I guess it was inevitable: iTunes will soon start selling singles on a three-tiered system. Depending on their popularity, individual tracks, which currently all cost ninety-nine cents, will soon cost sixty-nine cents, ninety-nine cents, or (gasp) $1.29.

This is something the record companies have wanted for years, and in order to get it, they apparently had to agree to remove DRM software off millions of tracks. (DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is the software that makes it impossible to put your iTunes purchases on other computers, etc. Now you can!)

This will clearly have animpact on the music industry, though it’s impossible to know what kind. Will consumers freak out and stop buying songs? Maybe. It certainly sucks that iTunes has lost some of its simplicity, and $1.29 can seem really expensive when you’re talking about buying some fluffy (yet popular) single by the Pussycat Dolls. (Ahem.)

On the other hand, prices for full-length albums vary on iTunes all the time. I bought the Anberlin album precisely because it was only $7.99, and despite its $11.99 pricetag, I got the new Sugarland record the day it was released. Similarly, the tiered pricing for singles could encourage people to take risks on new artists, and it probably won’t keep people from buying the new Pussycat Dolls hit. (Ahem.)

Roommate Joe mentioned that a $1.29 single might actually encourage him to spend a little extra and get an entire album. And that’s just what the beleaguered records companies are praying for, I’d imagine.

What do you guys think? What are you gut reactions to the pricing changes?

And what prankster forced my computer to play this Pussycat Dolls song?

(I hate this part right heeeere…)