Well, this is about 10 years too late...

Universal announces test of new pricing structure for CD's.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i56ed42b9a46f8554e2671afccecca01b

The Universal Music Group could rewrite U.S. music pricing when it tests a new frontline pricing structure, which is designed to get single CDs in stores at $10, or below.

Beginning in the second quarter and continuing through most of the year, the company's Velocity program will test lower CD prices. Single CDs will have the suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6.

If they'd done this about ten years ago, it might actually have helped to save CD's. As it is now, CD's have been too pricey for too long, and online music from iTunes and Amazon just has too strong a foothold. Plus, they still don't entirely get it:

To accommodate the lower pricing, UMG labels also plan to step up deluxe versions of albums that can sell at higher prices for the more devout music fans and collectors. UMG is also banking that the lower price points will at the least be offset by increasing CD sales volume.

It's not like they're losing money on CD's now. They've been overpriced since they came out, initially because it supposedly cost so much to produce them. And selling stripped down versions for what should be the price of the full album just misses the point altogether.