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Sony Music
UPDATE: Comments added from Tom Dolan, CEO of CDQuest.com.
It's easy to get so emotional about a singer after they've passed prematurely, as Whitney Houston did Saturday at the age of 48. But fans seeking to buy her digital albums in remembrance weren't too happy at sudden price hikes so soon after her death.
The Brits picked up on it quickly, with London-based Next Web writer Matt Brian and The Guardian's Josh Halliday both finding the price increases, which raised Houston's "The Ultimate Collection" 2007 album from £5 (about $7.89) to £8 (about $12.63). In the United States, the cost is even steeper: $15 for the "Greatest Hits" collection at both Amazon (mp3 store) and iTunes.
Live Poll
Did you buy Whitney Houston's music after she died?
Halliday found out that Sony Music increased the price of "The Ultimate Collection" at about 4 a.m. Sunday, not even 12 hours after news broke of Houston's death. Fans were quick to point fingers at Apple for the anti-sale, but it turned out that when Sony bumped up the wholesale price of "The Ultimate Collection," iTunes and other retailers automatically upped their pricing.
We've reached out to Sony for comment and will update if/when we hear from them.
Digital Spy found consumers who said the price change happened even more quickly: 30 minutes for it to jump from $4.74 to $12.62, which prompted one buyer to fume, "The album itself is great so please don't be put off purchasing it, just [realize] that you will merely be lining some fatcat's pocket before Whitney's lifeless body is cold."
But Tom Dolan, CEO of CDQuest.com, wrote to tell us this goes against his experience with Sony.
"The costs to the retailer on each of the titles that you mention in your article have not changed at all. So if the cost of the product hasn't changed, then the actual culprit for the price increases would be the retailer and not Sony," Dolan wrote.
Houston's "iTunes Essentials" album is even more expensive at $18.45 for 15 songs (vs. 36 songs for $14.99 on the "Greatest Hits" album, which was originally released in 2000).
Over at Google Music, you can't find those albums, but there are a smattering of free singles, including "Greatest Love of All" and "So Emotional."
Meanwhile, at Walmart, things are just plain fishy. Though the retail giant has exited the music download business, it is still a massive CD retailer. While the pricing of Whitney's CDs hasn't changed, every single one is listed as 'out of stock online.' Could that really be because of a surge in buying? Or is there a price change afoot?
Dolan told us his thoughts on this:
Hardly any websites maintain very much stock and this all points back to distributors warehouses. So as popular as Whitney may seem, just days after her death, most distributors were only carrying <30 copies on almost all of her CDs, because she just wasn't selling. All of her rabid fans owned everything and there were no converts to her in recent years. Even at the distributor level, I can see the stock level histories and it looks like they were selling maybe 1 or 2 copies a day and that is at the distributor level. People have this misconception that labels sit on hundreds of thousands of copies of albums like this, but the reality is that this was pretty deep, slow moving catalog until she died. Then when somebody dies, every Joe Blow comes out of the woodwork saying how important an artist was and people suddenly buy up all the stock and in the internet age, that can sell out in an hour. It is as simple as that...
When somebody dies unexpectedly, especially an artist that was huge about twenty years ago but barely trickled in sales in recent years, nobody has stock on hand to meet the demand, not even the label, not the distributors and not the retailers, from small independents all the way up to Walmart. Up until the moment of her death, it would have been completely irresponsible for any music buyer to have been sitting on a lot of WH CD stock.
As of this morning, three of Houston's singles were in the top 10 singles chart at iTunes, including the No. 1 "I Will Always Love You," which was also sung in tribute by Jennifer Hudson at last night's Grammy awards. Houston's "Greatest Hits" album was No. 2 on the iTunes albums chart, runner-up to only Adele, who swept the Grammy awards with hits from her "21" album.
By the end of the week, Houston's sales could even surpass her.
Take our poll and let us know if you bought Houston's music, despite the price hikes.
CNBC's Julia Boorstin talks about the spikes in sales the day after the legendary singer's death.
More stories:
- Now on Google Music: Download songs to your computer
- Google Music: Fast syncing, free songs
- Cyber Monday: $2 albums on Google Music
On Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.
Leave a Comment:
Corporations are becoming more like people every day.
Funny how record companies always claim that by downloading from P2P, people are stealing from the artists.
Here's the perfect example of the artist getting nothing (she's dead) and the record company getting all the money.
Funny, I thought Mitt already said "Corporations are people, my friend".
