Major label execs "fear" Apple

According to a New York Times report, many music industry executives operate in fear of angering Apple. Apple's online digital music store has become the defacto standard for digital music online, while CD sales plummet.

The dynamic is interesting because the record companies used to be able to dictate everything from supply to price, but the unusual power of the Apple store has made this kind of control over the industry much more difficult for the music labels and given Apple significant bargaining power.

It is an interesting bit of irony after many years of artist complaints about the uneven bargaining power of major labels and the one-sided royalty system.