Just a few days ago, iTunes implemented a variable pricing scheme,
“April 7, 2009, the most popular songs on iTunes are now $1.29, as opposed to the $0.99 that we’ve all grown so accustomed to over the past few years.” [Article ]
Wal-Mart and Amazon are both following suit, probably with the mindset that if the most popular digital music store is doing it, then they should do it to (and rightly so.)
According to Electronista ,
“Amazon MP3 and Walmart weren’t immune to pressure for variable song pricing and today started quietly charging higher prices for popular songs. In particular, about 10 of the top 100 songs on Amazon now meet the same $1.29 prices as similar tracks on iTunes… Walmart’s store, in turn, is now charging $1.24 per song for some titles and has a section dedicated to tracks at the higher price, most of which have been long-term hits rather than just recent releases.”
If you haven’t already, be sure to voice your opinion regarding the iTunes’ recent price hikes through iPhonefreak’s April Poll [link].
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April 11th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Whatever happened to the retailing concept of volume? Rather than making a bunch of money off of a few transactions, music sellers could pull in fewer dollars per transaction but more than make up for it in huge volumes.
Since the online music businesses doesn’t have tangible costs like manufacturing, shipping, and handling to bust up the volume model, it just seems nonsensical to do this long term. You can’t create false scarcity with music tracks – they are all over the Internet. The demand will remain the same. The only change in the equation will be where the tracks are obtained, and for $1.29 each, the “free” model of piracy looks mighty attractive to many.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
$1 was my limit. If I want any song that’s priced over my limit, I’m obtaining it by other means.
April 13th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Piracy rules!!
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:59 am
I got two orders last time for the price of one.. 100x better than any broken vending machine