Why is music from iTunes more expensive in the UK?

[ben_j_davis]

It's not the fact that we are willing to pay 99cents/79p for a download it's the fact that Apple had a massive battle with the music companies to stop them increasing the price. The problem is why we in the UK should pay more for the exact same product. It the ordinary person the suffers, if you want legal mainstream music downloads you have to put up with the high prices and DRM infectioned files.

It was like when Top Gear raised the problem of UK car prices, you could go over to France and buy an identical car for £1000's of pounds less.

 

[Visage]

It's not the fact that we are willing to pay 99cents/79p for a download it's the fact that Apple had a massive battle with the music companies to stop them increasing the price. The problem is why we in the UK should pay more for the exact same product. It the ordinary person the suffers, if you want legal mainstream music downloads you have to put up with the high prices and DRM infectioned files.

It was like when Top Gear raised the problem of UK car prices, you could go over to France and buy an identical car for £1000's of pounds less.

OK.....let me put it another way - why would a company, as skilled at marketing as Apple, drop prices?

Clearly any increase in sales from a price drop would be more than wiped out by the drop in revenue from the price cut.

 

[ben_j_davis]

My question is why are the prices different in the first place?

For example: Say i'm charging people to view this poem below.

I love pie,
I love cakes,
I can't rhyme but neither can
Bill Gates.

Would it seem fair if i made people viewing this forum in the US pay 33% more?

 

[Visage]

My question is why are the prices different in the first place?

For example: Say i'm charging people to view this poem below.

I love pie,
I love cakes,
I can't rhyme but neither can
Bill Gates.

Would it seem fair if i made people viewing this forum in the US pay 33% more?

OK...like any good businessman, you'd do some research, and you find the following relationship between price and (predicted) sales in the UK:

Price   Sales
1           10
2           4 
3           3
4           2
5           1

What price should you sell it at? Common sense says 3 pounds, since that will raise the most revenue.

Now, if the figures for the US were:

Price   Sales
1           10
2           6 
3           3
4           1
5           0

Then you obviously maximise revenue by selling at 2 pounds

Different markets, different demand profiles, different prices.

 

[HEADRAT]

But with the Internet you have a global market, somebody in the U.S. can download a song as easily as somebody in the UK?

HEADRAT

 

[Visage]

But with the Internet you have a global market, somebody in the U.S. can download a song as easily as somebody in the UK?

HEADRAT

Thats true - but you still make extra money from those that dont realise you can do that.....

 

[[TW]Fox]

OK...like any good businessman, you'd do some research, and you find the following relationship between price and (predicted) sales in the UK:

Price   Sales
1           10
2           4 
3           3
4           2
5           1

What price should you sell it at? Common sense says 3 pounds, since that will raise the most revenue..

Actually it says 1 pounds, becuase 1x10 = £10 whereas 3x3 = £9

But your point is sound, just a bad example.

Guess what people - Apple is a business. It is there to make profit, not purely to give you music. It doesn't need to be 'fair'

 

[ben_j_davis]

I can totally understand that, I now think that the general population of the UK are idiots for wanting to pay more and my dislike for marketing has increased even further.

Actually it's kind of pointless me starting this argument, i've only every downloaded 2 songs from iTunes, I don't have an iPod therefore cannot transfer the music of my PC (without a bit of difficulty that is). EMUSIC 4tw.

 

[Dolph]

It could be worse.

Those of us who remember the old days, or who are still a bit old school and actually buy CDs, will know that in the UK, you pay about £12 for a chart CD as oppossed to $12 in the US. Thats almost a 50% difference at today's exchange rates.

There is another point regarding this that is frequently forgotten. When looking at $=£ conversions, it has to be remembered that for those people in those countries, the $ and the £ have the same purchasing power.

You frequently get £/$ parity in both wages and prices. Someone in the US will earn $20k while someone in the UK earns £20k for the same job... So in real terms the value of the CD, relative to the domestic market, isn't any cheaper at all. The only reason it's cheaper for us to buy from the US is exchange rates. By constrast British stuff appears to cost a fortune to an american... It's not an example of rip-off britain tbh.

 

[ben_j_davis]

Thats a good point, I would be happy to pay 79p if i could choose the bit-rate and have a file without DRM. At the moment the only way to get higher quality files is either to buy a CD and rip it yourself or download from an illegal P2P. You would think music companies would lure customers to their legal services by introducing high quality (bit-rate) music downloads.

If they could provide higher than CD quality music downloads (which only they could make possible) DRM might be actually bearable.

 

[Trifid]

What happens if I click buy in the US store on iTunes??

I don't particualy want to buy Music on this 'service' but $10 for an album I want...

 

[Alex_L]

i'm pretty sure to use the american itunes store you need an american credit card to purchase.

 

[wsurfa]

There is another point regarding this that is frequently forgotten. When looking at $=£ conversions, it has to be remembered that for those people in those countries, the $ and the £ have the same purchasing power.

You frequently get £/$ parity in both wages and prices. Someone in the US will earn $20k while someone in the UK earns £20k for the same job... So in real terms the value of the CD, relative to the domestic market, isn't any cheaper at all. The only reason it's cheaper for us to buy from the US is exchange rates. By constrast British stuff appears to cost a fortune to an american... It's not an example of rip-off britain tbh.

I'd have to disagree given my experience of american IT/Telco companies, the role in California will pay a lot more than the same role in the UK, but that is usually due to the fact that HQ is Cal. Normally the job in the US is actually easier due to the lower complexity of market -again this is only relevant for the companies I have details for (all Cal HQ's)

 

[Deleted member 651465]

It cant be measured as a direct conversion.

Americans get paid relative to their economy, just like us.. comparing the prices of one economy to the other is foolish

...oh, and ripoff Britain is another reason we get shafted.

 

[Radiation]

When companies get to a certain size why do they feel the need to make as much profit as possible?

Surely they should reduce prices and make a fairer profit so everyone can benefit in the long run.

 

[Beansprout]

When companies get to a certain size why do they feel the need to make as much profit as possible?

Surely they should reduce prices and make a fairer profit so everyone can benefit in the long run.

You do realise that Apple fought incredibly hard to resist the record companies' grappling for profit? And won

iTunes makes pennies per song...it exists to sell iPods

 

[Etaqua]

When companies get to a certain size why do they feel the need to make as much profit as possible?

Surely they should reduce prices and make a fairer profit so everyone can benefit in the long run.

So the people at the top can give themselves billion dollar bonuses every few months or so.

But really, it is the purpose of businesses to make profits, even when they're the biggest in the world. They've got to pay workers' wages, and when they have more money, they can expand, and make more money, but they'll have to pay more people when they do.

 

[Radiation]

You do realise that Apple fought incredibly hard to resist the record companies' grappling for profit? And won

iTunes makes pennies per song...it exists to sell iPods

Yeah i was talking more in general but im sure apple aren't innocent of being overly greedy in other areas.

 

[Blackstar_solar]

it's basically the law of the sod

 

[ballistic]

if you're not happy with it don't use it, complete rip-off