With iTunes as the #3 retailer in music now, Apple has big leveraging power.

I don't fault Universal for wanting to sell music at different prices. I do fault them for: 1. Likely using this as an excuse to make music more expensive, not cheaper like they want us to think. 2. Holding back payments to artists for "manufacturing and distribution costs". There are none for online sales, yet Universal still holds back money from the artists. 3. Sticking to DRM. I'm not sure what DRM gains for them. Surely they realize DRM is pointless by now.

This provides Apple with a lot of red tape regarding the what and when of Un-iversal offerings.

I think Apple should take the next logical step and drop all - ALL Un-iversal offerings from the iTunes store as a legitimate business decision (cost/benefit not withstanding).

Earth to Un-iversal. Radio is dead. You killed it, and now it will kill you.

Contracts are for both parties. The wheels in Jobs head are spinning right now, ready to take advantage of the situation.

Universal will be kicking themselves soon enough.

The idea of a long term contract is not an industry standard, so Universal is just flexing muscles a bit. This may work out for a fair deal for both Universal and Apple. It may give universal the clout to change their pricing (re: recent supreme court decision allowing manufacturers to set minimal pricing...although not sure if this applies directly since nothing is manufactured) and Apple to show that higher priced songs of medium quality don't sell.

From what I have read (anecdotally), most artists like being on iTunes since it does reduce pirating.

On a completely different note (totally unrelated), I absolutely love Safari's spell checking in text areas!

remember earlier in the decade when Napster was so huge and record companies couldn't get the download service figured out due to their greed and blockheadedness?

It took Apple and Steve Jobs to figure out how to sell music online and OF COURSE now Universal Music hates them for it. Well, if they could have figured it out on their own, they wouldn't be in this situation, would they? No one to blame but themselves...

Excellent move on Apple's part to play innocent of UMG's change in contract. That forced UMG to reiterate what had already been in the news for 48 hours, and come out sounding even more like the bad guy.

Universal is acting according to its long standing nature and practices. To them, Microsoft, and others - everything is about leverage. They, and other main music labels, cannot stand any power slipping from their hands - not to artists, not to Apple, and certainly not to consumers. Apple's recent success is because they have aligned with consumer interests No, they are not perfect, but the iTunes/iPod products and ecosystem are a good example of aligning with what the consumer was looking for, and giving some power back to them - the power of choosing one song, for example, from an album. This what the internet/digital shift has been about. The industrial business model is having trouble changing. It would be refreshing to see them truly move toward a win-win mentality (as taught by Harvard and others - and it's just the right way for us to treat each other).

I sent a letter to Universal stating that I prefer to buy my music from iTunes and that I prefer DRM free. I also let them know that I can "survive" by not buying any Universal/Vivendi labeled music.

"Universal isn't leaving iTunes, even they aren't stupid enough to ever leave the service that has a 75% market share of the music download business."

"With iTunes as the #3 retailer in music now, Apple has big leveraging power."

To clarify, iTunes may be the largest online digital music retailer, but let's keep this in context. Digital music sales makes up less than 15% of total music sales for the year.

Apple does not have near the power people think they should have when it comes to music. I hate to admit this but people like WalMart do, but I would never buy music from them personally.