Updated: It’s official, Apple and Universal in spat!
July 2, 2007
Last night Matt Drudge reported that Universal would not renew its contract with Apple to license music for iTunes. According to an article by Jeff Leeds in the New York Times this morning, Universal will market music to "Apple 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…"
How big a deal is this for Apple? If Universal walks, Apple loses access to one out of three new releases sold in the United States. How big a deal is this for Universal? Turns out, music sold through iTunes represents 15% of the company’s revenue (more than $200MM).
