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Amazon Invests In Dynamic Pricing Model For MP3s

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fun-models-to-play-with dept.

NittanyTuring writes "Amazon recently closed a Series A financing deal with Amiestreet.com, a startup selling DRM-free MP3s with a demand-based pricing model. All music starts out free, and prices increase for popular tracks. Jeff Blackburn, Senior Vice President for Business Development, Amazon.com: 'The idea of having customers directly influence the price of songs is an interesting and novel approach to selling digital music.' What does this mean for Amazon's own intentions to sell music?"

6 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Novel idea by rlp · · Score: 5, Funny

    A novel new business idea - the recording industry HATES that.

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    [Insert pithy quote here]
  2. Umm read the article.... by Duffy13 · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those who didn't, prices start a $0.00 and cap out at $0.98.

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    "Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!"
  3. Re:Love it by kpainter · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if they will pay me to download Yoko Ono tracks?

  4. Re:pissed off customers, thats what it means by omeomi · · Score: 5, Funny

    more to the point, what is to stop me from "selling" my free versions when the band gets popular?

    One could set up an entire MP3 futures trading market! You could invest in MP3's, hoping that their popularity will grow...

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    ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
  5. Might this help the long tail? by Otis2222222 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to see a model like this. Ever since I installed a satellite radio receiver in my car, my musical horizons have broadened significantly. A lot of the artists I hear on some of the more obscure channels aren't indexed on iTunes or even available on illegal services like Limewire. This mostly applies to older music that is out of print, or never made it to CD.

    It would be nice if there was a service like this that had just about anything ever recorded digitized and made available for download. Let the market sort out what's popular and what isn't, but give us access to EVERYTHING.

    In this day and age, there is no reason why virtually every album ever recorded isn't available to buy a digital copy of.

  6. Re:pissed off customers, thats what it means by yali · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As demand drives prices up, the incentive to illegally copy MP3s will increase; but large-scale infringement would lower demand. So eventually (at least in theory) the prices will hit some sort of equilibrium point. This could be a pretty interesting natural experiment.