August 14, 2006

Prices for all Basic plans were increased 46% in the UK and 42% in the rest of Europe.

Prices for all Plus plans were increased 30% in the UK and 24% in the rest of Europe.

Prices for all Premium plans were increased 22% in the UK and 15% in the rest of Europe.

Booster pack prices increased from 42% to 62% depending on region and the type of booster back. As with the subscription plans, the highest increases occurred with the lowest-priced packs.

The costs of selling music in Europe are higher than in the US, and by launching European sites, we must adhere to national and international laws requiring VAT collection and compensate the various labels, publishers, and artists under the terms they require. As a result of this reality, we were required to make various price adjustments.

I don't see a possible reason behind this. Emusic is an online site, not a brick and mortar shop, what possible need could they have for a European base? The problems before were to do with labels, not the location of the company, surely deals with UK labels could still be sorted out from the US?

I now see pricing in pounds rather than US dollars, and the prices have gone up across the board. With a 10 track booster now costing £4.99 prices are creeping up towards the current itunes level of 79 pence per track.

The prices have in fact gone up. Till now a track cost me about 23-25 Eurocent (based on the 40-track-subscription and taking the Euro-Dollar exchange rate into account). From now on a track (new subscription) will cost about 32 Eurocent (which ist considerably more than just VAT added).