Royalties May Shut Down iTunes

"This Is So Going In My Blog,"

What is happening to our music industry? Has it really gotten that bad for our artists? In recent news, the music indusrty has proposed a slight increase in their royalty rates in mp3 stores such as iTunes. While 9 cents to 15 cents doesn't seem that big of a difference, iTunes has threatened to shut down their store in protest.

iTunes could shut down as early as October 2, when the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington is scheduled to meet and rule on a request from the National Music Publisher's Association to incresase royalties for artists from online music stores, according to  Fortune. The 6 cent jump ultimately represents a 66 percent increase for Apple, and that figure could force Apple to raise their usual song price of 99 cents, which the company refuses to do since this has been their price since their launch 5 years ago, despite the constant pressure from major labels to do so.

Nobody from Apple is speaking about the matter right now, but they have been clear on where they stand, and are opposed to the rate increase.

I personally don't know what to say since I don't really buy music from iTunes. I download em. Hahaha! BUT, I have always enjoyed looking for new music on iTunes, and I'm sure that the people who live in the states and actually use the online store do not want this to happen. iTunes has made a name for itself and has literally become the  most popular online music store out there. The shutting down of iTunes could also affect the music industry since mp3's have become the way of life for all of us. If artists wanna keep making money, I suggest they drop this proposal and just leave well enough alone.

What do you guys think? Comment!

"True Story"

**UPDATE** iTunes will not be shutting down. The Copyright Royalty Board rejected the motion for an increase in royalties.**UPDATE**