At left, a pair of blogger-friendly offerings from iTunes’ brand-new “Next Big Thing” store, where prices are insaaaane (well, cheaper than a used CD, anyway). We’re guessing this isn’t exactly what Universal Music Group had in mind when it pressured Apple for “variable pricing.”
iTunes Store Spins Cut-Rate Album Downloads [Digital Music News]
Is this US-only? I checked the friendly neighbourhood Canadian iTMS last night and sadly none of the albums were marked down in the slightest :(
FYI: Those prices are good for “iTunes Plus” versions as well. I purchased the Digitalism CD yesterday for $6.99 and it came DRM free.
I just bought the LCD Soundsystem DRM-free from here. Thanks for pointing it out!
LCD tanked that badly, huh.
@Ned Raggett: The Pitchfork crowd is a fickle bunch.
Have you heard of this hot new Animal Collective band. I hear they will make quite a splash.
I love it. I’m all for power of the market place. If something’s not moving, mark it down until it does. Supply and demand.
This is interesting, but it shouldn’t necessarily be read as a fire sale; more like a promotional gambit by EMI. It’s not like there’s extra “stock” of these albums lying around a warehouse somewhere; this is a digital store. Clearly, Apple was allowed to price these albums this way by the label.
Not that I want to prevent anyone from snarking about Hot Chip or LCD, love them both though I do…
Actually, this is likely exactly what UMG had in mind, as long as stuff on the opposite end of the popularity spectrum merits more than $0.99/track.