Universal in Dispute with Apple over iTunes
From the New York Times
The Universal Music Group of Vivendi, the world’s biggest music corporation, last week notified Apple that it will not renew its annual contract to sell music through iTunes, according to executives briefed on the issue who asked for anonymity because negotiations between the companies are confidential. Instead, Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, a move that could allow Universal to remove its songs from the iTunes service on short notice if the two sides do not agree on pricing or other terms in the future, these executives said.
Representatives for Universal and Apple declined to comment. The move, which comes after a standoff in negotiations, is likely to be regarded in the music industry as a boiling over of the long-simmering tensions between Mr. Jobs and the major record labels.
Click here to read more "Universal in Dispute with Apple over iTunes"
Click here to listen - On this week's show: 
from the article In
from the article
What goes unsaid is that Apple's leverage is due to the fact that they make very little off the music sales to begin with. (or at least that's what prior reports indicate.) This gives leverage to Apple, as they won't lose much by Universal's departure.
Yes, it will make the iTunes music store less "complete" in it's available catalog. But it isn't going to take away from the real profit center, the sales of the iPod itself. Despite all claims of how the iTMS helps sell more iPods, prior sales of the iPod show that the iTMS has never been a major force behind such sales.
The quoted text implies that Universal is looking for a cut of iPod sales. I suspect it'll be a cold day in hell before that happens. Apple is more likely to let Universal go, as it will do more damage to Universal's bottom line than it would Apple's. Not to mention a precident for all other content providers to ask for a cut.
For all the cries about Apple's dominance in digital music. The music industry's main implied complaint is that they AREN'T abusing the monopoly to gouge customers for the record companies.
Then again for all the hype about how Apple may or may not be squeezing the record companies is nothing compared to Wal-Mart's ability to do so.
It's these "discounters" of Wal-Mart and Apple that help keep the music prices down. Big-music may still charge more through other outlets, but Wal-Mart & Apple keep them from pushing that too hard on that front, lest even more sales go to the discounters.
Shawn Levasseur
Rockland ME
http://ComicsPundit.com