Reply #7: RIAA, ASCAP and BMI - not Apple [View All]

[eeyore]

In order for Apple to even have the iTunes store, they had to negotiate terms with the RIAA, ASCAP and BMI. One or all of those organizations may have required a separate licensing fee for ringtones. Such is the way of intellectual property law. It's a goddamn miracle that there is an iTunes store at all, given the luddite attitudes of those organizations when it comes to digital media. Don't blame Apple, they've cleared the path for damn nearly everything that's happened with legal music downloads so far.