AT&T is the only cell phone carrier for the iPhone. However, AT&T doesn’t run its own music shop for Apple’s cell phone / music player / media player gadget. Instead, those chores are handled by iTunes.

So another music choice for AT&T cell phone customers certainly makes sense. The carrier has yet to specify which phones will work with Napster Mobile, but the iPhone is probably not one of them.

Starting in mid-November, AT&T non-iPhone customers will be able to access over 5 million tracks. Single tracks will cost $1.99 but those who select the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack can grab five tracks per month for $7.49. As an added incentive, customers who order the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack via cell phone will receive the first five songs free.

Customers who purchase songs from AT&T’s Napster Mobile service will also be able to download a second copy to their computers.

AT&T will launch its new Napster Mobile service next month by featuring music from Matchbox Twenty and the band’s new album, Exile On Mainstream, including exclusive content from concert performances on MobiTV and the company’s forthcoming MobiVJ, the company’s wireless music-streaming service.

The AT&T press release was filled with typical corporate exec quotes from both companies saying how the alliance will empower AT&T customers by giving them the opportunity to hear their favorite music whenever they want to. But it was a separate quote from Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas appearing in several news items reporting on the AT&T / Napster Mobile deal that might express the true reality of the situation. The reality for the recording industry, that is.

“When you look at the antiquated model that the record company is, it’s becoming more and more obsolete,” Thomas said.