Apple in a tribute to Whitney
14 February 2012, 12:34 PM
#1
Pontificating
Thread Starter
Apple in a tribute to Whitney
Good of them to raise the price of her back catalogue by roughly 3 quid an album as of last Sunday.
Classy
Classy
14 February 2012, 12:42 PM
#4
Scooby Regular
But let's not facts get in the way of a good old apple
Bashing thread
Bashing thread
This weekend, music superstar Whitney Houston died. As a result, millions mourned her death and honoured her memory by downloading her Greatest Hits and back catalog on their favourite digital music store.
Apple’s iTunes music service and Amazon’s retail website were two of the most popular destinations for those wanting to obtain some of Houston’s back catalog. Houston’s singles and albums topped bestselling lists on both services.
It appears that within 30 minutes of Houston’s death becoming public, the price of the artist’s The Ultimate Collection album (released in 2007) rose from £4.99 to £7.99. Some iTunes users told*DigitalSpy that as the price change propgated, the album became unavailable to download.
Immediately, users began accusing Apple of taking advantage of the singer’s death, ramping up pricing in order to profit from the announcement. By Sunday evening,*the album had returned to its original price.
Whilst Apple has been accused of affecting the digital music industry with its fixed pricing structure for music tracks, the Cupertino-based technology giant has come in for some unnecessary criticism in this case.
As it turns out, the Sony Music was responsible for the price increase after it increased the wholesale price of The Ultimate Collection.
We reached out to*Sony Music Entertainment UK this morning but did not receive a response. However, The Guardian did*receive word on the matter, and it appears that when the wholesale price change was*instigated, it*”automatically boosted the retail price of the popular album, although Apple is responsible setting the price paid by music fans.”
The Guardian’s Josh Halliday continues:
It is understood that the change occurred after Sony Music reviewed Houston’s iTunes catalogue after the singer was pronounced dead.
One insider close to the situation said the price hike was not a “cynical” move – but that the wholesale price of Houston’s The Ultimate Collection was wrong. The change in wholesale price boosted the album’s retail price on iTunes.
Apple’s system updated the price based on Sony Music’s changes, as it likely does with the large majority of listings from the world’s biggest record labels.
Despite the price increase, the*Official Charts Company*has said that it expects Whitney Houston to dominate the music charts over the next week.
Apple’s iTunes music service and Amazon’s retail website were two of the most popular destinations for those wanting to obtain some of Houston’s back catalog. Houston’s singles and albums topped bestselling lists on both services.
It appears that within 30 minutes of Houston’s death becoming public, the price of the artist’s The Ultimate Collection album (released in 2007) rose from £4.99 to £7.99. Some iTunes users told*DigitalSpy that as the price change propgated, the album became unavailable to download.
Immediately, users began accusing Apple of taking advantage of the singer’s death, ramping up pricing in order to profit from the announcement. By Sunday evening,*the album had returned to its original price.
Whilst Apple has been accused of affecting the digital music industry with its fixed pricing structure for music tracks, the Cupertino-based technology giant has come in for some unnecessary criticism in this case.
As it turns out, the Sony Music was responsible for the price increase after it increased the wholesale price of The Ultimate Collection.
We reached out to*Sony Music Entertainment UK this morning but did not receive a response. However, The Guardian did*receive word on the matter, and it appears that when the wholesale price change was*instigated, it*”automatically boosted the retail price of the popular album, although Apple is responsible setting the price paid by music fans.”
The Guardian’s Josh Halliday continues:
It is understood that the change occurred after Sony Music reviewed Houston’s iTunes catalogue after the singer was pronounced dead.
One insider close to the situation said the price hike was not a “cynical” move – but that the wholesale price of Houston’s The Ultimate Collection was wrong. The change in wholesale price boosted the album’s retail price on iTunes.
Apple’s system updated the price based on Sony Music’s changes, as it likely does with the large majority of listings from the world’s biggest record labels.
Despite the price increase, the*Official Charts Company*has said that it expects Whitney Houston to dominate the music charts over the next week.
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14 February 2012, 12:55 PM
#8
I thought everyone realised Apple have no* influence on the price of the albums in the iTunes store?! If not, some people really shouldn't be allowed a keyboard.
* ok, some, but mostly it's dictated to them.
* ok, some, but mostly it's dictated to them.
Last edited by ReallyReallyGoodMeat; 14 February 2012 at 12:57 PM.
14 February 2012, 12:56 PM
#9
14 February 2012, 12:59 PM
#10
Cant say I blame them, cash in on all the muppets that cynically buy her album because she is dead, dont understand the need to buy her album just because she is no longer around, they could have bought it whilst she was still (just about) still with us, serves them right for buying the crap in the first place, she had an amazing voice but I really dont want to listen to it.
Perhaps people should listen to Maria McKee who is still alive or any number of other artists who arent deceased, not saying stop listening to an artist who has died, just dont understand the need to buy their entire back catalogue the minute they croak it !
Perhaps people should listen to Maria McKee who is still alive or any number of other artists who arent deceased, not saying stop listening to an artist who has died, just dont understand the need to buy their entire back catalogue the minute they croak it !
14 February 2012, 01:07 PM
#11
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Surely, if you were a Whitney Huston fan you'd have her music anyway?
So why do all these people run out and buy an album of someone that's just died?
So why do all these people run out and buy an album of someone that's just died?
14 February 2012, 01:10 PM
#12
Scooby Regular
14 February 2012, 01:46 PM
#15
15 February 2012, 11:05 AM
#25
I don't think Whitney is available to buy on LP
Agree about Sony Music, a good example of a company that doesn't serve in the consumer's best interests and is so dominating of the industry that it has them on a short lead when it comes to almost anything to do with Music.
Have her debut album buried somewhere in the back of a cabinet somewhere - one of the first CDs we ever bought (1987)....IIRC it still has the price tag on it too
!
Last edited by ALi-B; 15 February 2012 at 11:06 AM.
15 February 2012, 01:32 PM
#27
I think Funkii did not do his homework as pointed out by a few people on here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17039076
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17039076
15 February 2012, 02:10 PM
#28
Scooby Regular
I think Funkii did not do his homework as pointed out by a few people on here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17039076
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17039076
15 February 2012, 03:50 PM
#30
Pontificating
Thread Starter
I stand corrected Ant, I take it back. I wasn't looking to buy anyway because I couldn't stand her music
It did get me thinking that Apple missed a trick when Jobs died, should have put the hardware prices up there and then for a couple of weeks as all the indoctrinated went out and bought another item of Appledom in respect to the man.
It did get me thinking that Apple missed a trick when Jobs died, should have put the hardware prices up there and then for a couple of weeks as all the indoctrinated went out and bought another item of Appledom in respect to the man.