Petteri Pyyny
29 Jun 2004 13:40
Association of Independent Music, an organization that represents almost thousand British indie labels, has told to press that it has officially recommended for its members not to sign a deal with Apple to distribute the songs via iTunes service under the contract terms offered to indie labels.
Apparently Apple has offered a fixed income deal to indie labels that would last three years and as the online music industry is still in its infancy, indie labels fear that such deal could seriously hamper their ability to benefit from the booming trend.
Lack of indie labels isn't a small issue either in Europe, as small labels represent over a quarter of continent's record sales -- a percentage that is one of the highest anywhere in the world. Apple has plans to launch a European -wide iTunes service in October. AIM stated that "In a year or so, they may decide to increase their prices -- but all that extra markup would go to Apple (and not to the labels). We are not going to throw our music away. The terms are simply unviable."
Source: Wired