Andre Yoskowitz
9 Apr 2009 1:10
On Tuesday, Apple's iTunes went DRM-free, but at the same time began charging more for new hit singles, $1.29 USD, up from the standard $0.99.
Today, Amazon and Wal-Mart followed the move by upping the price of new tracks by 30 cents as well, to $1.29 on Amazon, and $1.24 at Wal-Mart. Apple now sells older tracks for 69 cents, 99 cents for most new tracks, and $1.29 for the biggest new hits.
Amazon's decision, in particular, seems strange especially considering the company dropped the price of the best selling MP3s in the UK version of the store just this week to rival Apple's increases.
According to NPD data, Amazon has about 16 percent market share in the legal music download market, far behind iTunes, but far ahead of all other competitors, including Wal-Mart.
Analyst Matt Rosoff adds: "I can't imagine Amazon's excited about raising prices in a recession?they're probably responding to price increases by the record labels, which were made possible by Apple's capitulation."