iTunes saved! Music royalty rates remain unchanged

Breathe easy, iPod lovers: Apple will not have to shutter the iTunes Music Store after all: The Copyright Royalty Board has officially set the rate paid to publishers for downloadable music at 9.1 cents per track, the same as it is for physical media like CDs, effectively ending worries that rates would be dramatically hiked to 15 cents per track.

Apple had previously threatened to close up shop if rates were increased from the current level.

The ruling is actually a landmark one of somewhat major importance: Until now there had been no official guidelines for rates paid for digital, no-physical-media music tracks. Instead, Apple and other downloadable music providers have been operating all this time using the rules for CDs, which music publishers have not been entirely happy about. The new guidelines also include official rates to be paid for ringtones. And all of these rates will be in effect through 2012.

Still up in the air is a royalty plan for streaming media services like Pandora, though a deal is expected to pass muster sometime in the near future. That plan would set royalties based on a percentage of revenue rather than on a per-track basis.

Hard to believe that everything is getting resolved so smoothly in this industry, one in which its players have not been known for their charity and willingness to hammer out mutually-beneficial solutions.