Variable pricing in online music

The era of fixed price music downloads may be coming to an end. Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, has called record company executives “greedy” for pushing for higher prices on Apple’s iTunes internet music store. Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. responded by saying the price of downloaded songs should vary depending on the popularity of the songs and the artists and calling Apple’s flat rate of $0.99-per-song “unfair”.

While it might be nice to see $2 Britney Spears tracks if it means two quality songs for a dollar, it’s hard to trust record companies with … well, anything regarding money.