Digital-music companies and music publishers have reached an impasse in royalty negotiations, clouding the future of online subscription services such as those from Yahoo, RealNetworks and Napster.

The two sides have been negotiating on and off for years over the amount of money that songwriters and music publishers should get from these subscription plans, which allow listeners to download or stream an unlimited amount of music per month.

The services have long since struck agreements with record labels, and download stores such as Apple Computer's iTunes have their royalties settled. Subscription services have been operating under a temporary agreement with the publishers since 2001, however.

"The problem is that it's been four years, and we have not had one penny distributed to songwriters or publishers," said David Israelite, chief executive officer of the National Music Publishers' Association. "The digital subscription market has been inhibited by the lack of certainty."

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