Amazon have announced new sale promotions on its US based download platform which will mean certain album releases will be available cheaper via the digital store on a short-term promotional basis.
There will be 'Daily Deals', offering new and catalogue releases at special prices, often to coincide with other releases - so you can download Coldplay's old albums for two dollars each as part of a promotion for new album 'Viva La Vida'. There will also be a promotion called 'Friday Five' where five albums will be available for five dollars each on a, well, Friday.
While album prices have often varied more in download land than single track prices, which are often fixed circa iTunes' 99 cents/79 pence price point, these promotions are a sign that discounts will be used increasingly to push download sales, and for one download store to gain advantage over another. In the UK Woolies had already announced it would be running a price promotion on the aforementioned new Coldplay album via its recently relaunched download store.
Meanwhile, independent download platform eMusic, which sells tracks in subscription bundles (ie you pay a $10 a month subscription and get to download thirty tunes) has announced it will increase its lowest subscription rate, in the US from $10 a month to $12 a month. Some indies had expressed concerns that eMusic's lowest price package made their music available too cheaply (ie 33 cents each) without the consumer making an especially big monthly bulk-buy commitment. It is not clear if the subscription price rise is designed to tackle those concerns. Existing eMusic subscribers on the basic package will get an extra ten tracks a month for the extra two dollars for a time - actually reducing the per-track unit price.