Just when Coolfer thought there was nobody else on the continent who also supported variable pricing from a customer point of view...well, I was proven right. I found a journalist who gives a lucid supporting view of variable pricing, only it comes from The Australian. What's missing from most criticisms of variable pricing is found in this one sentence:

"The quid pro quo for paying through the nose for Twista or Outkast would be a fall in prices for 'back catalogue' music - perhaps to as little as US79c in some cases, with the bulk of available material priced somewhere in the middle."

Finally somebody not named Edgar Bronfman or Andrew Lack has spoken out in favor of a mix of prices. (Unfortunately no name is attached to the article.) As Coolfer has said before, I think it's a fair trade. The author realized that the more expensive songs will be offset (and possibly exceeded) by the less expensive songs.

Very good points are made:

• Labels assume demand for hits is fairly inelastic, which is probably very true. If a consumer is willing to pay more, why not pay more if the result will be the ability to pay less for other songs?
• Consumers are selective, and they don't always buy the entire album. Nor should they have to in order to get the songs they want.
• The value in digital music will be greatly derived from catalog. That catalog should be priced to enable higher sales.
• Microsoft and Apple won't like the idea of higher prices, and consumers will hear their groans. "But as they bellow, remember there is a little more to the argument."

The article goes on to talk about the "long tail" of consumer markets. For labels that means capturing the revenues of multiple niche markets.

The conclusion: "If the music labels (still recovering from their near-death at the hands of online piracy) are to maximise the value both they and consumers will reap from new distribution networks and the emergence of many small but specialised marketplaces, they therefore probably do need the scheme they are proposing to Apple and Microsoft."