Prices of Music Monographs and Scores as Reflected in Notes, 2014–2020

Prices of Music Monographs and Scores as Reflected in Notes, 2014–2020 Paul Cary In last year's column, I wrote that we were beginning to emerge from the near-universal shutdown brought on by the pandemic. Today (July 2021), effective vaccines are prevalent in the United States, though not by any means around the globe. We have answers to some of the many questions that confronted us a year ago, but others remain obscure. Social interaction is picking up, and the economy is quickening, even if deeprooted inequities persist. Most public libraries are open with precautions in place. Colleges and universities are negotiating a return to more (or less) normal operations in the fall. Many students have stayed home, attending classes—or not. Budgets have been cut at many institutions. What does all this mean for the publishing industry? In terms of book publishing, the year was a good one. The pandemic prompted many people to read more, and the higher-income people who tend to read the most were least-affected by the economic downturn.1 In terms of monographs, as reflected here, the average price declined in 2020 from $89.57 to $81.71. The number of books included also dropped by 24 percent to 304. Prices were available for all 304 books, so all of them were included in the calculations. After a year (2019) in which the column included no non-English-language books, a small number of them are included in the 2020 figures. Those numbers can be seen in the Monographs by Language chart. Given the low number of items in these languages, drawing conclusions from the data might be ill-advised. The books included in the Books Recently Published column, which serves as the source for this index, are retrieved from Library of Congress (LC) cataloging records via an automated query, supplemented by other sources. The content of the column is therefore somewhat dependent on what LC catalogs and on the completeness of the query results. This can obviously affect the number, cost, and language of books represented. In terms of extremes, at the low end, several books are listed at $12.00. The most [End Page 203] Click for larger view View full resolution Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 204] expensive items on the list are three Routledge companions that retail for $245.00 each. The data includes both hardback and paperback editions, but no distinction between them is made in the charts. Nor do the charts distinguish between volumes issued with accompanying materials (CDs, CDROMs, etc.) and those without. If prices are available for both paperback and hardback editions, the price of the hardback edition has been used. Electronic texts are not included. Book and score counts are based on the number of titles rather than the number of volumes. The most expensive scores listed this year are two volumes of the opera Il Regno della Luna, published in "Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era." Each of those volumes retails for $415.00. The least expensive is a score to a Missa Brevis by Michael John Trotta, which sells for $6.99. The average price of a score is up by 18 percent from 2019, but down by 3 percent from 2014. The number of scores received is also down considerably, from 434 in 2019 to 155 in 2020. This represents scores submitted to Notes, supplemented by a selection from a distributor's list in order to diversify the pool. The initial data set included 201 scores, but one was not available, and forty-five items were excluded due to format or audience. Data for scores as a whole is given first, followed by six score categories. Categories of scores used in "Music Received" do not always correspond directly with categories in this column. In those cases, this compiler has placed the score in the most appropriate or closely related category. All prices are reported in US dollars and reflect retail prices; they do not reflect discounts or special sale pricing. When given, prices listed in the "Music Received" columns were used in compiling the data. Prices not given in Notes were obtained...