Warner To Cut Prices on CDs.

In a move praised by music retailers, the new owners of Warner Music Group have lowered the prices of 1,776 titles, the largest devaluation in the label’s 33-year history. About 1,200 of the devalued titles were repriced to the company’s Super Value budget line, which carries a $6.71 wholesale cost. Most of these were from the $11.98 midline category, but a few came from the company’s front line and super midline. Among the acts with titles being repriced from the Super Saver midline to budget are 10,000 Maniacs, the B-52’s, Bad Company, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, Doobie Brothers, Foghat, Aretha Franklin, J. Geils Band, Manhattan Transfer, Bette Midler, Teddy Pendergrass, Bonnie Raitt, Otis Redding and Rod Stewart. Another 300 titles will be repriced from the front-line prices of $17.98 and $18.98 and the Super Sonic super midline price of $13.98 to the Super Saver midline, which carries a $7.85 cost. That repricing will affect albums by acts including Tori Amos, Built to Spill, Tracy Chapman, Phil Collins, Hootie & the Blowfish, Madonna, Lil’ Kim, Natalie Merchant, Morrissey, the Ramones, Stone Temple Pilots, Neil Young and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, as well as the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant album “Walking Into Clarksdale.” “Anything that the industry does to lower is extremely positive,” Trans World Entertainment music divisional merchandise manager Jerry Kamiler says. Source: Reuters/Billboard.