Early last month, the music industry and Apple, long uneasy partners, seemed a picture of harmony when they agreed on new terms for pricing on iTunes, Apple’s online music store.
Behind the scenes, however, the relationship remains as tense and antagonistic as ever.
The announcement, on Jan. 6, seemed to signal a rapprochement between the music industry and its biggest distributor: The industry gave up its demand for copyright protection, called digital rights management, and Apple allowed flexible pricing, allowing the labels
to charge more for new or popular tracks.
But according to one music industry executive involved in the negotiations, Apple’s primary goal was securing distribution of music over its iPhone, as mobile phones are expected to become an increasingly important outlet for music.
Disagreements over the timing of the changes also resulted in particularly tense conversation on Christmas Eve between Steve Jobs, the chairman and chief executive of Apple, and Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, the chairman of Sony Music.
A spokesman for Apple declined to comment, as did a representative for Sony Music. But chatter about Jobs’s combative tone on the call ricocheted around the music industry and was regarded as another exhibit of his tough bargaining tactics, made possible through Apple’s position as the dominant seller of music.
Jobs recently announced that he would step away from his day-to-day duties because of an illness. While Jobs’s health problems have raised questions about Apple’s operations, music executives expect their tense relationship with the company to continue.
In interviews, several high-level music executives, who spoke on the condition that they not be named to avoid angering Apple, said they operated in fear of Apple pulling a label’s music from the iTunes store over a disagreement, even though that has never happened. The labels do not have much leverage in negotiating with Apple.
“I think Steve has been smart, and…