• Sony confesses to Whitney Houston price hike 'error'
    28 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Sony Music has finally issued a statement on hiking the price of tragic pop songstress Whitney Houston's albums after her death, apologising for the "error" in the iTunes listing. On Monday, reporters fell over themselves to reveal that the price of Houston's Ultimate Collection had gone from £4.99 to £7.99 in the UK's Apple iTunes store and her Whitney: The Greatest Hits had mysteriously increased from £7.99 to £9.99. Both Apple and Sony, which is Houston's label, were immediately vilified as greedy corporates cynically cashing in on her untimely death. Some defended Apple on the basis that it had no control over the pricing for third-party material from its online store, but the fact that the prices remained untouched on other sites - such as Amazon - suggested the increase was by the hand of the fruity tech firm. Both Apple and Sony refused to comment on the issue at the time, and the prices returned to their previous level on iTunes. Today, Sony Music finally responded to the hue and cry, blaming a clerical error for the price change: Whitney Houston product was mistakenly mis-priced on the UK iTunes store on Sunday. When discovered, the mistake was immediately corrected. We apologise for any offence caused. Quite how the albums accidentally jumped up in cost only on the UK iTunes store and immediately after Houston's death was not explained. ®[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/15/sony_sorry_for_whitney_price_hike/[/url] I think it's hilarious that they call this a "error" like it was some computer malfunction that magically raised the price.
What a convenient "error".
Error my ass. Sony Music Entertainment saw a potential opportunity to rake in cash and they took it.
Oh crap there on to us!
Eh; It's the capitalist system working as it should, I am quite surprised people are actually getting mad and so forth about this; or even surprised at all, considering the world we live in.
Houston's death was a Sony Music conspiracy to charge more for her albums! :tinfoil:
[QUOTE=The fox;34711783]Eh; It's the capitalist system working as it should, I am quite surprised people are actually getting mad and so forth about this; or even surprised at all, considering the world we live in.[/QUOTE] Supply and Demand man, Supply and Demand.
thats a big profit "error"
[QUOTE=MachiniOs;34711923]Supply and Demand man, Supply and Demand.[/QUOTE] Supply.......of a digital product without needing a key or code............typical corporate dick move more like.
[video=youtube;BeP6CpUnfc0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeP6CpUnfc0[/video]
[QUOTE=Source;34711955]Supply.......of a digital product without needed a key or code............typical corporate dick move more like.[/QUOTE] Supply of a product which is high in demand.
[QUOTE=MachiniOs;34712030]Supply of a product which is high in demand.[/QUOTE] You'd be pissed if this happened to a newly released game. Skyrim just came out and due to high demand we are jumping the price by 5 dollars
[QUOTE=MachiniOs;34712030]Supply of a product which is high in demand.[/QUOTE] doesn't matter if it's high in demand, the product selling well should never be a reason to up the price, it's just blantant greed.
Yet no one complained when Jackson died.
[QUOTE=wutanggrenad;34712302]You'd be pissed if this happened to a newly released game. Skyrim just came out and due to high demand we are jumping the price by 5 dollars[/QUOTE] This happens all the time here. It's often the case that games are £45 rather than 40 in some stores but that's life.
Come on Sony, we are not idiots. Treat your customers with respect or I will burn all Sony products in my house.
Just had a thought. Maybe there's an algorithm that runs on sony servers that seaches for every one of their artists on news reports, and if it spikes, it automatically raises the prices on the music? It would certainly make sense for a company to do this. Of course, I'm just making shit up, so believe what you will.
[QUOTE=ManningQB18;34715464]Just had a thought. Maybe there's an algorithm that runs on sony servers that seaches for every one of their artists on news reports, and if it spikes, it automatically raises the prices on the music? It would certainly make sense for a company to do this. Of course, I'm just making shit up, so believe what you will.[/QUOTE] There are laws about this sort of thing so i doubt it.
Being a corporate whore is an error.
[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;34715357]Come on Sony, we are not idiots. Treat your customers with respect or I will burn all Sony products in my house.[/QUOTE] Which you already payed for, so why would they care?
[QUOTE=SweetSwifter;34715974]Which you already payed for, so why would they care?[/QUOTE] I think he means burn the on a disc.
Nice one Sony! (Good for PR)
[QUOTE=Source;34712733]doesn't matter if it's high in demand, the product selling well should never be a reason to up the price, it's just blantant greed.[/QUOTE] What world do you live in? If you dislike this move, don't buy the album. If you dislike it strongly enough, don't buy any Sony products or write into their company. Stop clamoring about the evils of capitalism, this isn't a socialist uprising. It's a few people being dicks over an entertainment product.
[QUOTE=Source;34712733]doesn't matter if it's high in demand, the product selling well should never be a reason to up the price, it's just blantant greed.[/QUOTE] While it may have questionable ethics, business isn't about being ethical unfortunately. Its about making money. And from a business standpoint, its an incredibly smart move.
[QUOTE=Demache;34725439]While it may have questionable ethics, business isn't about being ethical unfortunately. Its about making money. And from a business standpoint, its an incredibly smart move.[/QUOTE] Uh not particularly. I'm pretty sure they'll make the same amount of money considering less people are going to buy it if it's expensive but it won't matter because enough people paid despite it's price. Not sure if I explained that well but in essence: Higher price = Increased profit per person, but reduced sales Lower price = Increased sales, but reduced profit per person
[QUOTE=Someoneuduno;34725499]Uh not particularly. I'm pretty sure they'll make the same amount of money considering less people are going to buy it if it's expensive but it won't matter because enough people paid despite it's price. Not sure if I explained that well but in essence: Higher price = Increased profit per person, but reduced sales Lower price = Increased sales, but reduced profit per person[/QUOTE] That sounds about right. That's probably why they jacked the price up, because they know people will buy it regardless of price. Granted, I'm sure quite a few saw the price and said "fuck that" and pirated the album so it may not have worked at all, hence it probably followed your higher price category.
[QUOTE=Someoneuduno;34725499]Uh not particularly. I'm pretty sure they'll make the same amount of money considering less people are going to buy it if it's expensive but it won't matter because enough people paid despite it's price. Not sure if I explained that well but in essence: Higher price = Increased profit per person, but reduced sales Lower price = Increased sales, but reduced profit per person[/QUOTE] That depends on elasticity of demand. They probably actually made more of a profit because the skyrocketing demand following her death.
"supply and demand" does not apply to products which do not have a limited supply record company executives are dinosaurs. people are becoming aware of the fact that they are being jerked around and bullshitted
[QUOTE=Sanius;34727948]"supply and demand" does not apply to products which do not have a limited supply record company executives are dinosaurs. people are becoming aware of the fact that they are being jerked around and bullshitted[/QUOTE] How does demand not apply to products without a limited supply? If there is no demand, there are no sales. And the sales still depend on price, and how elastic that demand is.
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