Music Biz Needs to Fix Pricing

So the Attorney General is investigating price fixing in the online music industry.

Well, something needs to be done, because the model today hurts consumers and the industry. To charge the same price for a chart topping track from Mariah Carey or Toby Keith as for Pat Boone's 1997 cover of Crazy Train is just crazy.

The 99 cents-for-all model goes against supply and demand. Download sites like iTunes should harge more for current hits ($1.49) and less (49 cents) for oldies. I bet online sales would grow exponentially if you could buy old stuff in bulk, like 10 tracks for $5. Another absurdity is that sometimes if an album contains fewer longer tracks, (such as with Pink Floyd albums), it costs more to buy the album than it does to buy the songs one at a time.

Music sellers need to follow the movie model- you pay more ($9) to see a flick when it first comes out than you do 6 months later on pay-per-view ($5), and even less to own/rent it after a few years.

I bet if Alberto just invited music execs for a "meeting" to discuss this at Guantanamo that we'd instantly have a new pricing model.