Apple will soon be launching the variable prices that it was forced to accept from the major labels in exchange for DRM-free content, during the contract renegotiations earlier this year. If the LA Times is to be believed, the change will occur on April 7th.

It’s currently unclear how the pricing will be distributed, but most analysts expect newer and more popular songs to command a higher price, while back catalogue ends up heavily discounted. It’s also unclear how the public will respond to what will essentially be a price hike on the most popular songs.

I’d argue that iTunes has long been irrelevant to most hardcore music fans. They’re the biggest users of P2P because it’s the most efficient way of getting tracks that are otherwise unavailable. This change will impact on mums, dads, and anyone else that generally buys their music from Tesco, rather than independent record stores.

(via Digital Music News)