Last month, Apple’s officials announced that an agreement was reached with all the major record labels, which agreed to drop their demands for copy protection, with the condition to be allowed to charge more than 99 cents for the new popular songs released through Apple’s iTunes store.

At this point, all archives should be moved to the new DRM-free iTunes Plus format. The company’s upgrade includes a feature that allows users to download music from the iTunes store directly to the iPhone, but the biggest news is that the company agreed to include two new prices for the available tunes: $1.29 and $0.69. This decision is looking to address the requests of the record companies, which a demanded variable pricing structure for their tracks available in the online store.

Even though it appears to be a win-win situation, according to a report presented by the New York Times, "the relationship remains as tense and antagonistic as ever." The reason is that Apple’s terms do not allow many moves for the record companies, which are forced to agree with the demands because of the iTunes Store’s popularity.

"Whether the industry likes it or not, the iTunes chart showing the most popular songs in America is a major influencer of how kids today discover and communicate with their friends what kind of music they like," explained Charlie Walk, the former president of Epic Records, a unit of Sony Music, for Arstechnica. "It's a very powerful thing right now in American pop culture and immediately validates a hit song," he added.