Scum bag record company. She wont even benefit from the increase. Only the lawyers and estate settlers will cash in.
And you want me to feel guilty because occasionally I download a song using P2P? No way
Okee, thanks for injecting politics into Houston's death. I'm sure she would be proud of you for trying to score a political point while her body assumes room temperature.
Only slightly more distasteful than injecting politics into her death his SONY bumping the price of her music as soon as the news broke. It shows a complete lack of class. But on the other hand, when demand increases for something, the price of it usually increases too. Still shame on SONY for this since it isn't like the supply of digital copies is something that can run out.
RIP Whitney. You had the greatest voice heard by anyone alive today.
I just pray that part of that money goes to the daughter. She will need it, if reports of Whitney being broke are true.
Sony is just trying to make buck. Maybe they produce Greatest Hits of some other "close to dead" performers just to be ready to make a few more bucks. Let's see, who would be on the list?
WRONG. Any PERSON with a fragment of a soul would NOT have raised prices to EXPLOIT the DEAD.
I agree that jacking up the price of Whitney's albums is crass, but I don't understand why people who were avid fans of her would want to or need to buy her music right after she died. Either fans already have her music or know where they can listen to it free for memories. It's not like digital albums are going to increase in rarity and value after a star's death.
Sony is in the business of selling product. They have a product that is in demand at the moment. They are doing the responsible thing as a business to price that product accordingly to demand. If they didn't raise prices, they would be irresponsible to their shareholders.
I work for a company that buys and sells used CDs. I can guarantee you that our Whitney titles will be priced higher this week than last week. Last week there was no demand. This week there is high demand. That's how the market functions.
This is not a necessity. You don't need that CD today. If you think it is priced too high, wait until the price comes back down. Simple.
So it will be even less purchased, more downloaded. Ever since Napster (RIP) let the genie out of the bottle, RIAA's attempts to bottle it up again are an exercise in futility.
SOPA/PIPA, anyone?
Didn't we all go through this with Micheal Jackson? Why are people surprised companies want to make a quick buck if they can? If you have a chance to gouge your customers you take it. Come one people this isn't a charity here.
/sarcasm
Another reason to hate corporations, they just want to make money off someones death, everyone should boycott Sony products
This isn't just a case of increased demand with a fixed supply causing prices to go up. This is a product that has an infinite supply with increasing demand. Just some capitalistic greedy company trying to cash in on the moment.
Richard, lighten up. Okee only said what he/She said in respose to the post that corporations are becoming more and more like people every day.
Interesting the comments of righteous indignation at the lack of morals of raising the price to meet the market, yet the commenters just turn around and say that they'll then just have to steal the product. Talk about clueless.
James Kirk == ignorant troll with a caps lock issue.
Big trouble -
it's a bold font issue. CAPS LOCK WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS.
heartless bastards.
No excuse, this is just plain f###ing wrong!
And this is the number # 1 REASON why I get my tunes from alternate sources...if you know what I mean!
;-) wink ;-) wink!!! (piratebay.org) Why on this PLANET would I think of lining the silk pockets of some greedy-@ss Corporate staunchy, red-meat eating only fat-blow-heart fool who never uses the car-pool lanes or public transportation?
This just gives further ammunition to those who've been protesting about the excessive greediness going on in BIG CORPORATION!!!!!!
There's a special place in hell for these people. And it's going to be crowded.
Maaaaan, that's fkt up how corporations take advantage of dead folk. Dude!, that just ain't right!!!
sony is just trying to figure out the next supposed great to die so they can cash in. capitalism at it best!!!!!!
Corporations Like people? No Corporations are like Cancer. Once you get it to grow its nearly impossible to stop. And it does not care who you are It will suck the life out of you. For the bandwagon sellers and the major corps taking profit at her death. They can only do that if buyers are lining up or bidding up here music for profit.
May she rest in peace.
Sounds like price gouging to me!
Bart Conner: If Whitney was getting paid for her music, and she had legal advice worth a damn, then her child will be getting the residual checks.
And Sony does have obligations to its shareholders to maximize profits. They're striking while the iron is hot. That's how business works, and like any other form of business, sometimes it's dirty.
People should boycott Sony.
I find this action disgusting. Akin to war profiteering. Make a buck on anybody's death. Capitalism is all about a buck for profit and damn the rest. This is how morality has gotten lost.
