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DIGITAL MUSIC
99 cents isn’t enough for major labels
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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Poke around the Warner Brothers Records Web site (www.warnerbrosrecords.com), scan past lame headlines like "Mark Knopfler wastes money on nothing," then look down to the lower right and you’ll find a link commanding you to buy digital music. Click on that and you get a hand-slapping lecture about stealing music through peer-to-peer networks, then a non-alphabetical list of 10 online retailers. The first is applemusic.com (which, oddly, is incorrect; the correct link is www.apple.com/itunes). Next year, Warner may not be so willing to send people to the (alleged) portal for iTunes. Apple recently launched iTunes in Japan without catalogues from Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Entertainment, both of which refused to license their music in the Japanese market. According to the New York Times, the two major labels don’t like iTunes’s policy of selling every song for the fixed price of 99 cents. Instead, they’d rather see staggered costs, based on popularity — perhaps $1.49 for a Billboard hit. So Green Day’s "Wake Me Up When September Ends," the second-most popular song on iTunes this week, would be a buck and a half in September and presumably only a buck in October. In that case, you could wait until the month’s over for a cheaper deal. Or maybe your sharp listening will be rewarded if you can can spot a new hit before the label figures it out and hikes up the price. Or you could just fire up BitTorrent. From now through Christmas you’re safe. Major-label contracts with Apple are up early next year. So you can either buy now and save — or save your money for the new Apple/Motorola iPod cell phone, which is expected to be unveiled on September 7.
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