Comments on: Recognizing the Obvious: Diversity in Song Quality and Wealth

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:35:51 +0000

Prof. Pasquale, are you really suggesting that it would benefit anyone if iTunes started demanding people’s tax returns?

By: Jon Garfunkel

Jon Garfunkel — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:07:31 +0000

Frank– it’s not obvious to me. There’s not many markets in *goods* which use variable pricing based on the buyer’s income.

I welcome points on the growing disparity in U.S. personal income, but this seems to be a stretch.

Jon

By: Anon

Anon — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:07:50 +0000

How is iTunes supposed to figure out what your income is? Price discrimination only works if there’s some credible way to discriminate, like the way airlines go after business travelers with high midweek rates. All Apple can measure is your willingness to pay, not your ability to pay. So should it assume that poor people don’t like classical music, say, and charge accordingly?

By: KipEsquire

KipEsquire — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:49:10 +0000

"[W]why not expect the wealthy to act as 'patrons of the arts' by paying more for their music?" Maybe because what Private Party A and Private Party B do between themselves is none of your business? Stated differently, your unhealthy need to engage in economic voyeurism is simply not a compelling argument. (Incidentally, you would make a good Eurocrat.)

By: Sean M.

Sean M. — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:28:59 +0000

I doubt iTunes would go for this. $1/track is its hallmark (though iTunes plus makes this slightly different in some cases) and I can’t see it going more just because some songs are “hot.”