iLounge

By LC Angell

Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Monday, December 26, 2005
News Category: Digital Media

The four major record companies are being investigated by New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer over whether they have violated antitrust laws in the pricing of songs sold by digital music services such as the iTunes Music Store.

“Spitzer’s office recently began serving subpoenas on the major record companies—the Universal Music Group, a unit of Vivendi Universal; Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony and Bertelsmann; the EMI Group; and the Warner Music Group, according to people involved,” reports The New York Times. “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.”