Consumers who buy music as downloads online such as from iTunes have likely encountered a scenario where they purchase a few songs from an album and then end up buying the full album if they really like the artist’s music. However, up until now, consumers who take this approach end up paying more, since if they decide to buy the album in full, they are out of pocket on the few tracks they already bought and if they decide to just purchase the remaining tracks from the album, this also works out more expensive than the album price, not to mention losing out on offers that may be associated with buying the album in full.
According to a rumour on a c|net story, it looks like Apple is about to start crediting its customers for the tracks they purchase of an album should they buy the full album. If this turns out to be the case, it would potentially be good news for the consumers, artists and music industry, since consumers who buy full albums would not be put out of pocket on what the tracks they already purchased from each album and the artists and music industry would see more albums being sold as consumers would less likely be put off buying full albums if they know they can get an effective discount off the album for the tracks they have already purchased.
Finally, despite Apple keeping a fixed single and album price since it first launched its online music store in the US, they have now reduced pricing of some of its classic rock albums to $7.99, with a few as low as $5.99.
