When Apple launched its iTunes Plus service where it offers higher quality tracks lacking DRM, they charged a 30% premium over its standard 99c track pricing. Despite this premium, Mr Jobs claims that these tracks have been very popular with its customers, although there is no mention of how their sales compared with the DRM infected versions. In the mean time, Apple has already taken on DRM-free music from independent labels, but has been selling these at the regular 99 cent pricing. At this time, EMI is currently the only major music label making its music DRM free through iTunes.
Now that Amazon has launched its own DRM free music shop selling MP3 tracks as low as 89c a track, Apple has now decided to cut the price of all its DRM-free tracks to just 99 cent. This also means that customers who prefer to buy from iTunes no longer need to fork an extra premium just to get DRM-free versions of EMI's music.
Despite Amazon launching as a DRM-free only service from the start and offering compatibility with both iTunes and the iPod, it has so far barely made any dent into the market share of iTunes. The same goes with Wal-Mart's online store. But then again, as the iTunes store has been on the market for several years, it will be interesting to see how well Amazon and Wal-Mart get on, considering both have just recently launched.
