in my ignorance i've often wondered if the often vastly increased price of double/triple/quadruple albums compared to single albums is actually justified. bad dance compilations (ministry of sound, clubland, whatever) routinely run to three discs and sell at little more than the price of a single album from a regular artist. same with a lot of classical/jazz/pre-60s compilations. which, along with the fact you can buy 50 blank cds for about 2 quid, suggests the price of actually manufacturing the physical product is not particularly great. obviously a major label release with a big-name producer, extensive promotion, payola and multiple recording sessions in expensive studios across the globe costs more on the whole to produce than a louis armstrong compilation, and so has less of a risk involved profitwise, but nevertheless....

so yeah...basically, i'm asking is the difference in retail price between single and multiple albums actually justified by the production costs or is it all just smoke machines and mirror balls?