Reports are circulating about an invitation-only meeting at Apple's Cupertino HQ, US in which boss Steve Jobs met with 150-odd reps from key indie labels in America.
Word is Jobs more or less offered the independents the same distribution deals as they have given the majors. If true that's quite a deal because for smaller labels a presence in the iTunes Music Store represents wider distribution than many could even hope to acheive.
Apparently the iTunes staff are also developing ways to steer people to lesser-known music they might like – which has to be a good thing.