EON

Toronto – The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. is considering a motion to increase the royalty rate paid by Apple to music publishers and the record labels from 9 cents to 15 cents.The big tech company has threatened to shut iTunes down, should they be forced to pay this increased rate.

Apple said the increase could force it to raise its song price of 99 cents, something they’ve refused to do even after crazy pressure from the record companies.

iTunes’ Vice President Eddy Cue has also said that Apple could shut down iTunes rather than raise its prices or absorb the higher royalty costs.

“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,” said Cue.

The president of the National Music Publishers Association, the group pushing for the increase said, “I think we established a case for an increase in the royalties. Apple may want to sell songs cheaply to sell iPods. We don’t make a penny on the sale of an iPod.”