Music retailers slam Telstra for cutting prices

Found on The Age on Thursday, 08 April 2004
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Telstra is using the prices charged for its music downloads as a means of boosting its broadband sales, the Australian Music Retailers Association claims.

"For years the industry has been battling the scourge of illegal downloads, so it is hard to imagine that consumers are unaware of the ability to buy music online," he said. "Telstra wants to sell broadband subscriptions, and they want to use music to do it."

On April 1, Telstra announced that it would be offering tracks at 99 Australian cents each for the month; uptil then the regular price for downloads had been $1.49 per track for BigPond members and $1.89 for others.

"The wholesale cost for chart tracks from major suppliers generally ranges from $1.05 to $1.17 so by no stretch of the imagination can you say that Telstra is doing anything but selling the music.. below cost so they can attract more broadband subscribers," Bonouvrié said.

Perhaps I just don't get it, but Telstra is a provider and it's their job to sell connections. There's nothing to be sceptic about when they put in a little addon to attract customers. That's how the whole rebate/coupon system works. I'm getting sick of that ignorance the music industry shows and the tries to enforce their will everywhere. I will do what I can to boycott them and never again buy a CD. And I am pretty sure they will blame that on piracy too.