Sticks and Stones

Earlier Udayan posted about the marvels of DRM free music available from Amazon.com. I too would love to rid my music collection from DRM. Having music purchased from iTunes, I feel trapped into Apple’s system, and hence am more inclined for the next music player I buy to be an iPod, else I will have to re-buy the music I already own.

However, in today’s globalised world I do have a problem: Amazon will not sell MP3s to me as a UK resident. I have a credit card which is quite capable of making payments in dollars, and the marginal cost to Amazon of me downloading the file would be the same. I suppose a song entering my computer in the UK would mean it passes into the EU, and is therefore subject to the EU’s common external tariff, but surely the value is below the threshold of impost duties? Do import duties even apply to downloaded material, which is technically just a series of ones and zeros? I am no expert on EU law, but it would be a shame if this was the reason I cannot download Amazon’s DRM free music.

Perhaps the reason is the record labels, together with Amazon colluding to extort as much money as possible out of the already ripped-off British consumer. The pound is still relatively strong, and the people of Britain are accustomed to pay extra for things that our American friends can have for much less (Televisions, iPods & car fuel to name but a few), so what would be the difference if the record labels and download sites also took their chance to squeeze the British consumer?

This weeks saw Apple, the music download programme which boasts the largest market share, commit to a harmonised prices across the European Union. This was following an EU investigation into the price of songs for countries in the Eurozone at €1 where as on the UK store the price was £0.79 (both prices far more than the US $1). Within six-months, the UK will only be paying the high amount that the rest of Europe has to pay, an estimated saving of £0.05 per track according to the BBC. This is remarkable news for the British consumer, but the question of why pricing is not at the US level still remains.

I warmly invite executives from Apple, Amazon or any of the record labels to give me a reason for not charging the US price (even giving a buffer price to accommodate for medium term currency movements) to the UK consumer.