Talking of retail, word has it that Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris is sounding out other players in the record industry about launching their own digital music service to rival iTunes.
Morris, of course, has reportedly resented Apple's dominance of the download space for a while now, and some reckon that is why he decided to offer Universal's catalogue DRM-free to Amazon for the launch on their new MP3s only download service, while refusing to offer DRM-free tracks to Apple.
While supporting Amazon in the pay as you download market, the new venture he is reportedly developing is a subscription based service - a digital music business model that some in the music business prefer, but which is yet to really take off, despite attempts by Napster, Real and others.
According to Business Week, Morris has rivals SonyBMG and Warner Music interested in the new venture, which would look to Microsoft or Sony to provide the technology, again sidelining Apple.
Of course it isn't the first time the major labels have collaborated on their own download ventures. Back in the day Universal and Sony launched Pressplay, while EMI and BMG launched the original MusicNet, neither of which achieved much before being sold off to provide the back end to the new Napster in the case of Pressplay and to become a third party back-end provider in the case of MusicNet.