iTunes: shooting the messenger? [update]

According to The Independent, in the US Apple makes just 4 cents from each download sale while copyright owners get 62 cents; music publishers take a further 8 cents. As the article notes:

With the sites, the copyright owners have doubled their share of royalties, even though the marginal cost of manufacturing has fallen to almost zero.

…Phil Evans, a spokesman for the Consumers Association, said the data suggested record labels would have to change - or strangle the nascent market. He said: “Unless the record labels look at new [distribution] models, they’re bringing about their own demise.”

Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, is blunter. He says commercial downloading is so unprofitable it is “a race where the winner gets shot in the head”.

And the Consumers Association wants *Apple* investigated for profiteering?

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