NEW YORK (Reuters) - Universal Music Group Chief Executive Doug Morris said on Tuesday he may try to fashion an iPod royalty fee with Apple Computer Inc. APPL.O in the next round of negotiations in early 2007.
Universal, the world's largest music company, owned by French media giant Vivendi (VIV.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), was the first major record label to strike an agreement with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to receive a fee for every Zune digital media player sold.
"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 told the Reuters Media Summit, when asked if Universal would negotiate a royalty fee for the iPod similar to Microsoft's Zune.
"The Zune precedent I thought was a big thing. We'll see how that plays out in the next year if we'll be able to do the same thing with other companies," he said.
Morris said, however, he had no problem with the current pricing scheme the company has with Apple on the iTunes online music service, which is expected to be a big issue in the next round of record industry negotiations.
"We've had no problems with his pricing policies because we believe that, if prices were raised at this moment, it would drive people back to the pirates quicker," he said.
Morris also said he would not rule out seeking agreements similar to its deal on Zune with manufacturers of cellphones equipped with music players.
"If we had enough leverage to get it, absolutely. It depends on how much they want it," he said. "We're going to use our license to get as much of everything as we can."
He added the company could make a "tremendous amount" of money from ring tones as well as other new products and media, but said it would also need to focus on content.
"No one is going to do anything unless we concentrate on the creative," he added.
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