iTunes Variable Pricing Goes Live

As previously reported, Apple has deployed variable pricing on the iTunes App Store today. This means songs can be priced at $0.69, $0.99 or $1.29 based on the artists’ popularity. True to supply-and-demand economics, the price of music downloads will be geared to the artist’s popularity. Releases from new artists would receive the lower pricing, while tracks from popular acts would get slapped with the higher rate. Even classics, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” could retail for the higher price. Most of the 10 million songs in the iTunes catalog are expected to remain at 99 cents. – from MacRumors