What happened to $9.99 per album?

jeb1138

jeb1138

Carioca
What happened (or is happening) to $9.99 per album in the iTunes Music store?

Examples:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=467951
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=493285
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=524339
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=513370

Seems I've been running into a lot of these lately. I thought Jobs originally said $9.99/album. Am I remembering wrong or has Apple changed their policy? $9.99/album was such a great selling point when explaining iTunes to my friends. Most people I know still end up using the $.99/song most of the time, but $9.99/album just makes it seem so much cheaper than normal CD's. Guess I can't use that as a selling point anymore. $9.99 "most of the time" just doesn't have the same ring to it...
 
Those links don't seem to want to load. Are you linking to locations within the music store? I don't think those are accessible from a browser... rather, try giving some examples, like list the album and the price.
 
Links works fine. you dont use Safari, arden?
Odd the 13+$ thingy. Maybe it's for albums with 12+ songs.
 
Actually I am using Safari. But I don't have iTunes 4, which is probably the problem.

Don't worry, it's on my list of stuff to do. :)
 
Athough 98% of the albums in iTunes sell for $9.99, there is the occasional artist who refuses to sell for any lower than the suggested retail. Also, artists may charge more for 2-disk compilations.
 
Weird to hear that the links work for some people and not for others. Here's the example albums I listed:

"Outbound" by Béla Fleck & The Flextones ($14)
(16 songs)

"Verdi: Messa da Requiem" by Riccardo Muti ($30)
(This is a 2 album set but that still comes out to $15/album and there are only 19 songs in the album. Granted, they are longer than normal songs. How convenient that they made just the first track "album only"....)

"Scarlet's Walk" by Tori Amos ($14)
(18 songs)

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack ($14)
(There are only 15 songs in this album. Wow, one free song. What a bargain you get for buying the entire album... :rolleyes:)

If Apple lets some artists do this, what will stop the others from revolting as well?
 
jeb1138 said:
Weird to hear that the links work for some people and not for others. Here's the example albums I listed:

"Outbound" by Béla Fleck & The Flextones ($14)
(16 songs)

"Verdi: Messa da Requiem" by Riccardo Muti ($30)
(This is a 2 album set but that still comes out to $15/album and there are only 19 songs in the album. Granted, they are longer than normal songs. How convenient that they made just the first track "album only"....)

"Scarlet's Walk" by Tori Amos ($14)
(18 songs)

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack ($14)
(There are only 15 songs in this album. Wow, one free song. What a bargain you get for buying the entire album... :rolleyes:)

If Apple lets some artists do this, what will stop the others from revolting as well?
Click to expand...

Sales... if you buy expensive albums, all album prices will go up, if you only buy $9.99 album, the others will disappear.
 
What are you guys complaining about!

The iTunes Music Store won't even sell the full set of Mozart's Don Giovanni... they have it, but you have to buy one track at a time (13 are shorter than one minute) for $.99. That is 72 tracks! (or $71.28 for the complete opera!)

Don't get me wrong, I like the iTunes Music Store, but for that kind of money I would want a set of CDs. It just isn't the best solution for everything.
 
i've actually been buying a lot of CD's at the store again because of this. the new blink-182 album is 9.99 @ best buy, and 13.99 on the iTMS. how can the packaging, and physical media cost more? that's just insane.

and this isn't a limited thing.
 
The ITMS is about convenience, not quality and completeness. Right out of the gate the music is compromised in its AAC form and albums are lacking full jacket art/info. But AAC is today. Who knows what tomorrow will give us.

As for the $10 album thing, my understanding is that every single artist has the exact same deal with Apple. Does somebody have the details of that deal? I bought Beck's Sea Change for $10 with 12 songs, so I "saved" a couple of bucks. Many other albums are full price—a twelve song album costs $11.88. Why some do it one way and others another is beyond me.

And anyone who believes that CDs are here forever, don't kid yourselves. That's the same mentality that thought LPs would be around forever. "But I like the big pictures and the smooth sound." Music CDs are on the way out. It's just a matter of time (several years). My buddy keeps promoting the fact that he will keep buying CDs for the inserts. Whatever. Like all he does is sit around reading CD inserts. Get a life. At some point (perhaps it's here now), all artist info will be freely available online [in one consolidated searchable space] with full res photos for printing, liner notes, lyric sheets, etc.

As for Don Giovanni, it looks like Apple (properly) created a very simple model that unfortunately fell apart for that recording. [I'm just curious, what what that recording cost on CD from another source?] The competition of course makes each song/album purchase a confusing mess of licensing and other rules, so Apple's model still is the best for that reason alone.

For me, ITMS is nearly perfect. I don't buy enough to worry about whether one album is $10 and another is $12. I don't care. I'm buying through ITMS for convenience, not price. It's biggest weakness right now is still completeness of content. I would have dropped a lot more money if they had a few more artists. But they know that. I'm sure everyone here would have dropped a few more nickels for a specific album here and there.
 
Béla Fleck is amazing. I saw him this summer, and I'm going to try to see him again soon. There are rumors of an upcoming performance with the Grand Rapids Ballet in town here.

Edit: Of course... not that he should charge more for his albums, haha.
 
Some artists like the Beatles and Metalica have specifically made it clear that they will not sell online while others can command a higher price. Probably has much to do with how powerful/profitable the group is for a record label.
 
mindbend said:
As for Don Giovanni, it looks like Apple (properly) created a very simple model that unfortunately fell apart for that recording. [I'm just curious, what what that recording cost on CD from another source?]
Click to expand...

I haven't gone looking for it at any of the local stores (I'm happy with my Highlights version for now), but Amazon has the same recording for $43.99.

Maybe shipping would push it over $70.00. ;)
 
themacko said:
I just went to a Béla Fleck concert on Monday .... freaking awesome!
Click to expand...

I have to agree. I have seen Béla so many times in concert. They are incredible. I own every album. I actually buy the CDs. This is one instance where I don't use the iTMS.
 
I don't remember Jobs saying all albums would be for $9.99. I remember seeing albums on the first day of the store being opened that were not for that amount.
 
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