EMI Wants Flexible Prices for iTunes

Techtree.com India > News > General > EMI Wants Flexible Prices for iTunes: "Since the launch of the iTunes online music store in 2003 by Apple Computer, consumers have downloaded songs from iTunes at a uniform pricing of 99 cents per song.

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Computer, has repeatedly argued that 'a buck a song' is an easy-to-understand proposition for consumers, plus a victory of sorts for the music business. He had earlier labeled the music industry 'greedy', for demanding a variable rate of music downloads from Apple's iTunes store. Yet, this one-price-fits-all structure might soon be on its way out. According to reports, Alain Levy, CEO, EMI Music, has said that he believes Jobs will introduce multiple price points for iTunes music, within the next year. There have been no comments from Apple on the issue.

Sources reveal that EMI Music along with Warner Music Group and Sony BMG, has been pushing Jobs to shift to a tiered pricing structure, wherein less popular songs will be discounted and in-demand songs will sell for more than a dollar.

Record labels champion flexible pricing for various reasons; one of them being that they are interested in boosting revenue from digital music sales, which have not been increasing at the expected pace.

Levy has said there is a common understanding between Apple Computer and EMI Music, that a shift to variable pricing is inevitable. However what is not clear is when Apple will execute the shift."