A Shilling for Your Thoughts

Shill - somebody who promotes somebody else or makes a sales pitch for something for reasons of self-interest

An accomplice who pretends to be an interested customer or gambler in order to lure others into buying or gambling

I’ve been thinking lately…it’s about this problem I have…it’s one of those “How do I tell a friend that they…” problems.

They and I are pretty active on social networks…and we are all involved in today’s music world. We champion new technology, self determination for artists and creators and giving fans and communities value and memorable experiences.

We know that the day where people could be influenced by paid advertising has given way to peer recommendation and the ability for each of us to discern when we were being communicated with rather than spoken to. Bluntly…advertising is on the ropes, because hardly anyone trusts paid messages anymore.

And herein lies my problem.

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iTunes and AIG? Don’t think so.

Well…what is one to make of this?

ITunes’ announcement to increase prices on many hits singles and selected classic tracks to $1.29 while possibly lowering the price on some older tracks below the current $0.99 threshold has created quite the stir in some circles.

Firstly, let me be clear…in all my many years in the music (and record) industry, I never…repeat…never understood how uniform pricing made much sense. That Springsteen, 50 cent, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson and U2 albums and singles sport the same pricing as the latest freshly-signed hopefuls, be they folk singers, new age harp players or country and western swingers really takes some effort to explain.

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