Guess we probably won’t be seeing any more epic 99 cent sales any time soon…
Billboard has announced that beginning the week of Nov. 21, albums selling for less than $3.49 within the first four weeks of release will NOT count on charts.
Also, individual tracks that sell for less than $0.39 won’t count on charts either!
Here’s Billboard editor Bill Werde on WHY these specific prices were chosen:
“We ultimately chose $3.49 for two reasons. One, it’s roughly half of wholesale in the digital world, where albums cost retailers about $7.50 on average. And two, this price point wouldn’t interfere with any regular or semi-regular pricing currently in effect at any of the five biggest retailers – Walmart, Amazon, iTunes, Best Buy and Target. As I noted in my earlier essay, Billboard doesn’t want to control the marketplace. We just want to count it. But free or almost-free albums don’t represent a marketplace.”
What do U think? Do U agree with Billboard’s new policy???