Within the next six months, Apple plans to lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store, in order to match the already standardized pricing on iTunes across Europe in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Because Apple must pay some record labels more to distribute their music in the UK, compared to how much is paid to distribute the same music elsewhere in Europe, the company announced it will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK within six months. Obviously this is a very bold (and potentially risky) move.
The iTunes Store price-standardization is a continuing effort from Apple, one that will definitely be welcomed very much in the UK. I just hope that the record labels will comply and that those in the UK suddenly don’t find themselves with less content at their iTunes store. “This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music. We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
Thanks whistlerxp for the heads up on this one!