen to their SG - on CDs versus the latest technologies. Sure, you can burn the downloads, but if you asked my dad to go through that process, you would find him pretty frustrated.
And it seems it would hurt product sales at concerts significantly. That said, I agree on the major premise - McCray is no dummy.
Comment by Bev (May 28, 2008, 1:57 pm)
In response to #7. As I said before it costs more for the artist to travel the many miles that they do. If you were to go to another music venue other then Souther Gospel you would pay much more for the price of a ticket to hear a concert. Where else can you go to hear the word of God being sung? If they charge more per concert and raise their price for CD’s I wouldn’t think twice of not buying a ticket or a CD. They have to make a living too. We as christians should support them or soon they will fade away so to speak.
Comment by natesings (May 28, 2008, 2:04 pm)
#8- Good to know, thanks! I’ve purchased a monthly special CD from the site but wasn’t aware of the digital albums being available.
Comment by Norman Waggoner (May 28, 2008, 9:06 pm)
I must question the logic of this move. I do not see other groups following this change. Supply and demand, and competition are still realities. With today’s economy I see the Dove Brothers sales taking a dive.
Comment by Chris Unthank (May 28, 2008, 11:14 pm)
I haven’t discussed this McCray in anyway - so I don’t know his reasoning behind it - but has anything been mentioned about this possibly being for the online store only? Have prices gone up with table sales as well?
I know McCray - and like Daniel said, he’s no dummy. He knows what he’s doing.
Comment by Seaton (May 29, 2008, 7:30 am)
I highly doubt the Dove Brothers are going to charge $23 for a CD at their product table. They may raise their price but as I said in my earlier post, there are already groups charging $17 per CD.
Comment by Chris Unthank (May 29, 2008, 3:16 pm)
Just got off the phone with McCray - the $23 cost is NOT the cost at the table. More info on the increase in price will be announced shortly.
Comment by Chris White (May 29, 2008, 11:30 pm)
I never post on these sites but there is a first for everything. As the Dove Brothers A&R director and an officer of Crossroads, I can assure you that this matter has been given thought and reason. #7 mentioned the business model. Well, we have had a little experience with business models over the years and they are like a glass. They can be made and they can be broken. It will not effect table sales, nor pricing on crossroadsmusic.com for hard copy or downloads. Don’t think this will be the only artists in the business to make some price adjustments in today’s economies. How they make them and where they make them, are yet to be seen.
Comment by Matt Baker (May 30, 2008, 10:56 am)
Thanks, Chris White, for your post. It is so easy to criticize DBQ for their change. I for one, am surprised it took this long for someone to do something like this. We should just sit back and let economics do its thing. Either people want it, or they don’t. That means that either people will pay that, or they won’t. End of story. Whether they choose to pay that or not is in their hands. DBQ, as well as every other group, has the right to rise or lower their prices. On a side note, I would much rather pay $23 for a Gospel CD that i know I can listen to without reservation than pay $13 for a secular CD that I will grimace at the content. We sometimes forget that as a ministry, there are still bills to be paid, and salaries, and mouths to be fed. So I can’t say I blame them. But time will tell whether it helps or hurts them. So like I said before, just let economics do its job.
Comment by David Bruce Murray (May 30, 2008, 6:47 pm)
A bit of historical perspective might not hurt….
I promoted a concert with Michael English in 1998. At that event, his CDs were priced $20 at the table. He sold out of all he had brought to a crowd of approximately 750. This was ten years ago. Of course, you should keep in mind that the eagerness for his CDs was fueled by the fact that bookstores weren’t stocking his stuff at that time. He was signed to Curb, but a lot of stores were boycotting his products. At the same time, realize the Southern Gospel is often difficult to find at local retail. Some fans will go to a group’s website and order there, but won’t have the time or know how to locate other online sources.
There is still a level of excitement that happens in concert or with a fan who is more interested in creating some sort of relationship with a group. If you’re the sort of person who has the patience and time to shop for the best deal or you’re accustomed to already ordering from a source other than the group, it isn’t going to affect you or the group at all. Those fan were already going that route. If you’re the sort of person who won’t drop $2 in the offering plate at a church concert and borrows CDs from your friends to avoid purchase, it won’t affect you or the group either.
Here’s where it could have an impact. It stands to reason that a price increase of $5 will likely drive a few fans who currently buy direct from the group to other sources. What the DBQ is doing is a bit of a gamble, for sure. Will it drive so many away that the overall profit from online sales is diminished? My gut feeling is that it won’t. If you assume they were clearing $10 per unit before vs. $15 per unit now in profit, they’d have to see a decline of 33% in orders or more for it to have an impact on their bottom line.
It’s simply too convenient for a fan who’s gone to the trouble of finding the group’s website to go ahead and purchase direct while they’re there…and assuming the DBQ has gone to $20 pricing at the concert table ($23 minus the shipping), it’s just way too convenient. People will pay $20 at the concert table for a CD. I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes. The group may not move as many pieces overall, but they can afford it when they’re getting $5 more each time than they were previously.