Classy
Heard enough of her crappy music in the 80's and 90's to last me a lifetime. Sony, you are nothing but a bunch of greedy bastards, screw you. I hope someone does the same to you when you die, Maybe Apple or Samsung.
Sony has bad a lot of people mad over the years about a lot of things. Don't buy Sony if you don't like them. I'm getting real sick and tired of all you corporation hate mongers out there. What is the alternative? BIG FREAKING GOVERNMENT? Yeah, that's been proven to be competent and honorable and trustworthy and fiscally responsible - the one like Obama's that is now going to give nearly a billion to the Arab Spring. That is OUR money. The last time I checked, corporations don't "steal" from you unless you BUY something from them. And even then, it's not "stealing" if YOU agreed to pay the transaction price in the FIRST place. If you don't like their way of doing business, start your own and do it better! Even more to the point, if YOU don't have any stock in said corporation, quit your whining and shadddaaaaaaaap.
Aren't digital copies infinite? Somebody just trying to cash in is what it appears to be! Especially iTunes.
R.I.P. Whitney
So I tried to find contact info for sony so I could tell them what truly despicable @ssh*les they are - couldn't find any. I will never buy a Sony product again. They are below dirt. They have no sense of decency at all. F you Sony - all I gotta say.
@marzipansii I TOTALLY AGREE...except that it hard NOT to buy Sony -if you like Streisand, etc...
SONY's move is worse than Komen's trying to withdraw their breat cancer exam funds $$ from PPH!!!! Yuck!
This is the same corporation whose CEO you would jail for not protecting your 401K retirement profitability by screwing the shareholders (you and your 401K) for not pricing products according to demand. This is the meaning of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that the public demanded, no screamed for, after Enron. You can't have it both ways. Corporations are, by law, not allowed to operate in any interest except that of their shareholders. To do otherwise is prosecutable by law and corporate officers who do so or allow their corporations to do so go to prison. So, your 401K should forego any and all profitability to suit your so-called social sensibilities. That's fine. Change the laws. Be willing to give up having any retirement at all. You can have corporations all behaving like non-profiit charities, but there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Sony are a bunch of losers. They are still crying about losing with 'beta', so anytime they can jack up a price, they'll do it.
Err, they won with BD so I'm sure that ship has sailed. Still, with the stuff they've done over the recent years it doesn't make them look good. Still, who can blame them? If you have a chance to make a buck you take it. These companies didn't get big by being nice as much as we'd like to think different.
The ENTIRE HollyWeird Music Industry: Piss-ant VULTURES.
People, always vote with your dollars. And, more importantly, when Corporations and Wall Street are not doing right by the people, VOTE WITH THE ABSENCE OF YOUR DOLLARS.
"If you have a chance to make a buck you take it."
No, if you are human garbage that profits off the death of another human being you take it.
Greedy soulless people, perhaps.
This is disgusting. There is no sadness at the loss of a great voice....only corporate greed. Sony you really screwed up this time and showed yourself to be completely heartless and crude. If you were donating the extra proceeds to her daughter, that would be a different story. Rot in hell, Sony.
Yeah, just go steal it like you people normally do.
And they wonder why people download music from P2P sites.....
I agree completely. Given that just a small portion of the profits go to the artist I say screw the record companies. Greedy heartless bastards!
B.S. and you know it. People who use P2P had no intention of buying it in the first place, stop trying to justify that. It's such a pretentious excuse. If you want to boycott a company for doing this you don't purchase their product. Stealing it only says you just didn't want to pay for it to begin with. People talk about corporate greed as if it's somehow excusable for their desire to not want to pay for anything. If you want to steal stuff just say it.
I won't be purchasing the album because I had no desire to in the first place otherwise I would have by now. Her death isn't going to make me suddenly say I "need" her music because once the fervor over her death wears off and I've tired myself of her music I'll still have a CD or songs I never really intended to purchase. The whole act of consumerism over the death of a celebrity irritates me to no end.
@pw38... Well said.
I've heard enough of her singing from the media all weekend, why would I want to buy something I wouldn't listen to more than once.
When you download music for free you not only steal from the recording company and the artist that recorded the material you are stealing from the people who write the songs. People like me. Where do you live so I can come and enter into your home and take whatever I please. Do you have a nice car? You didn't get the car for free did you? Intellectual properties are just that; property. I deserve to get paid for what I create just like anyone else. I don't come to your job and take your mop away do I?
If you buy it, you only tell them it's ok to do so. And people with buy it.
Sony has only stats of how many bought. They can only guess how many downloaded for free instead.
