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Everybody had better be very careful not to maim or kill the golden goose.

I hope Apple sticks to their guns and keeps the 99-cents price point.

MDN MW: "maybe" (Uh, oh.)

good job record labels...You're about to drive piracy higher then ever. Shut out iTunes, raise the price, make it more difficult to use the music you OWN as you chose and we'll find ways around it.

Greedy record labels will spoil online download business and increase piracy all over again. I think Steve Jobs will bring this point up big time.

Nice to see Apple's inconsistency on this one. Apple opens their Japanese iTunes Music Store without the support of Sony and Warner.
Meanwhile in Australia Apple cancels the opening of the Australian iTunes Music Store.

Come on Apple stop discriminating against Australian supporters the iTunes service. It just makes Australians feel that we're getting a raw deal because Apple wasn't prepared to take on Sony over their excessive greed.

I'm surprised they caved and allowed the two-tiered pricing in Japan. That opens Pandora's box. Apple, don't let the bastards grind you down.

Apple has actually been very consumer friendly in its iTunes products. In total fairness they have actually done a good job of looking out for us while still functioning as a profit making business. Cudos Apple! With this in mind, Apple has a golden opportunity coming up. They can blame the labels for necessary changes but still allow price increases and new feature additions. Apple will agree to price increases but extract from the labels some concessions to help themselves. My bet is that this time next year iTunes will have a multi level price structure (oldies $.79, new hits $1.29) but also a choice of download bandwidth (AAC 128k no extra, AAC 198k +$.10, Apple Lossless +$.25). As far as the DRM, it will continue as is because its to the labels advantage to have multiple DRM schemes out there. They have all the content deliverers competing with each other. From the labels view, that's perfect.

MDN,

Apple may have more clout, but they don't own the music. With ~80% of the MP3 player market owned by Apple and over 500M song sold, there are a LOT of folks who are tied in to iTMS and have drunk the KoolAid.

You can bet the record companies have a lot more clout, too! You're hooked! Where else are you going buy your music online (from a practical sense) if you have an iPod?

What, exactly, it two-tiered pricing?

Fuck those greedy bastards.

"Where else are you going buy your music online (from a practical sense) if you have an iPod?"

allofmp3.com

Not as elegant as iTMS, but only 2 cents per megabyte for 192 aac.

Who needs who here? Lets see, record labels having to produce products and deliver to retail shops so they can sit on the selves? Or piss off the consumers and have them go back to stealing? Freak'n idiots. Why any would make a deal with a record label now is nuts.

Lets see, the reasons people pirate is that it's free and more convenient than buying a cd. Digital downloads can only compete by being just (if not more convenient) and keeping the price low enough not to drive people away.

Raising the price on such a relatively new market place is insanity. Piracy is still a problem, iTunes (and yes other services) are helping but it's too early to be pushing the price up. Of course I think they shouldn't do it irrespective of piracy but still they keep moaning about it but the moment they see an opportunity to bring in more money they forget about how much it could end up losing them.

"Come on Apple stop discriminating against Australian supporters the iTunes service. It just makes Australians feel that we're getting a raw deal because Apple wasn't prepared to take on Sony over their excessive greed."

Shut the F up. Im so sick of people whining about "being discriminated against" over some bullcrap like online music purchasing. You have no sense of reality whatsoever. First of all discriminataion is a serious thing, and doesnt apply to music download purchases. Secondly, you act as if Apple is deliberately making your life a living hell. If they COULD sell you music, they would do it. Stop acting like somehow they are doing you some majro life injustice.

Greed, greed, greed, greed. Shameful.

Higher prices? They're already charging too much on iTunes.

Screw the damn recording industry. Share music with your friends. Think your cheating musicians? Think again, it's the record companies that are cheating them. See downhill battle:

http://www.downhillbattle.org/

let them charge more for new releases or music/video combos and then drop the price of those items after they've been out for a couple weeks.

Business is business and we're all victims of that fact...

Maybe if they up the bitrate or offer them in ALC. But I'm not going to pay more than $1 for 128 kbs AAC. That would be bad (MDN Magic Word) business.

I read recently that those with an ipod full of pirate downloads are the same people who also buy the most on-line music. Your average Mr & Mrs Jones still buy most of their music on CDs. Now is not the time for the record companies to attempt a strangle hold.

If they stay off iTunes or try to blackmail Apple - you just know SJ will dump all their music - like he does when other people /companies get to piss him off.

The downloaders will still get the music onto their ipods - because they have already invested a lot of money in them. Just BMG Sony won't be getting the revenue - and it's not like Apple is getting the lion's share of that anyway.

They have no choice but to lower the price. An increase would make it more expensive than a cd. There are 89¢ sites out there along with subscription sites. If its greed they want I have enough music to last a life time. As for any copy protected cd's I have no use for them. I am not a crook and if you treat me like one I will not help or support you. These types of things only hurt the honest people. Those who want will find a way around it. Wake up record companies you are spending a dollar to find a dime.

