iTunes have announced plans that offers users in the EU the chance to get refunds on music, no questions asked, for 14 days. But as Popjustice reports, the days of taking back a CD to the store and saying it was an ‘unwanted present’ are now over as iTuneshave started offering refunds simply because you don’t like a song.
As explained by 9-to 5 Mac explains Apple’s terms and conditions have been updated so that they now include a specific no questions asked 14-day return window. The official text readers “Right of cancellation: If you choose to cancel your order, you may do so within 14 days from when you received your receipt without giving any reason, except iTunes Gifts which cannot be refunded once you have redeemed the code.”
While this will please anyone who has inadvertently bought a disappointing album (and yes there are those of us who felt that Pink Floyd’s much heralded The Endless River would fit this catergory) it may have even broader implications. Peter Robinson makes the point that this opens up the charts to huge manipulation: if users don’t even need to buy or stream albums then potentially fan groups could download copies onto itunes in the week of release, only to ask for a refund the following Monday.
The prospect of manipulating the charts so easily is obviously terrifying and both Apple and the Official Charts Company will presumably have to investigate this issue in 2015. One suspects we will only know the full impact when Limp Bizkit’s Stampede Of The Disco Elephants unexpectedly tops the charts this summer on hastily returned downloads alone.
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