iTunes Remains: Music Royalty Payments Unchanged

The Copyright Royalty Board announced on Thursday last week that it would maintain the same royalty rate for CDs and downloadable songs, thus averting what could have been a protracted conflict over music royalties at iTunes and other online venues. Apple had gone so far as to announce that, if the royalties rate had been changed, they might be forced to shut down the music store portion of their site. Aidan Malley of Apple Insider reports, “A three-person panel of judges determining the changes for the Board said labels would still have to pay the same 9.1 cents per song as they do today, rejecting calls by the National Music Publishers Association and connected artists to pay as much as 15 cents per song.”

Although this decision is certainly not what National Music Publishers’ Association had hoped for, it brought a rapid end to the dispute between musicians and store operators. Although Apple is not stating that the musicians don’t deserve to be paid more for their work, they see it as the responsibility of the labels to absorb the increase. Malley writes, “Apple currently operates iTunes on minimal profit and claims it would take losses on each sale if it didn’t raise prices, a move which it also believes would be untenable in the current market.”

The conflict will most likely continue in other forms. But for now, iTunes remains unchanged. The iTunes Store continues on as before, to the relief of many music-lovers, and some would argue, to the benefit of musicians.