04/12/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Labels seek end to 99¢ music per song download
from The Register
Remember how online music stores were going to route around the music industry? The pigopolists (Pigopolist? Ummm, right.) have barely got their feet under the table and already demanding more. The Wall Street Journal reports that the major five labels think that 99 cents per song is too cheap, and are discussing a price hike that would increase the tariff to $1.25 up to $2.99 per song.
The current tariff is too much for most people, as saggy sales indicate. "99 cents a song is a pricing model designed to protect CD sales, and not one designed to move people into a new digital music marketplace," senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation Fred Lohmann told us recently. "If an iPod has room for 4,000, does Apple think people are getting to spend $4,000 filling it with music?"
Ninety-nine cents is already too much for a low quality DRM crippled song. What do they have to offer me for three bucks? Shitty music du jour, that only plays on the overpriced hardware of their choice? No thanks.
1 Annotation Submitted
Monday the 12th of April, santo26 noted:
LPs are sonically superior and you can have them for less than 99 cents in many cases. Certain artists actually release their new albums on records as well. Then you can tape the songs and play them. Good luck trying to find fresh blank tapes though!
