Gearing up for April's online music price war

Destra CEO Domenic Carosa said, "We have been selling 'legal' music for the last three years and we will not be undercut by Telstra or any other new player to the marketplace."

BigPond cut its member and non-member prices to 99c for April as part of its drive to increase the number of people participating in BigPond music, launched in January of this year.

"Wal-Mart in the United States recently attracted worldwide attention by offering downloads for US88¢ (A$1.18), undercutting Apple's US99¢ (A$1.34) price for iTunes. Now BigPond Music is offering music fans in Australia a chance to join the music download revolution at the price of 99¢ for April," BigPond managing director Justin Milne said.

Milne welcomed Destra's price cut saying "competition is always good for consumers and this will give consumers a better range for picking online music."

On the Destra side, Carosa said that the 89¢ price is offered to everyone because there is no member scheme.

After April, Bigpond revert back the usual $1.49 price for BigPond members and $1.89 for non members. They will also be offering a range of tracks from independent music labels at 99¢. Destra will also be going back to its regular download price of $1.99 after this month and 99¢ for back catalogue tracks.