Don't Try to Exploit me Through Bundling

Unsurprisingly, we now hear music executives lamenting that compact disc sales in the U.S. dropped 20 percent in the first three months of the year as internet downloading continues to grow.

But one thing to note: the 20 per cent drop noted Wednesday by industry monitor Nielsen SoundScan was not entirely compensated by the growth in album purchases on the internet. That’s because more people are buying individual songs rather than albums.

Overall album purchases, calculated by considering every 10 track sales - the equivalent of an album - were down by 10 percent in the first quarter this year.

Marketers have long used the “bundling sales” strategy, especially in the music industry. We seldom question their legitimacy. But why do we have to like every single track in Diana Krall's album? Why do we have to pay for the mediocre half of Norah Jones' new album "Not too Late" when all I want is just the lightheartedly blue "Sinkin' Soon"?

The record label's marketing people can try as hard as they want to exploit consumer surplus by bundling sales. The reality is that consumers today are empowered to control what they listen to and how much they pay. And the same rule applies to consumers experience with all other media.