downloads - license vs. sale

[dean_martin]

Apparently, artists, especially older ones, won a victory when the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower appellate court ruling holding that digital downloads should be treated as licenses rather than sales. Most artist contracts provide the artist with a larger percentage of licenses (as much as 50%) as opposed to sales (roughly 10-15% either after or minus some expenses). What does this mean for the consumer? Maybe nothing because the holding will have the biggest impact on contracts that pre-date the digital age. Newer and Current contracts specifically address digital music so they are not likely to be affected, but (this is just guess work on my part) because the record labels won't be getting as big a share on their digital back catalogs, prices may go up across the board.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/business/media/28eminem.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss