Audio (4858)

Universal Music may negotiation royalty fee for Apple iPods

Looks like the Zune set a precedent

29 November 2006 10:25 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The agreement that entitles Universal Music to a fee from each Microsoft Zune player sold looks as though it has set a new precedent that other manufacturers may be forced to follow.

Speaking at the Reuters Media Summit, the CEO of Universal Music, Doug Morris, said he may try to negotiate a similar fee with Apple when the next round of negotiations take place early next year.

"It would be a nice idea."

"We have a negotiation coming up not too far [away]. I don't see why we wouldn't do that ... but maybe not in the same way", he said in response to a question that asked if Universal would try to get a royalty fee for iPods in a similar way that the company does for Zune players.

"The Zune [deal] was an amazingly interesting exercise, to end up with a piece of technology."

Neither Microsoft nor Universal has specified the amount of the royalty payment per Zune.

The deal comes at a time when music companies are trying to find new ways to keep up their revenues in the face of both legal and illegal music downloads.

Full tags

Audio, MP3 players, iPod, Apple, Biz, Zune, Microsoft, Google, Universal music