Despite rumours of Apple's individual tracks prices going up , Apple has dismissed these rumours saying that they plan to maintain their 99 cent individual track price although album prices are subject to variation. Apple said they have multiyear agreements with labels and are committed to its 99 cent track pricing.
In music shops prices vary depending on the popularity of the album. For example newer singles cost more due to popularity and thus the music industry makes more profit. However older music has a lower price tag to keep up its demand also. However with online music download stores most shops kept its fixed pricing on all singles to attract consumers. Just like music stores however, the music industry still passes on wholesale prices to online music download stores but iTunes and many others absorb the cost variations to keep its fixed 99c single pricing although album price hikes are passed on to the consumer.
|
Reiterating comments made by Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs last week, an Apple spokeswoman said the company is maintaining its single price tag for individual songs. The comment came in response to an article in the New York Post reporting the likelihood of higher prices as a result of new contracts with record labels. As earlier reported, some full-album prices have already begun to climb on the service. "These rumors aren't true," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Sequeira said. "We have multiyear agreements with the labels and our prices remain 99 cents a track." Read the full article here. |
At least Apple appears to be keeping to its 99c pricing despite various rumours about them being forced to up their prices. If Apple were to up their prices, they would likely have lost a lot of customers. Even though Apple don't rely on its iTunes store for profit, they use it as a way of advertising their iPod series, so lower iTunes sales would potentially mean lower iPod sales.
Feel free to discuss and read more about iTunes and other online music services on our Music Downloads, P2P & Legal Issues Forum.
Source: CNET News - The Net
