April 21, 2008

By By Antony Bruno, Denver

Nokia says it is not paying $35 to Universal Music Group for each Comes With Music phone sold, as was reported by various media outlets last week.

Guessing how much Nokia is paying participating labels (of which there is still only one) is the new sport among the digital entertainment press these days, as is all the analysis around those iffy figures. Prior stories tagged the label cut at $80. The fact is nobody knows except for those directly involved in the deal, and they're not talking. The resulting guess-a-thon is quickly turning the Comes With Music initiative into the worst-reported digital music story on the Web today.

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