iTunes Plus Subtracting Price, Adding Indies

Since iTunes Plus launched with cautious fanfare in late May, things have been relatively quiet on the Plus front. The service, which mainly featured EMI's stacked catalogue (sans Beatles and Radiohead), offers higher-quality, DRM-free MP3s at a greater cost than the normal iTunes store. That has changed: As of today, Apple lowered the price on DRM-free tracks from $1.29 to $0.99. Price-cutting isn't the only news over on the Plus side: the service will also add more independent labels to their roster of DRM-free tracks. iTunes' latest moves are likely a response to the prices on Amazon.com's digital music service, which offers DRM-free tracks for $.89 to $.99.

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

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