So who are these changes good for? For one, the record labels, which stand to make more money on releases from expensive, top 40-type artists. Meanwhile, as I wrote last night, the drop in prices is good for consumers whose musical tastes fall more into the long tail of iTunes’ huge music catalog. But, for the millions of people who fuel downloads of iTunes’ most popular tracks, this change marks a 30% price increase, which, adds up to a lot of money on an annual basis.
Another footnote to add to the DRM-free iTunes store: as Ben Drury, CEO of 7Digital points out to us in an email, “Downloads from iTunes are still in the AAC file format regardless of whether they are DRM-free … the AAC file format is only compatible with iPods/iPhones and a limited number of other devices. So consumers who buy downloads from iTunes are still restricted to where they can play that music regardless of whether it’s DRM free or not.”