Lower CD prices!

The Universal Music Group will rewrite U.S. music pricing following the debut of its new frontline pricing structure, which is designed to get single CDs in
stores at $10, or below.

The company is about to unveil its Velocity program for the U.S. market, which will see a price card for single CDs with suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6. In order to accommodate the lower pricing, UMG labels also plan to step up deluxe versions of albums that can sell at higher prices for the more devout music fans and collectors. UMG is also banking that the lower price points will at the least be offset by increasing CD sales volume.

Here's a welcome change, one that could help music sales more than any amount of attacks on file sharing. People are used to 99 cents a song now. CDs shouldn't be $18 unless they're chock full of extras, like a companion DVD.

For those of us who like physical CDs, with liner notes, credits, and song lyrics in one convenient package, this is a welcome sign that there's some intelligence left in the music industry.