At a time when torrent sites are
(successfully) providing downloaders with anonymity for a nominal fee, one has
to seriously consider the staying power of pirated music. Especially so
considering this is also the time when the world’s largest supplier of digital
music, iTunes, has resigned to remove DRM from all their tracks. That makes for
10 million unencrypted, 256kps songs. Despite that the change-over was
announced back in January at the 2009 Macworld Expo it still quite an amazing
reversal.
As the saying goes you take the good with the
bad and so it is with the removal of DRM that iTunes’ customers face a new
pricing structure. Tracks will be sold at three price points: 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29.
The determining factor between the three is popularity. So essentially, the
more popular the song or the band, the more you’ll pay (Ironically, the more
popular a song or a band on torrentz, the more likely you are to find it and
have it downloaded within seconds for…much less). Conversely, fans of the
underground music scene should reap the rewards for their taste in the
relatively obscure. However, a cursory look yields few, if any, tracks listed
at the ultra-low-low price of 69¢ a track. In fact what we are seeing is simply
a 30¢ mark-up on Britney Spears and Black Eyed Peas. So, should the underground
enthusiast be thankful he escaped unscathed or has Apple been brought to heel
under the mighty record companies?
Over at Ars Technica they are citing that
since the new price structure has come into effect iTunes is now “the most
expensive place to buy most music online” and who can argue with them? Head on
over to Amazon to see a much friendlier price tag attached to those popular
albums. And this is despite rumblings that this new pricing structure is going
to roll out across all online music retailers.
Now, in theory such a pricing model is
actually just smart business for it provides unknown bands with an easier
access point to audiences by charging less for their albums. If they become
successful then charge according. Simple supply and demand here. However, in
practice iTunes has used the theory as a diversion for a whopping 30% mark-up!
The elusiveness of the 69¢ track is a testament to this tactic.
