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     This story was printed from CdrInfo.com,

     located at http://www.cdrinfo.com.

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Despite sales figures that have declined by 15% in Germany, the music industry will keep prices high for CDs. In the US, CDs from superstars like Jennifer Lopez often sell for prices around $10.00. In Germany, most consumers have to spend over $15.00 for their favorite CDs. This was reported in the weekend edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), alongside predictions from Merrill Lynch that claim the industry must lower prices by up to 45% to revive sales figures.

Nevertheless, the Bundesverband der Phonographischen Industrie (German Recording Industry Association) and record labels do not see lowering prices as the solution to their problem. The SZ, on the other hand, flouted the head of EMI Germany by saying that the company could move inventory by giving CDs away.

Most young people acquire music for just a few cents, as the Internet and affordable CD-burners allow easy copying without significant loss of audio quality. Last year, the number of blank CDs containing copied music surpassed the number of original CDs sold. The president of the German Recording Industry, Gerd Gebhardt, wants to put a stop to this. He announced that starting this summer, music store shelves would be filled exclusively with copy-protected CDs.