Discounted music travels into uncharted territory

When I think of supporting artists one of the first things I do is buy their album.  

I am also a flat broke college student with bills to pay, so I will most likely shop around a little to figure out who has it for the most reasonable price.  

Apparently I am not alone in that thrifty endeavor because Billboard has decided that any album sold under $3.49 during its first four weeks of release will not be counted on for the charts. The logic being that selling a newly released record so cheaply will boost its rating and gives the artist an unfair advantage.  

While Billboard makes a sound argument by saying that "free or almost-free albums don't represent a marketplace," it is still putting a limitation on what artists can do for their fans and vice versa. The relationship between an artist and a fan is one that has give and take like any other.  

If artists want to have their albums sold for 99 cents the day they're released as a way to thank their fans and show their appreciation for their support, why should they be penalized?  

On the fan side of that relationship, if I am able to back my favorite artist and not pay an arm and a leg to do it, I should be able to without fearing that my contribution will be overlooked by the person who tallies up the charts.

This kind of rule puts pressure on artists not to do promos like Lady Gaga's and puts fans in a position where they have to choose between spending more money or trying to help their artist rise to fame.  

Call me crazy, but paying more for the exact same product and knowingly doing so is terribly unlikely and is not economical at all.

Yes, an album is going to sell more than it normally would when you mark it at a lower price. But what isn't taken into account is that the people who are buying would have most likely bought it anyway. The fact that they are just doing so at a discounted rate is somewhat irrelevant.  

With sites like Spotify, people aren't going to go out of their way to pay for something they don't have to. The discount may provide some incentive, but that is just a common part of business practices.  

Are we going to stop counting all the merchandise sold on sale at Macy's from any fashion log just because it was on sale?

I'm sure that Billboard is just trying to make the chart fair and, to an extent, this new rule may help that.

Either way, money is money, and as long as it isn't an illegal download, it should count toward the charts that have the ability to make or break an artist's career.