Brian McKinney, head of local label Chocolate Lab Records, set off a storm of nerd rage a few days ago when gadget blog Gizmodo ran a post in which he said that a rep for Apple had told him that the company charges a $10,000 fee to labels releasing albums in the new iTunes LP format. This claim managed to piss off Apple fanboys and Apple haters alike, as well as supporters of independent music. If it turned out to be true, most indie labels would be priced out of the format—which actually seems to have the potential to be cool—by the up-front costs.
Fortunately, it looks like the nerds can chill about this one, at least for now. After the Gizmodo story made the rounds, Apple announced that they will be “releasing the open specs for iTunes LP soon” and assured the public that there is no fee for labels submitting iTunes LPs for sale.
Today I e-mailed McKinney asking how things have gone since his story blew up: