The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decided not to change the music royalty fees for online sales. Therefore Apple's threat earlier this week to shut down its iTunes service is highly probable to change. That rate now remains set at 9.1 cents per song, or 1.75 per minute for any song lasting longer than 5minutes and 12 seconds.

During a 10 month trial that concluded earlier this year, Apple executive Eddy Cue claimed that a rate increase could lead to disaster and that the company "would not continue to operate if it (the iTunes Store) were no longer possible to do so profitably."
Besides Apple, the ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board Amazon.com also affects Amazon.com, EMusic, Rhapsody and Napster. But it seems that the industry has chosen to keep the leader in legal digital music distribution satisfied.

"Keeping rates where they are will help digital services and retailers continue to innovate and grow for the next several years, which will benefit songwriters, artists, labels and publishers," Jonathan Potter, DiMA's executive director, said in a statement.
Moreover, the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), which represents songwriters and had lobbied for a 66 percent increase in royalty rates, also appreciated the board's decision. It seems that all they wanted was for them to be properly recognized in the music industry.

The CRB also rejected a call to cut the rate to 4.8 cents and in the end agreed to peg it at 9.1 cents a song for the next five years. For ringtones, the federal agency set a new rate of 24 cents.