UK Store 25% more expensive, why??

Question

Probably in the wrong forum but here goes anyways.
I was on itunes and it went to the American store where an album I wanted to buy was $11.99. When I logged in it said I had to buy from the UK store, fair enough.. However, the UK store is £7.90 which makes the same album about 25% more expensive at current exchange rates.
I can understand the different licensing laws about the shops but why is the UK more expensive and how can itunes justify the higher price for the same product. It's not as if we are getting a better service over here. A few percent difference wouldn't matter but 25% is a large amount if you buy a few albums.

Answer 1

I would have thought that it would be the same record company seeing as it is the same album by the same group.
Nope. Record companies are all separate from country to country and have different licensing arrangements. Even the multinationals operate within a given country as if the branch were a separate entity. And royalty rates are often different from country to country, either the royalties to the artists, the royalties to the publisher, or both.
Again, there are many, many factors that go into pricing. DVDs and CDs are similarly higher in the UK than they are in the US, so it's not just the iTunes Store. It's the nature of doing business in the UK.
End of discussion, please. This isn't a technical question, and by the terms of use for the Apple Discussions forums, policy questions and complaints aren't appropriate. We're all just your fellow users here anyway and have no influence on pricing decisions for any company.