You know how people in the record business enjoy complaining about not making enough money because of Apple's monopoly on music sales, instead of simply inventing a superior digital-album-selling service or finding new jobs in another less-screwed industry? They're doing it again! CNET's Greg Sandoval reports that ASCAP, BMI, and a coalition of performers'-rights groups have started lobbying Congress for a law requiring Apple to pay a small royalty every time anyone listens to a 30-second song sample in the iTunes Music Store. Since we'd imagine Steve Jobs would sooner pull catalogues from iTunes than pay publishers for something so idiotic, we doubt there's much for you to worry about here.

Music publishers: iTunes not paying fair share [CNET]