Universal Music has declined to sign another long-term contract to make its music available through Apple's iTunes store, reports The New York Times.

Instead, Universal Music has said it will market its artists to iTunes on an "at will" basis. But the lack of contract means Universal could pull its music from iTunes with little notice.

Univeral has been among the most vocal about Apple's huge share of the digital music market and impractical pricing structure. Other labels have long argued for variable pricing, which would mean higher costs for more popular or newer releases, something Apple has refused to do.

Digital music sales accounted for 15 percent of Universal's overall revenue in the first quarter of this year. Pulling its songs from iTunes would mean a financial hit to the storefront but could do even more damage to Universal.

Analysts point out that while it's all good to make sure the relationship between labels and iTunes is a balanced one, it's also a bad idea to pull your suite of offerings from the legion of iPod users who get music there. Doing so, some caution, could turn consumers back to ripping friends' CDs or otherwise refusing to pay for the music they put on their players.