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iTunes Lives to Sell Another 5 Billion Songs

If the [iTunes music store] was forced to absorb any increase in the … royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss–which is no alternative at all. Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”

– iTunes vice president Eddy Cue

Not that it would ever have happened anyway, but Apple (AAPL) will not be shutting down the iTunes Store in protest over increased royalty rates paid to songwriters and publishers for CDs and digital music downloads. The Copyright Royalty Board Thursday left the rate for royalties unchanged at nine cents a track, paying no mind to a proposal by the National Music Publishers’ Association that would have raised it to 15 cents–a 66 percent hike.

Seems Apple’s posturing paid off. Said Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr, “We’re pleased with the CRB’s decision to keep royalty rates stable.”

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John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »

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