Apple set to increase iTunes Store prices

by Stevie Smith - Mar 27 2009, 16:45

Music buyers looking to watch their pennies as the recession continues to tighten its grip won’t be thrilled to learn that Apple Inc. is actually planning to increase its iTunes Store prices within the next two weeks.

The new tiered system, which was first alluded to back in January, will see the existing $0.99 USD price associated with the majority of downloads on iTunes moving to $1.29 USD for more popular tracks, which is the equivalent of a 30 percent leap.

However, in an effort to offset the increase applied to newer and more popular downloads, Apple will also move to drop the price of certain older and less popular iTunes offerings, which will fall from $0.99 USD to just $0.69 USD, reports The Times.

While the report outlines that, “most of the 10 million songs in the iTunes catalog are expected to remain at 99 cents,” Apple’s adoption of a tiered supply-and-demand structure may upset many iTunes users as it’s connected directly to artist popularity.

“Releases from new artists would receive the lower pricing, while tracks from popular acts would be slapped with the higher rating,” writes C. Chmielewski. “Even classics, such as Bruce Spingsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ could retail for the higher price.”

Expected to be officially introduced on April 07, the pricing alterations will also be accompanied by the more widespread removal of contentious digital rights management (DRM), which will at least enable buyers to copy and play their content on any mobile music player.

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