Why don’t they just remove pricing restrictions and let the musicians/producers set their own prices. The market can decide where pricing should land. Why does Apple get to tell musicians how much to sell their product for?
Yeah $1.29 is too much for a downloaded song! 99 cents was too much! The songs downloaded from iTunes are compressed, so they are of lesser audio quality than you get from a CD. There’s also no packaging at all. These factors should be taken into consideration. Add to that the fact that the hit artists in the music business are all multi-millionaires — and demanding even MORE cash from radio stations for performance rights — and I think the songs cost WAY too much. If the artists made a reasonable living, just like the rest of us, their songs would probably cost just a few cents each to download. At five cents per download, they’d still be rich. Ryan Seacrest talked Crystal Bowersox out of quitting American Idol by telling her to stick around and buy her mother a house. She’s not even a star yet and already she’s being tempted by ridiculous amounts of money. Pop stars of the past got into the business because they loved the music. Today, it’s all about the money. It’s OUR money they’re getting, and we seem to give it to them a bit too easily.
@Joe Knapp
Not all musicians are filthy rich. In fact, most musicians are struggling. Only the elite few (Kanye West, Taylor Swift only to name a couple of the many) are rich like that. A majority make modest incomes and most are struggling. I know, I am a musician.
Also, most revenue for an artist is NOT generated by record sales. In fact, out of those 99 cents, the artist will only get about 6 cents depending on their deal and if they own their own publishing company, etc. Most revenue comes from live performances and merchandising. And IMHO, top artists are getting too much for live shows and not enough from record sales. I paid $250 to go see The Police a couple years ago. Fantastic show, but WAY too much money. Only reason I went is because I never saw them and might not have had another chance.
My point is, know the business before you start ranting about it. MOST artists (and most is the key word, not all) are in the industry to entertain and inspire, not because they want to be millionaires.
I am a singer/songwriter struggling to make ends meet and I do not think that $1.29 is too much to charge for most people are downloading these songs and making their own CDs and not buying the actual CD.Consumers have to understand that it is very expensive to make a quality CD and perhaps this price raise might encourage them to buy the real CD thus benefitting the artist.
i would say depending on the song it’s too much.
Why don’t they just remove pricing restrictions and let the musicians/producers set their own prices. The market can decide where pricing should land. Why does Apple get to tell musicians how much to sell their product for?
Yeah $1.29 is too much for a downloaded song! 99 cents was too much! The songs downloaded from iTunes are compressed, so they are of lesser audio quality than you get from a CD. There’s also no packaging at all. These factors should be taken into consideration. Add to that the fact that the hit artists in the music business are all multi-millionaires — and demanding even MORE cash from radio stations for performance rights — and I think the songs cost WAY too much. If the artists made a reasonable living, just like the rest of us, their songs would probably cost just a few cents each to download. At five cents per download, they’d still be rich. Ryan Seacrest talked Crystal Bowersox out of quitting American Idol by telling her to stick around and buy her mother a house. She’s not even a star yet and already she’s being tempted by ridiculous amounts of money. Pop stars of the past got into the business because they loved the music. Today, it’s all about the money. It’s OUR money they’re getting, and we seem to give it to them a bit too easily.
How about 5 songs for $1 or an original music video for $1.
Seems fair to me.
@Joe Knapp
Not all musicians are filthy rich. In fact, most musicians are struggling. Only the elite few (Kanye West, Taylor Swift only to name a couple of the many) are rich like that. A majority make modest incomes and most are struggling. I know, I am a musician.
Also, most revenue for an artist is NOT generated by record sales. In fact, out of those 99 cents, the artist will only get about 6 cents depending on their deal and if they own their own publishing company, etc. Most revenue comes from live performances and merchandising. And IMHO, top artists are getting too much for live shows and not enough from record sales. I paid $250 to go see The Police a couple years ago. Fantastic show, but WAY too much money. Only reason I went is because I never saw them and might not have had another chance.
My point is, know the business before you start ranting about it. MOST artists (and most is the key word, not all) are in the industry to entertain and inspire, not because they want to be millionaires.
I am a singer/songwriter struggling to make ends meet and I do not think that $1.29 is too much to charge for most people are downloading these songs and making their own CDs and not buying the actual CD.Consumers have to understand that it is very expensive to make a quality CD and perhaps this price raise might encourage them to buy the real CD thus benefitting the artist.