Amazon, Best Buy Sell Lady Gaga’s Album at Deep Discount

If you’re excited about Lady Gaga‘s new album Born This Way but money is tight, Amazon has got your back. The digital retailer is selling the standard version of Gaga’s long-awaited record for only 99 cents as an mp3 download. Even for Amazon, who routinely sell new releases for $3.99, this is an extremely deep discount.

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Amazon’s motives for the sale are pretty transparent. They are using Gaga’s album as a loss leader to promote their new Cloud Drive service and are clearly hoping to cut into the sales of the album on iTunes, where the standard edition is going for $11.99. (The iTunes store is also heavily promoting an expanded edition with bonus tracks and remixes for $15.99.)

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Amazon isn’t the only major retailer using Born This Way as a loss leader. Best Buy is giving away free CDs and digital downloads of the album to customers who purchase particular models of cell phones in a special promotion. The big box chain is also selling the disc for $7.99.