TMO Reports - Apple Denies iTMS Price Hike Rumor

by , 2:45 PM EDT, May 7th, 2004

Apple Computer is categorically denying a published report that it plans to raise prices on some music tracks on its iTunes Music Store to US$1.25 a song.

A story in Friday's New York Post quoted unnamed sources as saying five major record labels - EMI, Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), Sony, Universal and Warner - have been in negotiations recently with Apple over pricing and that prices for some of the most popular singles could rise as much as 26 cents a cut.

"These rumors are not true," Apple's spokeswoman Natalie Sequeira, told The Mac Observer, Friday. "We have multi-year agreements with the (record) labels and our price remains at 99 cents a track."

Ms. Sequeria would not discuss specifics of the individual contracts with record labels, such as when they expire.

Based on its own internal, proprietary numbers compared to the total number of downloads reported by Nielsen/SoundScan, Apple estimates it controls 70% of the legal download market for singles and albums. The company said it now has more than 700,000 music files available for sale with the majority selling for 99 cents.