Wednesday Bits & Pieces: NMPA Blocks Longer iTunes Song-Samples, Eminem’s Royalty Victory & Amazon Buys Amie St

Among the new features that were not announced last week at Steve Jobs‘ big keynote event, was the lengthening of song sample time in the iTunes store. It was rumored that Jobs would be revealing an extended sample time from 30 seconds to 60 or 90, presumably to further entice a potential buyer.  While it appears that Apple had all the necessary agreements in place with the four major label groups, it had not made any such arrangement with the publishers.  When the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) caught wind of the new sample length, they notified Apple at the eleventh-hour of their legal objections, and the announcement was pulled according to CNET. Publishers don’t see any performance money from the iTunes store, and while the current 30-second sample clip is treated as “promotional,” a longer sample time would most likely result in publishers wanting to get paid… In more iTunes and publishing news, the Ninth Circuit court has ruled in favor of Eminem’s former production company FBT Productions, reversing a 2009 decision from the original lawsuit brought against Universal Music Group. The latest ruling declares that downloads through the iTunes store are in fact “licenses” and not “sales” – entitling the plaintiff to a significantly higher percentage of revenue.  Though with such potential for precedent-setting in the ongoing debate over how downloads should be treated particularly for older artists with older contracts, most expect this case to remain in the legal system for awhile longer… And Amazon has purchased Amie Street, the online music store that it helped fund four years ago, and plans to shutter the service at the end of the month. Due to the unique nature of the digital retailer’s model, the service became mostly a haven for independent and unsigned artists, as negotiating with the larger labels proved difficult.  While certainly a blow to many who use the service, it appears both sides are happy with the deal, and the Amie Street team will now focus on their new project, Songza, a Pandora-like music streaming service…