Universal Music playing hardball with Apple?
With sales numbers for the opening weekend of the iPhone expected to read like the returns of a summer blockbuster, today should be a good day for Apple but an article in the Wall Street Journal may cast a small cloud over what should be the start of a good week.
The Journal is reporting that Vivendi’s Universal Music (the biggest of the Big 4 record labels by some metrics) is “considering notifying” Apple that they aren’t interested in a long-term renewal of their iTunes contract. The article carefully uses the word “considering” and it cites its source as “a person familiar with the situation.” With such phrasing, it’s not so much news as rumor and innuendo but it could still be enough to dampen the start of the week.
