Deeds: iTunes changes prices, but who knows what it means?

This week's news that Apple's iTunes plans to renovate its song pricing structure left me scratching my head.

Is this a good thing? A bad thing?

A wash?

Until we know precisely which songs will cost 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 - Apple's new three-tiered scenario - it's too early to tell. Nevertheless, it's a surprise. Despite pressure from major record labels, Apple has stuck to its guns about one-price-fits-all downloads since it launched iTunes in 2003. Charging 99 cents is simple. It's affordable. And it made iTunes the nation's biggest music seller.

So did Apple cave? Or did CEO Steve Jobs see this as a defibrillator jolt for digital music sales, which aren't growing quickly enough to match the decline of CD sales, which plunged by another 20 percent last year over 2007?

One thing is certain. The major labels made a concession by agreeing to let Apple sell DRM-free music from now on. Digital rights management - which controlled copying and which handcuffed downloads to certain playback devices - was a huge pain in the you-know-what.

But the jury's still out on the new pricing.

Reporting from the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, The New York Times wrote that "the majority of songs will drop to 69 cents beginning in April, while the biggest hits and newest songs will go for $1.29. Others that are moderately popular will remain at 99 cents."

Not to be a cynic, but "the majority of songs" may not seem like bargains even at 69 cents. There's a ton of garbage out there. And if "moderately popular" means "any act we've ever heard of including Kris Kross, Air Supply and Falco," that's not much of a change from the current price structure. Meanwhile, raising the price to $1.29 on new music - well, that's just giving in to the major labels. (It also may encourage even more filesharing of the latest hits, particularly considering the RIAA's recent decision to stop suing individual filesharers.)

Strangely enough, one potential beneficiary of iTunes' new pricing structure is the Mom and Pop record store. Web site ThinkIndie.com - a music download shop that will generate revenue for independent record stores nationwide - doesn't look like the high-priced new kid on the block anymore. ThinkIndie had planned - and still does - to sell downloads for $1.11 as high-quality 320 kbps MP3s when it launches in the next six weeks.

If iTunes is charging $1.29 for the same songs, ThinkIndie will look like a bargain. Then again, it's possible that things could work the opposite way, too.

"This whole world's in flux," admits Boise Record Exchange owner Michael Bunnell, who is the executive director of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. "We just don't know. If we're going up against 69-cent downloads with $1.11, then there may be some adjustments we need to make."

As Apple has proved repeatedly, evolving is the key to success in today's music industry.

ENTERTAINMENT NOTES

Comedian and hypnotist J. Medicine Hat has been booked for two of his infamous "X-rated" shindigs at China Blue, 100 S. 6th St., Boise. The shows will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30 and 31. Tickets are $18 and go on sale beginning Sunday, Jan. 11. Call 577-7975 to purchase or grab 'em at the nightclub.

Medicine Hat - for years the most popular specialty act at the now-defunct Funny Bone - appeals to exhibitionists, who want to be hypnotized, and voyeurs, who guzzle beers and laugh at them. He prods sleepy-eyed volunteers into bizarre activities on stage: believing they're smelling something awful or yanking off their clothes and posing at a supposed bodybuilding competition. "I know it's a freak show," Medicine Hat once confessed to me. "Therein lies the popularity. It's different, it's dirty. There's a market for that." Terrific.

Remember the supposed Gin Blossoms/Young Dubliners concert mentioned briefly in this column (and still listed at Pollstar.com)? It's a mix-up, according to Gin Blossoms management. Only the Dubliners are slated to play Feb. 13 at the Bouquet, 1010 Main St., Boise.

Barnyard hell-raiser Hank III and his band, Assjack, have been booked at the Knitting Factory in Boise for an 8 p.m. show March 8. Tickets are set at $16 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Jan. 16.

Michael Deeds co-hosts "The Other Studio" at 9 p.m. Sundays on 94.9 FM "The River." This week: Best albums of 2008.