Originally published February 7 2006
Industry-wide investigation begins for the pricing of music downloads
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The New York State attorney general has served subpoenas to Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group to investigate whether the companies colluded in pricing music downloads.
The New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, is investigating whether the four record companies that dominate the industry have violated antitrust laws in the pricing of songs that are sold by Internet music services, according to people involved in the inquiry.
Spitzer's office recently began serving subpoenas on the record companies Universal Music Group, a unit of Vivendi Universal; Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann; EMI Group; and Warner Music Group, according to people involved.
Warner Music disclosed Friday in a regulatory filing that it had received a subpoena Tuesday in connection with "an industrywide investigation" into whether the companies colluded in the pricing of music downloads.
Representatives for Warner and Sony BMG said their companies would cooperate with the investigation.
Representatives for the other major companies could not be reached or declined to comment.
Spitzer's inquiry comes as the recording industry is divided over how to expand the digital market, which has been dominated by the iTunes service of Apple Computer.
Of the retail price of 99 cents a song that Apple charges, the music companies typically receive about 70 cents.
Some major record companies have been pushing to introduce flexible pricing, charging more for hit songs and less for oldies, for example.
But some executives say that a more complex price structure would turn off buyers and hurt industry efforts to woo music listeners away from free, unauthorized file-swapping networks.
Two major companies, Sony BMG and Warner, reached an impasse with Apple this year in talks about the price of music on the iTunes service in Japan.
Jobs' critics in the music industry, in turn, have complained privately that Jobs is hoarding cash by holding down song prices to protect sales of the iPod, Apple's lucrative music player.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml