Record Industry Wants Still More

At the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., [Real Network's Rob] Glaser recounted his general frustration in getting the record labels to offer creative pricing beyond the 99-cents-per-download model. In fact, some labels — emboldened by consumers’ apparent willingness to pay a buck a song — are talking about raising per-song fees rather than lowering them to increase volume.

“Can you explain what planet the record labels are on?” asked Walt Mossberg, tech columnist for The Wall Street Journal and moderator of a one-on-one interview with Glaser at the conference.

Glaser smirked. “I guess I’d call it Planet Spreadsheet,” he said. “The problem is that they don’t look at it holistically.”

Glaser has tried to convince the labels to compromise — perhaps by charging more than a buck for newly released songs (and more than $10 for newly released album downloads), but then slashing the price a few months later to drive demand after the new-release sheen dulls.