Apple Gets Its Wish: Music Download Royalty Rates Remain Unchanged

I wrote earlier that the the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) was expected to rule Thursday on possibly raising the royalty rate for downloaded tracks of music from 9 cents to 15 cents (66%). Quite naturally Apple was against this, and stated (or rather, blustered) it might go so far as close the iTunes Store should the rate increase. Well, Apple got its wish: the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruled rates would be unchanged.

So, Apple won, but seriously, was it ever actually considering a shutdown. Probably not, but as a music industry source told C|Net:

"Sure it was posturing. That's what you do in court. I don't think Apple would have gone out of business but a statement like that from the biggest music retailer is going to carry some weight."

At the same time the CRB set a pretty egregious rate for ringtones: 24 cents per ringtone. It just goes to show the best ringtone is one you make from an MP3 file ... meaning free.

Oh, and for those who think you can't do it on an iPhone, you can. You just convert the file to .AAC, and then rename it as .M4R. Sync it as a ringtone and voila.