In an article titled, “Apple Backs Music Industry Format” from NewsMax.com this week, Apple is exploring a new way to back the “album format” method of music buying- online. The online music service, iTunes, will offer credit to users for every song that they already own from albums that can be found on iTunes. So, a user gets a $0.99 credit to purchasing the album that the matching song they own.
The article states: “Apple said on Thursday iTunes is introducing a "Complete My Album" service that offers customers who want to turn individual tracks into an album a 99-cent credit for every song they have already purchased from the album.
For example, if a customer had bought three 99-cent singles and decides to download the entire album with a listed price of $9.99, the customer would only have to pay $7.02.” Although previous posts in this blog have supported new methods to revenue, it does customize demand for this specialized sector in the record industry. Perhaps Apple is trying to appease the labels after his DRM-free public announcement? The model is advantageous to both iTunes users looking to complete collections, and the business model that most labels are desperately trying to cling to as album sales continue to drop.
It keeps consumers from buying the same song twice, if they do choose to move to buying an entire album, but do not wish to spend the $9.99. The new model seems to be something Apple should have introduced a long time ago, but didn’t feel pressured to do so until album sales continued to plummet. Is it the last gasp of the album? No. But it does demonstrate how some music services are feeling the heat of low sales, bending to pressure to lower price, even lower than $9.99.
If anything, it could serve as a domino effect for other music services to provide affordable ways to buy music, even it will eventually be free in the future.
The article can be viewed here: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/3/30/140141.shtml?s=te
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