It seems like the music business is back in grade school and everyone is whispering "don't be friends with iTunes" as everyone is lining up to take their best shot at the online giant.

Offsetting their label-friendly variable pricing system under which they sell certain individual songs for more than 99 cents, Amazon.com is offering the mp3 version of deep discounts with their "Daily Deals" and "Friday Five." Under the "Daily Deals" deal, Amazon will offer "popular" albums at bargain basement prices. To get the ball rolling, they have been featuring DRM-free Coldplay albums for $1.99. With the "Friday Five," a quintet of classic albums will be dropped in price to $5 for a period of 5 days. It's gimmicky as anything, but it will stimulate the conversation over mp3 pricing.

Further goosing the topic, Kid Rock has spoken out on his dislike for iTunes, claiming that Apple doesn't pay musicians enough money for the music they sell. One of the remaining superstars to resist selling songs on iTunes, Rock is bitter that the modern day distribution system has perpetuated an archaic business model. "We all know the stories of the Otis Reddings, Chuck Berrys and Fats Dominos who never got paid," said Rock. "The Internet was an opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money." He knows his music will end up on iTunes at some point in time but for the moment is relishing fighting the system.