There will be a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board (oooh, sounds pretentious) today regarding whether iTunes will have their royalties charges raised from 9 cents to 15 cents per track. Eddy Cue, the VP of Apple iTunes states:
“If [iTunes] 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 [iTunes] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.”
It sounds like he’s saying, “Go ahead, we’d like to see you try… just watch what happens.” Pretty incendiary! Apple is obviously bluffing – it will clearly not just close up shop if the 6 cent increase takes affect. So, if the ruling passes expect to eat the costs every time you click “Buy Song” on iTunes.