I will not pay a cent more unless they make it possible to download the music in the lossless (cd-quality) format. I already have stopped buying much from the iTMS because I would rather just buy the cd and rip it at whatever quality I like than ONLY have it available at 128bits(?).

I still buy CDs because I can rip at a higher bit rate.

99 cents for a song at 128 kbs doesn't seem worth it. I suppose I have spent $30 at iTMS - 10 of those being a gift certificate!

This industry still needs to mature - I figure that the labels need to learn where the money will be in the future.

Probably when lossless songs are at a buck a piece then I will use the service more.

I wonder how much it would cost to buy the labels? Then Apple can really drive the price down and make digital downloads the main stream source for music. Once Apple sort out their issue with Apple Corps, I'm sure they'll start in the publishing business.

Surely the only justification for increasing the prices charged to consumers is if there is an increase in material or distribution costs.

There can't be an increase in the former, unless electrons have recently become more expensive, and the latter is borne by Apple.

Ah, I hear a music industry apologist saying that the cost of breaking new acts has increased: recording studio costs, marketing et al. Horse puckey!! Recording costs have decreased dramatically in real terms over the last 25 years as the price/performance curve of recording equipment has worked so dramatically in the artists' favour that many simply use home/personal studios for the vast majority of production and marketing/media costs have also decreased as the number of media outlets have increased.

So the justification must be: we - the greedy, out-of-touch, coke-snorting music industry - simply want more money. And that is the start of going down the same slippery slope that produced the illegal download market in the first place.

I'd pay more for higher bitrate tracks from iTunes Music Store. Give us a choice, Apple. I think they'd be surprised at how many people want higher quality AAC.

$0.99 - 128kbps
$1.25 - 192kbps
$1.49 - 320kbps

Yeah, Apple has more clout than it did when the iTMS was launched, but the labels are also a lot more afraid of Apple than they were then. They see this single gigantic behemoth ruling the world of legal downloads. They know that if they don't assert themselves now, they'll eventually be utterly at Apple's mercy.

While I'm ranting -- two things that piss me off:
- People who support the Russian mob by buying from allofmp3.com (Don't try to tell me they don't have a piece of that juicy all-profit "business".)
- People who use pompous "rights" arguments to feel better about downloading free music. It's music. It's entertainment. It's not food or clothing or shelter. It's not a life necessity. The EFF and their ilk cheapen the arguments they use by applying them to such trivialities.

Record labels to push Apple for higher iTunes Music Store prices in 2006?

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headline: Record labels to push Apple to bend over their customers in 2006?

Apple doesn't want it..I just don't see this happening.. even the bitrate thing is clever.. but still confusing (unless there was an iTMS options bar where you could change the bitrate of ITMS songs)

These whining greedos didn't even know how to sell their music online until Apple showed them it could be done. They agreed to SJ's terms because they thought he couldn't do what they were unable to do. I remember when CDs first came out, the industry complained they had to keep the prices high because all the equipment was overseas. Well, once the equipment for burning came to the states, the prices never came down. The only discounted CDs were the original AAD stuff they rushed out, or the dogs that wouldn't sell. New releases were full price, $18.00 or more. That is what they want Apple to do now, Charge more for the new stuff, and less for the stuff they can't move. These greedos always have an excuse up their silk sleeves.

I believe that Apple has done a bit of a David Campese "Goose Step" (also known as a "side step" or "running rings") around all of the record companies and done it so successfully that the the record companies are neither willing to admit that they have had their collective asses kicked, whipped and "L. A. OOP'D" or wanting to concede defeat, and as a result of their downright arrogance through incompentance of the inability to deal with the success of file sharing (drop the price of a CD) are going to atempt to force Apple to raise its prices to stop it from makeing them look like they are standing still on the rugby field while the compaetition waltzes on by while "flipping the bird!"

Cheers

Just say NO. It's so simple to keep record companies honest. The problem is always YOU the consumer. Don't buy iTunes music if they raise the price. If Apple saw a 50% reduction in sales of music after a price increase don't you think just maybe that price increase would go away? But no just like a bunch of lemmings, consumers pay price increases.

'Shaun' this is a family channel. So please watch your fu*k*ng language in here!



Sorry, now back to the topic:

The greedy record label assh*les should be should ask "how high" when iCon says "jump". He dragged those morons into the 21st century and now they try to thank him by kicking Apple in the nutz at every turn.

Contrary to the Gecko, pop capitalist culture view, 'Greed' is not good.

Question: Why aren't more artist using modern tech to record, publish and market their art directly?

"I for one am not going to take it" hit the nail on the head. Americans are proud that we have a market economy but don't understand that that means the price will be what the market will support. It has nothing to do with how much it cost to produce the product, only how much the consumer is willing to pay. If downloads are $1 each then that's how much people are willing to pay. If they up the price then only the market will decide if it stays there or not.

