Napster Offers Free Music Service
Napster recently launched a new free music service supported solely by advertising. After several months of terse negotiations with the major record companies, Napster was able to launch the service by bargaining to split advertising revenue based on the number of times one of the label’s songs were played. The free service, which comes in addition to Napster’s existing subscription service, allows users to send direct...
Apple Renews 99 Cent Download Contracts
Apple Computer acknowledged it had renewed contracts with the four major labels to continue to sell songs through its iTunes digital store for 99 cents each. The agreements came after months of bargaining, and were a defeat for music companies who had been pushing publically and privately for a scaled pricing model. Since iTunes inception, Apple has charged US consumers 99 cents for each downloaded track. Although the majors have...






