"They won't advertise your album unless you give them extra material" Lily Allen says of Apple, the computer company behind iTunes. Apparently, Apple has pushed the outspoken British pop singer to quickly produce a new version of her song for sale on iTunes. The musician responsible for the hit single Smile wont' let the Silicon Valley giant get away with it - she now plans to give Apple a "rubbish remix".

Record labels pay for good in-store placement of albums, a practice which Apple shuns. Instead, Apple wants to enable unbiased music recommendations. In order to gain visibility on the front page of iTunes, labels must negotiate with Apple. Apple offers good iTunes placement to artists who offer exclusive material.

But such good placement, as offered by Apple, is the key. We heard from Wall Street Journal that during a week when an album is featured on the iTunes home page, it can sell about five times more copies than its average sales when that album is not featured. Torn between two figures we really like: Apple and Lily Allen, we wonder whose side of the story holds more weight.