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defrogITEM: Sony Music mourns the death of Whitney Houston by raising the price of her greatest-hits album, The Ultimate Collection, on iTunes in the UK by 60%.
Which is nice of them.
As is often the cased with Sony’s inexplicable corporate decisions, the best part is the explanation for this:
The fact that it was mistakenly mispriced right after she died is, of course, an unfortunate coincidence – as is the fact that popular music artists tend to see an upswing in sales right after they die.
An unofficial source tells the Guardian that Sony only adjusted the price because they just happened to notice at that particular time that the price was wrong.
Timing!
To be clear, I'm sure this really was the result of some clueless employee rather than an executive decision by the board or whatever. Still, you have to wonder what was going through their head. Assuming the Guardian explanation is accurate, it was probably something like, "Oh crap, these albums are priced incorrectly and now they're selling like crazy – if I don't fix this, Sony Music will lose money and it will be all my fault and they'll fire me ZOMG!"
So obviously the solution was to adjust the price because how could anyone possibly take it to mean Sony is capitalizing on Houston's death?
PRODUCTION NOTE: I don’t have anything to say about Whitney Houston’s death at this time. Let’s just say I am not a fan and leave it at that.
For now.
Cash cow,
This is dF
Which is nice of them.
As is often the cased with Sony’s inexplicable corporate decisions, the best part is the explanation for this:
"Whitney Houston product was mistakenly mispriced on the U.K. iTunes store on Sunday," said a statement issued by Sony. "When discovered, the mistake was immediately corrected."
The fact that it was mistakenly mispriced right after she died is, of course, an unfortunate coincidence – as is the fact that popular music artists tend to see an upswing in sales right after they die.
An unofficial source tells the Guardian that Sony only adjusted the price because they just happened to notice at that particular time that the price was wrong.
Timing!
To be clear, I'm sure this really was the result of some clueless employee rather than an executive decision by the board or whatever. Still, you have to wonder what was going through their head. Assuming the Guardian explanation is accurate, it was probably something like, "Oh crap, these albums are priced incorrectly and now they're selling like crazy – if I don't fix this, Sony Music will lose money and it will be all my fault and they'll fire me ZOMG!"
So obviously the solution was to adjust the price because how could anyone possibly take it to mean Sony is capitalizing on Houston's death?
PRODUCTION NOTE: I don’t have anything to say about Whitney Houston’s death at this time. Let’s just say I am not a fan and leave it at that.
For now.
Cash cow,
This is dF
