Consumers Win One

Apple Computer has apparently won a battle that keeps the four big, bad, greedy record labels outside the door. Wolves all, the labels wanted to discard the successful single pricing model that has carried iTunes to pre-eminence in the music download marketplace. Charging 99 cents per track, Apple has surged to become the biggest and best online music retailer. The labels (Universal, Warner, SonyBMG and EMI) wanted to develop a tiered pricing structure that would charge 60 or 80 cents per track for 'old' music and much more for 'new' music.

Now, as though iTunes figures in the real world of online music, "The record industry may be on the verge of waving the white flag in front of Apple boss Steve Jobs, and abandoning its demand for iTunes to charge different prices for different songs," says the New York Post.

"Negotiations between Apple and the four major music companies - with which iTunes deals all expire in the next two months - have reached a crucial point as several record executives now say they are unlikely to convince Jobs to allow variable pricing, sources said."

Most recently, the cartel has been demanding variable pricing – the ability to charge less for some tracks and more for others.

The debate has gotten acrimonious at times, with Warner boss Edgar Bronfman Jr. publicly bashing Apple last year, saying, "only one price point is not fair to our artists." This prompted Jobs to respond by calling the record industry "greedy."

But Jobs intelligently, "wants to maintain the standard 99 cents-per-track retail price".

It just seems so simple – why is it so difficult to understand? People want choice and flexibility, they are sick of 'canned' CD's that contain one good song and 12 dogs. Consumers want the ability to purchase just the music tracks they like, to pay a reasonable price - a simple price, and to not waste their hard earned dollars supporting a greedy music industry structure that rewards mediocrity. Online downloading is the future, the market has proven that, and the 'industry' needs to further modify their model to evolve a system that consumers will continue responding to.
Posted on The Human Stain