I wish there were NO RECORD LABELS! I wish EVERY artist would go indie when their contract is up. Apple now works directly with Musicians. Who needs the bloated middleman? Radio Stations - that's who. They need the payola they get from the labels to give heavy rotation to the latest boy band or teenage superstar. And most of us buy music we hear on the radio. I hope this all changes with podcasting, etc.

Don't buy iTunes music if they raise the price.

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It goes without saying ... you don't have to TELL people.. that's what Adam Smith's invisible hand was all about.. the market will communicate to Apple when they're prices are too high...

People who think it's too high.. by definition.. won't buy. That's what 'too high' is...

Remember.. labels and apple want the same thing.. max profit.. so by raising the price TOO HIGH.. they might actually cause a lower overall revenue (less participants).. so they won't negotiate a higher price, for the sake of a higher price...

Re Hammer

The criticism stands, Apple is now on record of having one rule for Japanese subscribers and another for Australians. You en joy the use of Apple's iTunes Music Store whereas Australian music lovers are left out in the cold. The truth may hurt your dignity but it is still the truth.

As for your puerile attempt at insult I refuse to lower myself towards your infantile level. Likewise I can tell from your reluctance to correctly spell profanity that you are definitely not an Australians. Australians, have no trouble using swear words. So you can use your iTunes Music Store and we can't.

You're just a useless lump of hypocrisy parading a flaming turd. And my still criticism stands. Want to try some more of your useless flaming, it just adds to your anal retentiveness.

A while back after reading about record labels greed, copy protection where one cannot play some CDs in cars, home PC and the like and their suing users I have completely quit purchasing music on CDs or on any media.

In the future I will not be purchasing any music, I don't need their aggravation plus don't want to contribute to their insanity. In fact because there are other things to occupy my mind I can live without music. I'll now put my money into other things of interest to me (used to spend thousands a year on music); music companies you loose.

As for Apple having different pricing for different countries Apple may not have any choice on that because that's what record labels are charging Apple in those areas and also what those countries require. A company such as Apple cannot just go into a country and start selling iTunes. Recall, in some European countries, Apple at one point was precluded from selling iTunes.

Now that Sony can't pay radio stations to play their lame 'artists' they shouldn't need such a large slice of the pie. Greedy MFs- all of them in the 'biz.

SuzieMacFan:

Apple only works with artists directly if they are already million-selling superstars with their own labels. "little guys" can forget being put on the iTMS , unless they go through the established music brokers like The Orchard or CD Baby.

How do I know this?

Because my latest release (called "State Of Mind Vol. 2") is currently on the iTMS via The Orchard. I submitted to the iTMS directly via their online submission form, and got the reply that I HAVE to go through one of the 8 or 9 indie music brokers. As a truly DIY, unknown artist, you have 0 chance of getting on the iTMS on your own. Zero.

(BTW, after The Orchard submitted my release, it took 3 MONTHS for the iTMS to actually post it, and The Orchard is the world's largest supplier of indie content to the iTMS.)

The iTMS is big business now, so forget about any notion you (indie musicians) might have had about it leveling the playing field.

the only thing labels will get is less people geting leagal music and more people going back to p2p, won't stop sales of iPod since you can easily put music that was downloaded using a p2p client on to iPod.

Sure, go ahead and raise prices. But I'm only spending so much per month/year on music. Raising prices won't necessarily raise the bottom line.

If the price hike meant a higher bit rate, say 192 kbps or better, I might even replace some of my crappier P2P downloads.

I thought that the two tier pricing in Japan was a bad omen. I am sure that it was not Apple's choice and they had to compromise to finally get ITMS launched in Japan. Let's hope that it does not end up biting them in the ass. I would like to see it turn out that Apple has enough clout now that if the record labels push too hard, Apple could somehow do an end run around them. The labels treat the artists like crap.

When Apple starts selling lossless versions of music for 99¢, then I'll consider it. Until then, lossy formats for the same average price per track as a CD won't get my attention. Better off buying the track out the used bin or heavy discount and ripping it yourself, IMHO.

iTMS is for the mobile customer who's environment and playback device is inherently inferior to a even an fairly inexpensive stereo. Too bad. I hope it improves. Maybe when Apple starts offering MPEG4 HDTV downloads?

>What, exactly, it two-tiered pricing?>

The price gets so high that a tear drops out of each of your eyes.

Like others who have posted on here, I'd pay more for higher bit rate downloads, preferably Apple Lossless. Otherwise, I'll just buy the CD and rip it in Lossless. The only music I buy from iTMS is when I wanted to a campy music mix for someone's birthday, including some Village People tracks. I'm not going to embarrass myself by buying one of those CD's!

This could kill the music download market in one fell swoop.

Won't be the first time record company greed has killed a product.

Better to sell millions on tracks at 99c than 1000s of tracks at $3!