Friday, January 9, 2009

Addendum to 'reviewing the reviewers'

In addition to the discussion about whether to allow sharing of iTunes files, I just read that they are going to start having tiered prices. The numbers I saw said there will be three different prices: $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29. The record company would determine the song’s price.

My first reaction: “How can you determine one song is worth more than another?”

But then, CDs range in price. What makes one CD worth more than another? Award winning album artwork, er, 'Recording Package'? Doubtful. Although that would be one justification I could get behind. A major label release is probably going to be priced differently than an artist’s self released work, but should it be? Something to think about.

Along similar lines (but not really): CDs have been around for quite a while and as far as I can tell, the CD case is an unfinished project. I have yet to see one that is practical, attractive and not prone to break. We can travel into space, but not make a decent CD case. Seems a little fishy.

But since CDs are soon to be lining shelves at antique shops (right? Isn’t that what everyone keeps saying?), I suppose we’ve got different priorities for the time being.

2 comments:

brother yam said...

And vinyl died decades ago...

Main Figurehead said...

The classic record model is to price according to time/demand. Generally this means a hot new release would get the highest price tier. Then it gets lowered when initial demand drops. Finally, price is dropped to the lowest tier when it's considered "catalog."