LOS ANGELES, Sept. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- US music retailers on Thursday cautiously welcomed the move by Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's largest music company, to drastically cut CD prices in order to lure music fans back to stores.

　　The UMG announced on Wednesday an aggressive plan to significantly reduce the cost consumers pay for CDs by decreasing its wholesale prices and by instituting a 12.98-dollar Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price on virtually all top line CDs in the US.

　　The new price program, which will begin in the fourth quarter of 2003, is expected to lower the CD prices by 16 to 24 percent.

　　The company said the measure was taken after a three-year decline of CD sales due to the rise of illegal file-sharing on theInternet.

　　As part of this new policy, UMG's labels plan to significantly increase their direct-to-consumer advertising to raise music fans'awareness of the artists and their music.

　　The UMG move was aimed at bringing music fans back into retail stores and driving music sales in face of rampant music piracy on the Internet.

　　The UMG, whose roster includes such renowned artists as U2, Eminem, Sir Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Enrique Iglesias, accounts for almost 30 percent of the all album sales in the United States.

　　"Our new pricing policy will allow us to take the initiative inmaking music the best entertainment value and most compelling option for consumers," said Doug Morris, chairman and CEO of the UMG. "We strongly believe that when the prices are dramatically reduced on so many titles, we will drive consumers back to stores and significantly bolster music sales."

　　Large retailers such as BestBuy, Wal-Mart Stories Inc. and Amazon.com generally reserved judgment Thursday on the UMG move. But Borders' vice president and chief marketing officer, Mike Spinozzi, cautiously welcomed the change.

　　"There's going to be a lot of deflation ...fewer gross margin dollars per CD, and we hope because of that we'll attract a lot more people to the store," said Spinozzi.

　　Analysts have predicted that the CD and DVD formats will be replaced in future by the increasingly popular on-line music downloading, swapping and file sharing. They said the other four major music retailers will follow the Universal's lead in cutting CD prices. Enditem