$.99 ... Or $1.29?

After receiving a Christmas card which included a iTunes gift card earlier today, I decided it was time for me to do some shopping. When looking for the perfect album, which happened to be the Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas", in case you were wondering, I noticed price differentiation in popular music and just other music. I found that music that was more popular, say in the top 50 on the iTunes charts, were a whopping $1.29, rather than the standard iTunes $.99.

I think this is very interesting. iTunes can have a 30% increase in their music sales profit simply because they are charging more for the more popular music. I looked into it a little bit more and saw that the music prices were being raised because of they quality of the music was increasing, but I am not so sure about this. I believe that if you are increasing the quality of the music and would like to charge more for it, I believe you need to offer both types of qualities for people to purchase. If you are offering both with promises that one sounds better than the other, it is more than likely that people will spend the extra 30 cents and go for the nicer quality.

In conclusion, I think that this is a great way to increase your profit on your music sales, but to not offer anything else to your consumers is definitely taking advantage of your customers. If you are not giving them as choice to spend more on your higher quality music, than I believe people will be more than likely to purchase elsewhere, or even pirate the music, in which case nobody is making profit off of the music.

So, what do you think? Should iTunes offer both qualities of music to fit peoples budget and give them a choice, or is the 30 cents not worth anything to the customers, and they will buy it anyway?

Before the Music Dies... Or Are We Too Late?

So I'm starting to feel a bit pushy about my blog posts, but I highly recommend you watch the documentary which I posted a preview for above. This is a documentary about something that I have been looking more and more into, and though my schooling in entertainment business, is something that is really scares me. Let me explain.

First up, the theory of formula. It is brought up many times in this documentary that there is a formula that goes along with music business. This is something that I was taught in school about a year ago. The idea that you could make money off of these artists while they fit the formula, and the instant they weren't selling anymore, you would dump them and start again with some new artist that fits the formula. I believe this is one of the most cruel things you could do to an artist that fits the formula. To give them a great amount of success and tell them how great they are, then dump them because they don't sell is something that could seriously hurt any artist.

Heres something I would like all of you at home to try. Open up your iTunes and search three different artists: Ke$ha, Taylor Swift and Dave Matthews Band. Ready? Go.

Ke$ha is what I like to call the, born in the record company artist. She has no background in music, no past experience, no nothing at all that would link her past music experience to the successful artist she is today. This is because she has no past experience. I'm going to be a bit bold here, but Ke$ha is merely a pretty girl that fits the successful formula of how to make money in the entertainment business. Nothing more, but probably a whole lot less.

Up next: Taylor Swift. Relatively successful in the music business scene for the past five years, successful tours under her belt, and a whole lot of money to her name. Unfortunately, I'm afraid to say it, but she's in the same boat as Ke$ha. Although Tay Tay may have a little more of a music background than Ke$ha, she's still someone who was picked up merely because she fit the pop music formula. I honestly feel sorry for Taylor, because she was really used. But, after two years of schooling and watching her grow, I can safely say that Taylor Swift is nothing more than a cash cow for the music company that had the genius idea to pick her up. Not because of her talent, but because she fit the formula. Thats. It.

Lastly, Dave Matthews Band. Although I may be a bit biased because I am from Charlottesville, I think this is still correct. Look at their albums on iTunes. Next, count how many you didn't know about. Dave Matthews Band is constantly putting out albums, wether or not they are successful or not. Dave Matthews Band is not driven by album sales or success, they are driven by their music and what they want to do. There is no conformity for this band, and this is both a strength and a weakness. They have lesser funds because they are not doing as what big record companies would want, but they are working hard on giving the fans what they want. This has worked for them for almost 20 years now, and hopefully it will keep working.

In conclusion, I believe there is still a way to change the way the music industry works, and I think it's something we all can do: Buy the right music. Don't buy the newest Ke$ha album, you will hear it enough on any Clear Channel radio station. Rather, support local music, go to concerts for some upcoming artists in the area, and help support smaller artists. Because they're the ones who need your money, not Ke$ha.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/62945/before-the-music-dies