For all the talk about how iTunes is something of a loss leader for Apple, it’s still never been clearly stated just how much the recording industry charges Apple for each downloaded song. Everyone seems to agree that it’s approximately two-thirds of the retail $0.99 price, and at various times we’ve heard numbers as low as $0.65 and as high as $0.77. The general consensus is that it’s usually in the $0.67 to $0.70 range, with $0.70 being the standard these days. However, it appears that the RIAA really just doesn’t want anyone to know about them. In one of the recent lawsuits, UMG v. Lindor, where the defendant is challenging the damages amount, the RIAA is refusing to disclose the wholesale pricing details unless they can require Lindor’s attorneys to keep the prices confidential. Her attorneys refuse to do so, on the grounds that the information really isn’t confidential, and the only reason the RIAA is hoping to keep the prices quiet is to assist them in other lawsuits. Perhaps that would be lawsuits like the one they’re facing from a bunch of musicians who feel that the labels are cheating them out of revenues owed from digital downloads.
