Summer Budget Travel Tips from Gadling

WSJ Rips Label Misjudgment of Download Pricing

I'm glad to see the Wall Street Journal weigh in on label foolishness regarding single-track download pricing. With the success of ringtones, priced universally at $2.50, labels are lusting for a boost in the traditional 99-cent full-song download. This is typical label thinking, ruled by incremental product valuation that has no relationship to consumer thinking. NOTE TO LABELS: It's about lifestyle, dummies. Kids gladly fork over $2.50 for a ringtone because it identifies them—publicly, loudly, cooly. Full-track downloads which end up in iPod playlists injected directly (and privately) into youthful ears have much reduced identification value. Plus, you need many more of them to playlist your daily life. PLUS—the full-song download marketplace is demographically different from the ringtone marketplace. The labels should thank their Jobs-motivated stars that a reasonably substantial market for 99-cent downloads exists at all.

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