Tiered pricing on iTunes, and why people need to stop complaining

As expected, Apple on Tuesday began rolling out tiered pricing on the iTunes Music Store. Gone are the days of ubiquitous 99 cent songs, and in its place are songs that range in price from 69 cents to $1.29. Record Executives are ecstatic while music lovers are cringing. The reality, however, is that the price hike is the target of a lot more criticism than it actually deserves, especially if you remember what purchasing music used to be like even 10 years ago. In 1999 I routinely paid upwards of $2.99 for CD singles, and that’s before you even factor in the sales tax. Back then I had to actually get up and either walk or drive to a Music Store where I was forced to fork over a few singles in return for a CD that had a song I liked, in addition to a crappy remix of a song I most likely hated. Nowadays, you can purchase songs and entire albums all from the comfort of your own home. And with an iPhone, you can pretty much buy music from any place you happen to be at any given part of the day from anywhere in the world. Even more amazing is the fact that you can browse through over 10 MILLION songs on iTunes with 30 second previews. By way of comparison, a common way to preview a CD 10 years ago was to go to a Music Store or a place like Borders, and pray that they were showcasing an album you happened to be interested in. Now that variable pricing on iTunes in full effect, people have been quick to jump up and shout that “iTunes sucks!” and that “Record Executives are evil!” (well maybe that one’s true), but it’s worthwhile to take a step back and take a look at just how far the music industry, from the perspective of the listener, has improved over the last 10 years. Think about it – Weezer currently has 119 songs on the iTunes Music Store, and you can preview every single last one of em’ for free, and purchase the ones you like while you watch TV, or even while you wait for a bus if you happen to have an iPhone. That’s pretty cool. The wide selection and convenience of iTunes always seems to be overlooked as people instead focus on a $1.29 Miley Cyrus song that they probably wouldn’t even purchase for a nickel. Steve Jobs and Apple tried to hang on to the 99 cent price point for as long as they could, and it’s amazing they were able to hold off the record companies for as long as they did. The iTunes Music Store launched in 2003, and what other product today costs the same amount in 2009 as it did in 2003? If anything, its more egregious that the price of a Kit Kat bar now costs $1 in some places. Prices always go up with time. It sucks, but that’s inflation, and its a fact of life. I’m not trying to argue that 30 extra cents a song isn’t that big of a deal. On the contrary, 30 extra cents can add up real quick over the course of a year. But it’s important to remember that all in all, music lovers have it pretty good these days, and iTunes isn’t the only game in town anymore. If you think that $1.29 is too much to pay for a song, then you can head on over to Amazon and get it for 99 cents. And if you don’t feel like purchasing any kind of music, then you can head over to Pandora or MySpace Music, and listen to free music for hours on end. Those are some pretty solid alternatives if $1.29 a song isn’t exactly your cup of tea, so why all the complaints?