According to Think Secret, a site specialising in reporting on Apple leaks and rumours, Apple is typically paying 99 Aussie cents, excluding GST, for every single that it sells for $1.69. The report says Apple pays anything from A$5.99 to $11.99 for albums, and charges customers $17.99.

Apple boss Steve Jobs has hinted in the past that the company makes almost nothing on iTunes songs, but this story suggests that, in Australia at least, they do very well - enjoying about a 70 percent margin. Apple's terms with the labels also reportedly stipulate that the wholesale price Apple pays for an album will never exceed the aggregate of the songs if they were sold separately. Record labels are not to raise the wholesale price they charge Apple for any single track during the agreement, but Apple can raise the retail price, with at least five days notice, the report said.

In Sydney, Rob Small, Apple Computer Australia marketing director, yesterday told CDN Apple does not discuss the details of its commercial arrangements. "I don't think you should necessarily believe everything you read on Think Secret," he said.