Looks like Apple's bluff (if that's what it was) was successful. The Copyright Royalty Board yesterday denied a request by the National Music Publishers' Association to increase royalties from 9 cents to 15 cents on songs purchased in online stores, so we don't get to find out whether Apple actually would have shut down the iTunes store in response, as it threatened. The decision will freeze the current rate for the next five years. [Fortune/CNN]