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    The Right Click

    Apple accused of exploiting Whitney Houston’s death by raising album price

    By Tori Floyd | The Right Click – Wed, 15 Feb, 2012

    On the sad news that legendary pop diva Whitney Houston passed away Saturday night, fans flocked to iTunes to purchase her music, sending her albums to the top of the music service's charts.

    But according to some fans, there were corporate masterminds at work who were seeking to bank on the star's death.

    The Mail Online reports that fans are accusing Apple of increasing the price on Whitney Houston's Ultimate Collection album. It says that the 1997 album quickly went from £3 ($4.74 CAD) to £7.99 ($12.62 CAD) on the UK iTunes store.

    According to Digital Spy, however, the blame for the price hike should actually be aimed at record label Sony Music. The story says that Sony Music raised the price of the album around 4:00 a.m. PST on Sunday, about 12 hours after Houston was pronounced dead.

    The Guardian reports that after Sony Music learned of the singer's death, they reviewed Houston's back catalogue and decided to lift the wholesale price on the album.

    A source in The Guardian said that the move wasn't a 'cynical' one, but was actually correcting the incorrect wholesale price on the album, which resulted in the price hike on iTunes.

    Regardless of the reason, fan reaction to the price adjustment is vocal. One customer quoted in Digital Spy left this comment on the iTunes store's page for The Ultimate Collection: "To say I am angry is an understatement and I feel it is just a case of iTunes cashing in on the singer's death, which in my opinion is totally parasitic."

    The price jump didn't seem to impact North America. Currently, the album is selling for $9.99 in Canada.

    UPDATE (02/15): Sony has come forward and apologized for the price hike, saying that it was made in error. They also say that the price has since been corrected.

    (AFP image)

    What do you feel about this article?

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    • Stingray
      Stingray  •  Oshawa, Ontario  •  3 months ago
      Happens all the time at the pumps.
      • C. Menstein
        C. Menstein 3 months ago
        But not because a famous oil well expired.
      • Allen
        Allen 3 months ago
        That's as good an excuse as any!
    • Robert
      Robert  •  3 months ago
      why buy these albums when you can get them for free at the library
      • Kris
        Kris 3 months ago
        Wait... get them for free at the library ?!? That would be like file sharing...PIRATE.
      • Robert
        Robert 3 months ago
        lol
      • Willy Pen
        Willy Pen 3 months ago
        Not when Harpers new bill goes through.
    • Fred
      Fred  •  3 months ago
      why are they selling albums for 9.99 to 16.00? If you get a hard copy, you pay the same and you have the actual CD. When you buy it from iTunes, it's digital and there is no manufacturing, transporting and no people stacking it on shelf. I do not get why it's the same price as an actual CD
      • mark_3_1_6
        mark_3_1_6 3 months ago
        simple... because they can... why charge less if people will still buy it? Also, you must consider that instead of a record store paying for overhead, Apple takes a cut for the artists to use iTunes.
      • Greg
        Greg 3 months ago
        Profit. Plain and simple.
      • Kevin L
        Kevin L 3 months ago
        you can't go and buy one song that you like at your local music store
    • Doug
      Doug  •  London, Ontario  •  3 months ago
      I dont understand the need to buy an album just because the artist died.
      • GARY
        GARY 3 months ago
        It seems everyone is there fan when they die. Probably never listened to a single song before her death
    • A Yahoo! user
      A Yahoo! user  •  3 months ago
      Piracy is a dirty word but so is corporate greed.
      • Tom
        Tom 3 months ago
        Hack Away! just like Mickey Mantle
      • gene
        gene 3 months ago
        Tom good on you. use the proper term 'steal it'
      • vargz_1
        vargz_1 3 months ago
        ...Right Gene.... with all due respect to Whitney Houston, but when people weren't "stealing" her albums her profits were spent going right up her nose.
        Technically, buying her album did her a disservice.
    • Bushka9
      Bushka9  •  3 months ago
      I think I'll go buy a Bob Marley collection now. And twist a cone
    • George
      George  •  Burnaby, British Columbia  •  3 months ago
      So,.. tell me again WHY needing to buy Whitney Houston music is required? Is it somehow going to be deleted in the near future? Did people not like it last week but gotta have it now?
    • chester
      chester  •  3 months ago
      Idiots paying for music on itunes.
    • Sid Kubinchak
      Sid Kubinchak  •  Toronto, Ontario  •  3 months ago
      What else is new? Look what happened when Cobain died, or Elvis. $40 for a normal copy of In Utero on CD? Give me a break. This is nothing new to Americans, Walmart and a huge score of other corporations all make money off their employees deaths. Why is rised Whitney albums causing such a fuss? Something needs to be done about it I agree, but this is far from a new thing.
    • Janis Smith
      Janis Smith  •  Winnipeg, Manitoba  •  3 months ago
      You people are total morons......Sony raised the price, not Apple. Sony also raised the price of Michael Jackson's catalogue after he died. No big surprise here
    • Billy
      Billy  •  Medicine Hat, Alberta  •  3 months ago
      crooks, and they wonder why people download free music. These corporation's are steal from everybody everyday!
    • M B
      M B  •  3 months ago
      go take a look at Ebay
      every Whitney item was modified on February 11, and prices increased by 300% and more on all her CDs, vinyl records, dvds, signed items etc

      everyone is trying to cash in on her death
      its human nature i supposed, money is greed
    • Rebecca
      Rebecca  •  Vancouver, British Columbia  •  3 months ago
      Same thing happened when Michael Jackson died. I fully expect there to be some sort of movie about her in the works soon.
    • Snake-in-the-grass
      Snake-in-the-grass  •  Santa Monica, United States  •  3 months ago
      All the losers rushing out to buy this because she just died deserve to be separated from as much of their money as possible! In two weeks they will have forgotten all about this and won't even be listening to the record anymore.
    • Larry
      Larry  •  Toronto, Ontario  •  3 months ago
      The real stupidity involves the fans who pay for it. Ignore the increases; there's no big hurry to get her songs if you want them. Prices will drop like a stone. Just show some patience and discipline.
    • William
      William  •  Moncton, New Brunswick  •  3 months ago
      Wow a lot of Apple haters out there. The headline should of read "Sony" jacks up the price .
      This is not new when a star dies and there music is in demand the price will go back to the higher range.The price of business baby "don't like it don't buy it.
    • GOO
      GOO  •  Edmonton, Alberta  •  3 months ago
      Ya capitalisim? Where do you live? You put down or invade every other way of living thats not yours, but bitch when things like this happen??
    • Redfoxx
      Redfoxx  •  Winnipeg, Manitoba  •  3 months ago
      If you don't like the price just wait awhile.
    • steelbender_6
      steelbender_6  •  Montreal, Quebec  •  3 months ago
      People read the article. Yet another misleading headline brought to you by Yahoo News. Sony jacked the price not Apple.
    • clydel
      clydel  •  Burlington, Ontario  •  3 months ago
      Whats that----almost 300%...Every body in the World should stop buying SONY products for just one month..Then watch the bottom fall out of their shares..One way to teach big business is to hit them where it hurts most. Stock Prices ===or in their pocket book..Any On-line business that sells I-tunes or such things should also be nail by customers by NOT buying their product..Same, same...The old pocket book treatment..They might just learn from their bid dose of GREED
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