Remember when songs on iTunes used to be 99 cents? iTunes then decided to raise the price of popular new songs and some classics to $1.29. Many people did not understand why the standard price that everyone had known and accepted was raised 30 cents. I thought that paying $1.30 for a song doesn't seem that much, but when everything starts to add up, it gets a lot more expensive than one would like. When I realized iTunes wasn't going to be changing the price back to what it was before, I decided to just accept it and buy less songs so that I wasn't spending more than I had previously been spending. My reaction at first was frustration and then I gave in, but how did others react? Not nearly the same way. Facebook groups and pages sprung up the day iTunes raised their prices, people set their statuses demanding the prices be changed back.
Songs used to be 99 cents each, no matter what artist or genre, or year. Now, certain "oldies" are only 69 cents, the new songs or the popular classics are $1.29, and just about everything else is 99 cents. But who decides what songs get set to what price? Apparently, Apple is setting the prices based on the wholesale prices set by the music labels. Are some artists annoyed by the fact that other artists are selling for more than they are? I would be, but according to Apple, the artists clearly have no say in what their music sells for. Some Disney songs are going for 99 cents, as well as certain Coldplay and Katy Perry Songs. I'm not sure about anyone else but I would not be too happy to be placed in the same pricing category as a Disney star..But maybe that's just me. I wonder how much of a profit Apple has made from each song being worth 30 cents more. It would be interesting to find out what everyone else thinks of the pricing now, 8 months later. Have you gotten used to it or do you still want it cchanged back? The Facebook groups seemed to have settled in the sevarity of their comments on the $1.29 price, but is that because they have come to reason with it or is everyone simply over it?
Lovely blog! Great topics!
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I belive you bring up a good point. I think i read somewhere that apple doesn't price songs on release date though, but over sound quality.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about the prices the other day. I am certainly still not over it, and still buy a lot less songs than I would have. Which makes me wonder if that actually helps iTunes. Do they end up with more money in the long run? They must, otherwise they would have changed the price back already. But, if I see a song is $1.29 I will definitely think twice about paying for it. Though, I was never horribly mad about the change either, not enough to make a group on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteAnd also, I think we're going to see a big jump in the amount of illegal downloading. iTunes used to be a pretty cheap and easy way of getting music but now with the price jump, people are just going to get annoyed and look for alternative ways to get their music.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting post... I kind of understand why iTunes changed their pricing, but doesn't it seem like a lot of trouble for a little reward? I'm not sure, but if I were Katy Perry or a member of Coldplay, I'd be pretty insulted...
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