Die US-amerikanischen Arme der Majorlabels sehen sich einem Kartellrecht-Verfahren gegenüber. Der US Supreme Court hat eine Abweisung der Klage abgelehnt. Grund der Anklage ist eine Preisabsprache zu digitaler Musik:
The high court declined to hear an appeal from the four major recorded music labels, asking the high court to throw out a lawsuit that claims the labels broke antitrust laws when they set a “wholesale price floor” of about 70 cents per track for two digital music stores that they created almost a decade ago, Pressplay and MusicNet.
Die Absprache hatte (natürlich) Einfluß auf den Markt:
The litigation consolidated 28 lawsuits filed between 2005 and 2006 that argued the labels’ first online music projects illegally raised prices for digital music, because the labels colluded to create a price “floor” that was around 70 cents per track. That was far higher than the 25 cents per track being charged by indie-music provider eMusic, at the time leading competitor to iTunes.