February 18, 2006
Music "windowing"
The movie guys have exploited new media to push release "windowing" in a highly efficient scheme of price discrimination: suckers pay $10 per head to see it in theaters, enthusiasts pay $10 per copy to see it on DVD, and all the way down to cheapskates who suffer ads to see the Broadcast Premiere.
Music: the time is nigh. CDs, tapes, records used to all appear at once at vaguely similar prices. Well, online-burn vs. online subscription vs. CD is the first meaningful separation. Now you'll be able to buy the album in stores for $17, buy at track for 0.99 per track around that same time, and wait a bit to get it on your unlimited subscription service.
The subscription services are like "cable TV" for music.
Posted by amol at February 18, 2006 04:35 PM
