I-Tunes tiered pricing

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/music/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BK3IMSCDYEQHWQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=216403586&pgno=2&queryText=&isPrev=

Whenever I write my weekly blog I post I usually look for an article first that sounds interesting, then I comment on it. But this week I had a specific topic in mind. Earlier this week I logged on to my i-tunes account to buy the new Black Eyed Peas song I heard on the radio. I hit download, the site asks me to confirm, and I do. Only after I’ve listened to the song several times on repeat did I get back on my account and realize that the song I bought didn’t actually cost .99 cents like I thought all songs did. The song was in fact $1.29, as are about half of the top 100 downloaded songs on I-tunes.

So I found this article on information week to see why in the world the price of some i-tunes songs went up and why I wasn’t informed. Apparently i-tunes is using a tiered system of pricing so customers will pay more to download more popular songs. I understand the need for this with the increasing amount of songs downloaded illegally, but just because I understand it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I think the same sentiment will be felt by customers everywhere. This could give Apple a lot power within the music industry as well. If they charge a discounted price for a new artist they might have a stake in then that person might become very well-known and popular. I’m very interested to see what will happen in the future to i-tunes and their pricing, and next time I buy a song I will be careful to look at the price.