Amazon Opens 69 Cent MP3 Store For Big Names

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Looking for some fresh off the radio style pop music? Don’t have a lot of cash? Well then, Amazon’s got a new and exciting deal for you! They’ve brought a whole bunch of big names together in a special store, and they’re charging just $.69 per MP3.

You’re not getting whole albums here, of course, but what you are getting is single songs at a remarkable discount. The list of available titles is actually fairly long, and includes plenty of big names like Dr. Dre’s I Need A Doctor (complete with explicit lyrics, parents, be ye warned), Katy Perry’s E.T. (complete with Kanye West, hopefully he’ll be letting Katy finish), and of course, Lady Gaga’s own Judas. Everything that can be said about Lady Gaga actually already has by now, so no parenthetical snark on that one.

This comes hot on the heels of iTunes‘ recent price increase, taking individual tracks up to $1.29 from their original $.99, so Amazon’s own price drop comes at a time when the online music business is getting more competitive than ever. And Amazon is clearly looking to snag some market share to help get its cloud up and operational, though whether Amazon’s eating the losses on this barn-burner or the music companies are is quite unclear.

But as is clear from this move, the winners here are people who buy music. You can call it a full-on price war if you like–go ahead, no one will argue at this point–but getting people in the metaphorical doors and buying is definitely job one, especially in an economy that’s still limping along. Buying music isn’t exactly high on anyone’s list of necessities, but at those prices they don’t need to be necessities to justify a small impulse buy. Almost seven bucks for ten songs? That’s less than one whole movie ticket in some places, and the songs are yours to keep. I can’t help but think this move will improve Amazon’s near-term futures.