Variable Pricing at iTunes

Just as Apple had said at MacWorld, variable pricing for music sold at the iTunes store has started. What used to be a flat rate US$0.99 per song, is now spread across three price tiers at US$1.29, US$0.99, and US$0.69. Economically this makes sense, but I’m sure many customers would rather just continue to have the US$0.99 flat rate because, obviously, now all the popular songs are going to cost more.

At the same time, it seems Amazon and Wal-Mart MP3 stores have also introduced similar three-tier variable pricing. Amazon’s songs go for US$1.29, US$0.99 and US$0.79; Wal-Mart’s seems more attractive at US$1.24, US$0.94 and US$0.64. Apparently, songs are not offered at the same relative price points across the three stores.

I’m not sure what the Nokia Music Store has planned. The Singapore store was offering music at a flat rate of S$1.99, but with DRM-protection (Apple iTunes store have removed DRM from their music offerings).