Thursday, March 29, 2007

After arguing for years that the success of its iTunes Store rests on low, standardized pricing, Apple on Wednesday unveiled a new feature of the online service, called Complete My Album, that was directly requested by the music industry. Users who purchase individual songs on iTunes can now buy the rest of the album via the service for a discounted price.

Previously, iTunes customers who purchased individual tracks from an album were not credited for those purchases if they later went back and purchased the entire album, meaning they were effectively charged for certain songs twice. Now, customers will receive a 99 cent credit for each song they purchased from an album when they later go back and purchase the full album.

The industry is straining to shore up the album as long as possible, in part by prodding listeners who buy one song to purchase the rest of a collection. Apple, in consultation with several labels, has been planning to offer iTunes users credit for songs they have already purchased if they then choose to buy the associated album in a certain period of time, according to people involved in the negotiations. (Under Apple’s current practice, customers who buy a song and then the related album effectively pay for the song twice).

Labels: Apple, Digital media, iPod, iTunes