During the opening keynote of the Macworld Conference & Expo, Apple announced a change to its pricing strategy used for the popular iTunes online music store.
Apple traditionally has charged $0.99 for each song, but the new plan will charge $0.69, $0.99, or $1.29 per song, depending how popular the song is. "Most" songs will be available for $0.69, but popular songs that are high on the Billboard charts and played on the radio will cost $1.29.
"Over the last six years songs have been $0.99," Apple senior V.P. worldwide product marketing Phil Shiller said during the keynote. "Music companies want more flexibility. Starting today, 8 million songs will be DRM free and by the end of this quarter, all 10 million songs will be DRM free."
In addition, Apple has chosen to drop DRM from a majority of the songs in its eight million song catalog. EMI Group and independent music on iTunes already has been sold without DRM, but now Sony BMG Music, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group will be available through the online service without DRM.
It's unsure why Apple finally decided to change the pricing scheme while also dropping DRM from many songs.
