iTunes launches new prices, eliminates DRM

April 13, 11:05 PMSF Music Industry ExaminerJeffrey Winslow

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If you're willing to forego buying a single and buy a whole album instead, there are deals to be had.

iTunes has finally launched their new pricing structure, and has removed DRM (Digital Rights Management) from their downloads.

This is both good and bad news for consumers. Those who want the ability to more easily transfer their downloaded music to other devices will be thrilled by the seeming death of DRM. Others, especially those whose tastes run more toward music in the Top 40, will find it a bit distressing that they now have to pay 30% more for many of their favorite songs.

The new iTunes download pricing structure for music is $1.29 for the most popular music, $0.99 for a large portion of their vast catalog, and $0.69 for lesser-known artists' music and music that, in the brick-and-mortar music stores of old, would have been in the bargain bin.

The change in pricing from the standard, $0.99 per song to which we have all grown accustomed cannot  be tossed solely into the lap of Apple, however. Much of the reason for this change is attributable to the record labels. The labels have been clamoring for variable pricing for quite a while now, in the hopes of more fully capitalizing on their most valuable artists. They can't be begrudged their desire to make the most money possible on their various investments, but it certainly comes at a difficult economic time for consumers.

There is a bit of  a silver lining, however, if you're willing to forego buying a single and buy a whole album instead. If, for example, you wanted to buy the Rihanna song, "Umbrella," you would now have to pay $1.29 to download it on iTunes. However, if you find you are interested in enough other songs from the same Rihanna album, you could end up with15 songs and two videos for only $9.99. Suddenly, it's an attractive deal.

Time will tell whether consumers embrace the deals that arise through a return to purchasing full albums--like in the brick-and-mortar days of yore--or if those same consumers will begin to slip through the fingers of Apple and into the waiting arms of other online music retailers willing to keep their price point for singles at, or below, $0.99.

Is this change a good thing, or do you think Apple has caved to the pressure of the record labels? Will you change your music download habits because of the new pricing structure?

Jeffrey Winslow can be reached at LeftToWrite@syrym.com, or you can check out his work as the lead singer for Syrym on their self-titled debut album, here.