You may have heard that the global economy is a little troubled. It may have come to your attention that the music industry has been in bother for the past decade. We look to the leading digital distributors of music for inspiration on how to go forward. Well the king of online music sales has made a bold decision, that has left many industray watchers scratching their heads.
On the face of it, the new ITunes pricing structure appears tp promote choice. The old revenue model was basically “One price fits all”. Everything went for 99c, be it the latest Coldplay single or an obscure track from an old Bucks Fizz album. The new revenue model has tracks for 69c, 99c, and $1.29. Browsing the ITunes library reveals the true picture. Most of the chart tunes are priced at the highest tier, and nearly everything else remains at 99c. Bargain hunters will spend a long time digging out a 69c track from artists that interest them.
In the current climate, I cant see how Apple is justifying this stealth price hike. They need to look at discounting multiple purchases and providing extra value with single purchases in the form of exclusive content such as live tracks, interviews and videos. The back catalogues need to be made available more cheaply. I can get a physical CD of “Strawberries” by The Damned delivered to my door for €4 from Play.com but ITunes is looking for $10 for a digital download of the same album. This is madness.
Tags: ITunes