Don't get upset until it's confirmed to be true. The same rumor was started last year. Probably started by Napster, Real, or Buymusic.com CEO, in an attempt to scare iTunes customers.

That's a great idea and would be poetic justice.

It might be unconfirmed but it's still true the music industry wants to make more money.

I just think it's bull that they would be able to get away with it even though they've been punished a few times for price fixing before.

So if 100,000,000 tunes were sold, pretend that 10% or 10,000,000 would be bought by wealthy listeners at any higher price. So raise the price to $10 USD per tune and the labels still make money. I would get $6-7 USD on each download (I have product on iTunes)and everybody is happy. The load on the Apple Store servers goes down and since the RIAA will sue anyone who whistles a tune without a licence, there are potentially suddenly 80-90 million former consumers out there that simply need to be educated about the new price point. I'm sure they'll come around.

why would Napster, Real, or Buymusic.com start a rumor like this? the price hike would effect them too.
$1 is a fair price for a song. $10 is a fair price for an album. its worth the convenience to me.
if the labels ruin this like they did the music market...back to file swapping services I go. they go from getting all my music dollar (over $450 since iTunes launch) to zip. do THAT math you f*cktards.

if they bite the hand that feeds then the hand will cease to feed and greed will lead to starvation.

If I left it up to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, they'd find a way to charge me to watch commercials.

Oh wait... with cable tv, they already did.

I needed a good reason to pirate a few more songs! Thanks, RIAA.

I've never agreed that $1.00 is a fair or appropriate price to charge for a reduced quality, digital download of a recording. These versions are only worth between $.25 - .50.
We pay for the computer, we pay for the CD if we burn the track, we don't get any liner notes or artwork, no physical CD, and a seriously reduced quality recording. NO THANKS!
And they're going to raise the price? How much can we increase our hate of the RIAA?
If the download was CD quality, it might be worth $1.00 per track. But it surely isn't. I can hear the difference between an Mp3 and an original recording a mile away. Can't you???

"Go ahead, RIAA morons, jack up the price and watch sales drop precipitously as people go back to free and illegal download sources. Comment posted by: phillymjs"

When will people STOP blaming the RIAA for everything related to the music industry? The RIAA had absolutely nothing to do with this! Since 2 of the big 4 labels, supposedly Universal and Sony/BMG are ok with things as they are (for now), it must have been Warner Bros and EMI who were pushing for this. But it has nothing to do with the RIAA. Some of you got it right in this thread, I commend you! Some of you need to learn to get your facts straight before you start pounding on your keyboards.

I'm not sure about dropping a label, but it would be amusing. Imagine, everyone migrates to Napster because they don't like the pricing changes. I think the killer for the labels is that the tunes are bought wholesale, I doubt they get anything based on individual sales numbers. Some labels are in a great position with this. Apple has the largest cash reserve, and can afford to do the bidding war game.

Unfortunately, Sony is also in the business, and I don't know the nature of the relationship between Sony's music label, and SonyConnect. I imagine it will be the traditional Japanese business approach, pricing below cost to reap marketshare.

We'll see..as the largest customer, Apple sets the tone, other fledgling efforts will probably follow Apple's lead. Funny thing is, pull the rug out from under Apple with higher prices, and piss off the loyal constituency using iPods, the Lion's share of the mp3 player market, as they lose access to iTMS. Watch the recording artists bug out when their own albums disappear from iTunes..

Just Say No to the Record Companies that want to raise the prices for each song we download. The greedy people in these record companies think they can take more money out of our pockets. When everyone say enough is enough and we stop buying songs online for like 1 week or 1 month then maybe the executive at these record companies will realize we will not be taking for a ride ever again. For one thing 99 cents for each song is too expensive, make each song 50 cents or 75 cents the most for each downloaded song.
Let all music lover be heard loud and clear and let the executive hear our voices.

like THATS going to happen!

I'd much rather go to a record store and buy a full quality cd single for a little under 2 dollars and pick up a few more things while I was there. Oh wait, this is America, where they never figured out that singles can both drive the market, be profitable, and of course satisfy the consumer. The record companies are being 'disloyal', put them on a radio show w/ SJ and some band members.