True, and that is the main reason the upped the price.
makes me wanna loan my copies to everyone. But certainly not for copying. Never that!
Amazing how these companies up the prices even as overhead continues to fall.... download copies require no discs, jewel cases or liner notes....
they make it sound attractive by calling it a convenience.
Is this any different than artwork becoming much more expensive once the artist is deceased?
No. There is only one original of fine artwork and copies are worthless. But all albums are copies and there are unlimited supplies even after artist's death.
So if supplies are unlimited, why the outrage? A store or company can charge whatever they want for someone's art. It's up to the consumer as to whether they buy it.
bscol, it's the decline in American culture that used to be called human decency.
If you think it costs too much, don't buy it. It's not food. You don't have to have it to survive. Same thing with concert tickets. Why do they cost so much? Because people pay the money for them. Good day.
I don't understand the uproar about this. How is this any different than a piece of artwork that becomes more expensive once the artist is deceased?
@Larry-554572: Corporations are people, big groups of greedy, opportunistic people. And all they have for eyes are dollar signs, as Sony's ramping up Whitney Houston's album prices online shows.
Typical mega-corporations, profiteering at the death of someone.
Death is a great financial investment!!! Corporations profiteer off everything!!!! Death, treason, hatred, lies, corruption, even SEWAGE!!! That's just how it is. That doesn't mean it can't be better, but when you ask people who wholeheartedly support the "profit before everything" corporate mentality, they can NEVER see a way to be better AS LONG AS THE PROFITS KEEP COMING in the current state of life & societal destruction/deconstruction
How is this different than a piece of artwork becoming more expensive once the artist is dead?
These companies are greedy pigs!
It disgusts me when they try to capitalize on someone's death. The price hikes and the rootkit fiasco Sony perpetrated on it's customers a few years back demonstrate they have no shame, no ethics and are just about the sleaziest company around. Sony.... you suck!!!
Why the surprise and shock...supply and demand...her current album supply is now increasing in demand...this is your basic free market economy at work folks...
I'm sure a good chunk of the population is sitting on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting all the lurid and tawdry details of her last hours on earth and the cause of her death.
Soon to be available in a special memorial edition of People Magazine and some crap-tastic made for TV movie on LMN, Oprah Network, BET, CBS/NBC/ABC, or whoever shovels over the truckload of cash for the rights...
It's not supply and demand when you're talking a digital product - there's no limit on supply.
The medium is irrelevent...the demand side of the equation is experiencing significantly increased pressure...which means, they who control the access, supply, medium, etc...control the price.
It's unfortunate that Whitney won't be able to profit from it so she can snort it up her nose
Classy.
The entire music industry are nothing but a bunch of greedy vultures and piranha. Just like the oil companies, no amount of money is enough for them.
Here's how to handle this. DON'T BUY THEM! Let Sony shove them up their nose. Sony is on it's last legs anyway. Their losing so much money every year, they can't even count how much.
Just cause the woman is dead doesn't mean it cost you more to make the CD.
Now I understand alot better why people will pirate music,before lining some mega-corps coffers.
I thought she was an ok singer.
But it is stuff like this that makes me say to Sony and ALL the other record companies
"BITE ME!!!!!!!"
You lost me at "alot"...
If the actual CDs were sold for the pre-death price, they would sell out. Opportunists would then put them on eBay. So greed is greed whether corporate or private. There is no honor when it comes to making a buck.
and the RIAA wonders why people FLOCK to torrent sites. hmm ... it's a mystery.
personally, i don't condone piracy. however, i don't condone it *ON EITHER SIDE*. if sony or any company is going to engage in such tactless, obviously manipulative practices, then ... sorry. expect to reap what you sow, sony.
People flock to torrent sites because they don't want to pay for anything, plain and simple. Any other excuse is just that, an excuse. The price has nothing to do with it because you could price everything in half and people would still torrent. Cut that in half and I gaurantee you'd still see torrenting going strong. It'd take everything being free before people would stop torrenting but that would just accomplish what they set out to do in the first place: not pay for stuff. No need to get pretentious with it.
Comment # 20 deleted, racist derail from rixter-1924616.
You are suspended for a day for violating rule # 5 of the Code of Honor.
And I (hold I).....Will Always Love Torrents.
Oh, I wanna SEED with somebody!
Lol.. thanks to you 2 bringing an Obama reference w/o being ignorant or political about it. Rarely get that here...