Apple denies rumors of Universal leaving iTunes

Steve Jobs convinced them the first time. He convinced all of the major record labels to sign a contract that would lock them into selling their songs on the iTunes Store for a fixed $0.99 per song. The labels accepted, and the iTunes Store sold over 2 billion songs. Now, the time comes again for the labels to sign for a contract with iTunes, and rumors around the web have alluded to the fact that Universal, one of the biggest record labels, may not re-sign their long-term contract with iTunes.

Apple has publicly denied this when spokesman Tom Neumyr told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday “We are still negotiating with Universal. Their music is still on iTunes and their not re-signing is just not true.”

Despite Apple denying this rumor, some still believe that Universal will not sign the deal with Apple, because they do not want to be restricted by the $0.99 price tag for all songs. However, iTunes also has to weigh in on the situation, being the 3rd largest distributer of music in the USA. If Universal decides to pull their music from the iTunes Store, it would be like them pulling their music from a Target Store or Amazon–not really a good idea.

Read [AppleInsider]