Universal Music Group's iTunes Contract

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Universal Music Group is set to notify Apple that it will not be renewing their long term contract to sell digital music through Apple's iTunes Store. Instead they will continue with a "short-term" sales agreement, which would mean Universal's catalog would remain on iTunes for the time being.

Though it is unlikely to have sweeping effects immediately, the change could give Universal more flexibility in its dealings with competitors to iTunes -- for instance enabling the company to offer other digital download stores parts of its catalog exclusively to other services.

The exact impact of shift is not entirely clear, but record labels have been reportedly concerned with Apple's increasing dominance in digital music sales.