Universal 'negotiating with Apple on iPod tax'

After securing a deal with Microsoft to take a small cut of every Zune sold, reportedly as a buffer against royalties lost to piracy, Universal is hoping it can secure the same deal with Apple.

It's thought the record label receives $1 for each of the $250 Microsoft music players sold. Universal CEO Doug Morris said at the Reuters Media Summit he believes there's room for a similar accord with the iPod maker, according to Reuters.

"It would be a nice idea. We have a negotiation coming up not too far. I don't see why we wouldn't do that... but maybe not in the same way," he said.

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Some countries already impose a levy on blank media as reparations to the music industry for lost sales due to piracy and some countries, including Canada and the Netherlands, have considered a similar tax on iPods and other MP3 players. Universal, however, is the first company to negotiate its own deal with hardware makers.

"The Zune [deal] was an amazingly interesting exercise, to end up with a piece of technology," Morris said.

In other news, Russia has agreed to close controversial Russian download service AllofMP3.com, which allowed users to buy full albums for around £1. It claimed it did not breach copyright legislation but had drawn fire from the UK music industry for not sharing its revenues with the artists whose music it sells.

In an anti-piracy agreement struck last week between US and Russia, the pair agreed to act jointly to stop illegal downloading. "The United States and Russia agreed on the objective of shutting down websites that permit illegal distribution of music and other copyrighted works. The agreement names the Russia-based website AllofMP3.com as an example of such a website," the agreement reads.