The Price Is Wrong
Today I’d just thought to jump on the soapbox and share some goodie thoughts on oldie news that iTunes has raised prices on more popular track downloads to $1.29. I, for one, am not in favor of the arbitrary pricing of goods set by their distributors.
Though research statistics have shown that consumers would more likely listen to music they’d purchased against, let’s say, a free CD given away as promo at a concert, the payment attributed to a sale doesn’t address how music is valued financially.
Let me iterate that I am no economics or econometrics expert, but fixed pricing in and of itself,
and in its ideal form should be based on a consumer index of the average price of a product weighed against the wages of a given community. In this scenario, prices could vary per community but fixed in the context of that community’s perceived and reflected monetary value of the good/service after manufacturing, marketing, and distribution costs.
When price itself becomes a marketing tool however, to persuade the market that “x product” costs “x amount” because “you get what you pay for” and is accepted by society at large, this then turns into a culture where snobby elitism is fueled by their suggestions and of its flashy implications; Lord knows we have enough of those hip-hop videos that express our desire for or exaggerate an illusion of opulence and those who have “made it”.
If this is what distributors are perpetuating and what consumers are buying into, then manufacturing, marketing, and distribution costs/prices can take a backseat to whatever price the seller wants to hike it up to based on this belief and/or imagery. This has not always been profitable by producers but is a tool nonetheless, and kicks in a blotchy economic measure (I think it’s called “hedonic regression”.) to appraise a product which deters transparency and accountability in favor of guessing, betting, and assumed (as opposed to real perceived) value to reign.
Now I could go on and compare/contrast this to the likes of movie box offices ticket pricing to high school popularity contests, but the point is that across-the-board hiked pricing for the popular doesn’t necessarily equate to quality and is inequitable–a microcosmic form of gentrification. And perhaps the measure of music quality overall should adjudicate prices while popularity can serve itself by simply having folks purchase or download more of them.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment