Could royalty rate hike force Apple to reconsider variable pricing?
It's the other battle between Hollywood and Silicon Valley and this one, more like a showdown between the record labels and Apple, could determine the future of music on the iTunes Store.The Washington-based Copyright Royalty Board is expected to rule, by today, on a request by the National Music Publishers' Association to increase the royalty rates for songwriters and publishers to 15 cents per track purchased from online music stores, up 66 percent from the current 9 cents per track.