Alyson Camus writes:
I don’t understand why music is so cheap these days, how can they still make money when they are selling an album to you for 99 cts! And why is still illegal to download an album for free? That means you are making a thief of yourself for 99 cts? That’s ridiculous!
Thanks to the LA Times for pointing to this page on amazon.com where you can get a $3 coupon after entering a code GET3MP3s:
Since there are tons of albums on sale for $3.99 or $4.99 on Amazon (a quick search returned 43,100 results!) you can actually get one for 99cts or 1.99cts… Kanye West’s latest album included!…My Chemical Romance’s latest album included! Robyn’s latest album included!
And what about Belle and Sebastian’s ‘Write about love’? It is advertised at $1.99, so that means they give it to you for free… amazing! I can’t decide what I should buy though.
Iman replies:
1. When there is no manufacturing and distribution costs the question isn’t why are MP3s so cheap on AMazon but why aren’t theu cheaper elsewhere. The reason is, because the record companies, musicians, and distributors want more money.
2. Itunes own 70% of the mp3s market. Amazon take a loss in the hopes that some of Itunes clientele will buy off Amazon, discover it is cheaper and easier, and use them. I bought the new Kanye from Amazon and absolutely plan to do it again it was so easy.
3. The musicians love this. Vampire Weekend went on sale a day early and went gold in part because it sold for $3.99 on Amazon.