Maybe I'm just not understanding something, but albums are starting to really seem like a rip off. With people able to do a lot of their recording on personal computers these days, studio time can't be very expensive at all. I don't watch a lot of videos any more, but most of the ones I do see look as though they could have been created for next to nothing. While Party Starter may have cost a mint, Kick Push couldn't have cost much at all to create. Manufactoring and distribution must be dirt cheap as well, at most a dime per disc, both online and physical. I guess ads are still expensive, but it seems like ads are made only for big artists anyway, so the actual cost per disc should still be low. All that with the stories of middle of the road artists not making jack, I would think that it only costs $1-$2 per disc to the record companies. It seems like a big scam to get product from artists for next to nothing, over charge consumers for it, and have the money people making tons of cash.