iTunes gets “flexible”
The iTunes Store went live with its new increased prices this week. Most coverage, NYT and LAT included, led with the fair and balanced news that the store was raising the price of many hit singles to $1.29 and lowering more obscure tracks to 79 cents.
In reality, since the $1.29 price will be for the most popular songs, the ratio in terms of sheer number of sales will be highly skewed to the new high price, and should in the short term significantly increase the income at the store.
That’s what all the talk about more “flexibility” in the prices was all about: Selling things for more money.
In classic record industry fashion, this does indeed look good in the short term, but not in the long term.
Why?
The downside for the labels is that the price hike came only after they agreed to remove the DRM from the iTunes.
Did Jobs get the best of the labels yet again?
Imagine two teens buying music. They are used to buying songs for 99 cents. They notice the price is higher … but the restrictions on just emailing a downloaded song to a friend has been removed.
Aren’t the labels giving them a rationale to buy the track once and send it around to their friends? And as the learning curve for that rises, won’t the rate of sales for the higher-priced songs start dropping?
“Oh, Madison, we shouldn’t—file-sharing is illegal! It’s stealing!”
“Oh Barlow, don’t be silly. They just jacked up the prices! And besides, they specifically changed it so we can just email songs. They want us to!”
There will be a learning curve, of course, but how long is it going to take 14-year-olds to get into the habit to emailing any song they buy to a half-dozen friends?
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There’s a real dysjunction right now in what kids know and think about the legality of filesharing. Two of my rhetoric students did their speeches on “why you should always pay for downloaded music” and the class nearly got in a fistfight. It’s very gendered, too - girls pay, boys don’t. (Bono said in his recent RS interview, “the only people who pay for music are teenage girls and the really really moral.”) Also, the music biz seems to have the academy in its pocket: the university has put restrictions on their email accounts and if they’re caught illegally downloading music they are treated the same as if they cheated on a paper. I had Tim Quirk come to class to explain the economics of downloading and they were stunned.
Great comment, Gina. You sound like a great teacher. I mean, Tim Quirk…come on! So cool.
Well of course. High school boys need the extra cash to take out their dates.
SCREW APPLE! I love them and there products but sheesh! I hear a song on the radio i go home to buy it and the price is 1.29?!?!? This is rediculus! Seriouly. Im not paying those prices. I dont know how ill get my music but its definitally not from them until their prices drop. I know its a tough enconomy and they need to earn money but really they are seriously robbing America.