Free Trade, Free Market Discussion

[Gary Sisco]

Here's an example of the way companies today create both supply and demand at the same time. People who were working in record stores at the time will remember how the CD "won out" in the "competition" with the lp: After a certain point, somewhere around '89/'90/'91 (I'm an old man, give my memory a break), the record companies simply informed the retails stores that they would no longer accept returns on lp's after a certain date. In other words, they informed retail stores everywhere in the US that nearly all of them would soon be out of business altogether if they didn't make the switch to CD on their shelves. No one could afford to own a permanent inventory of records that aren't selling (anymore than a bookstore could long survive if returns were suddenly verboten).

What exactly did "demand" on the part of the public have in that case? If there was such a huge demand for the CD, why was it necessary to so pressure record stores to make the switch? Wouldn't they have just made it anyway, with time, based on "consumer demand"? And why is muscle necessary in a "free" situation governed by an "invisible hand" anyway?

And by the way, they are busy going the same route with VHS rental movies as we speak. It's only a matter of time that I'll be searching out used VHS tapes, the way vinyl freaks had to start searching out vinyl for quite a time, there, until a few folks' woke up to the fact that there's still money to be made in vinyl and turntables (thanks especially to hip hop and other dance musics but also to people who were fussy enough about sound to continue buying analogue gear and records as well).

And again, it's not a question, for me, whether CD or VHS is "better" or "worse" than vinyl or DVD. For me the question is what in a free market situation requires rendering a VHS rental movie a thing of the past when clearly there are many people who don't mind watching them or renting them, and do so all the time. And many as well, like me, who aren't going to buy yet another gadget so that I can watch the same old shit on a television in a new "format."

Hell, there are still people manufacturing and selling parts for 8-track repair. There's even a newsletter for 8-track enthusiasts who clearly buy enough of that shit for it to be profitable for the companies doing the making and selling.

[jesus marion joseph]

Technology. It's a bitch.