iTunes, Amazon, Wal-Mart All Pricing Music Variably

[JMcEntegart]

On Tuesday, Apple introduced variable pricing to the iTunes Store. While this was news in itself, it seems the rest of the industry is following suit.

iTunes, Amazon, Wal-Mart All Pricing Music Variably : Read more

 

[SecksPanther]

Some cable companies do this with their pay-per-view movies. If it's something that people like, they'll charge more for the viewing. Personally, I think it sends the wrong message. If they charged based on how long the movie/song was (meaning they were streaming more data to you) then it would be justifiable because you can relate that to some kind of bandwidth and associated cost. But if they're just charging you more because they can, then they are showing very little consideration to the customer.

And before we see a lot of flak here regarding "Charging you more because they can... that's the #1 rule of business! PROFITS," please keep in mind that it's hard to make a profit if you have no customers, and lots of potential customers do prefer a company that cares.

Overall a good piece of work here from the writer, though there was the occasional typo and the misuse of "that said" (meaningless without the "with" in front of it) which was immediately followed up by "that in mind." I do think those can infuriate some of your readers who have some quirky pet-peeves. =)

 

[frozenlead]

Lala has also changed its tune (look pa, I made a funny)

Jane, I'm really starting to enjoy your articles.

 

[deltatux]

Seems to me that all the albums are still $9.99 (for me in Canada as well), so it won't affect me since I usually I buy them in albums not separate songs.

deltatux

 

[techn0babble]

Personally, I think this is great and is the way it should have been all along. iTunes has done two things; It has made albums cheaper and has made buying individual songs possible. So now you have people who still buy the whole album and people who prefer to download just one or two songs from one. When every song is 99 cents, the consumer gets the benefits with the more popular song. But what new artists that haven't hit it big yet or artists that people just don't care about anymore. I don't think their songs should be as expensive as the most popular songs out there. Maybe if their price is dropped, more people will end up downloading them because their cheaper? And songs that are extremely popular SHOULD deserve more reward. Yes you might lose a small number of people who aren't willing to pay more, but tough cookies! That's how economics works! It will benefit Apple, it will benefit the artists that produce what the consumer likes to hear, and I doubt 30 cents is really gonna break the bank if they really want that hot new sound. Put it this way. You've got a KIA, an Acura, and a Mercedes. Do you really think it would be fair (at least from Mercedes perspective) for someone to be able to buy their car at the same price as the Acura? And do you think people would pay the same price for the Kia as the Acura? No. I think not.

 

[runt23]

Just more incentive for people to keep pirating music TBH.

 

[tikal]

I think lowering prices for old songs is cool, but any increase in alredy high prices is a lousy move.
But maybe it will work for them.