Major US Music Labels Charged with Price-fixing

Major US Music Labels Charged with Price-fixing

MonkeyClaw on 10 March 2006 - 14:09 · 46 comments & 10930 views

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According to a report by Red Herring, several major US music labels have been slammed with a class action lawsuit filled by San Diego lawyer William Lerach. The labels accused with price-fixing include Sony BMG, Universal, Warner, Bertelsmann and EMI. The suit accuses these labels of "deliberately attempting to prevent the development of legitimate online music service."

The suit later accuses the labels to "conspired to fix and maintain" prices once legitimate service appeared on the market, such as iTunes and Rhapsody among others. This class action comes at a curious time as both the US Department of Justice and the New York Attorney's office launch separate independent investigations into conspiring between labels involving download prices.

News source: Red Herring

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(3 replies) #1 denzilla on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:18

Good to hear the bastards getting sued for once instead of the other way around.

#1.1 M2Ys4U on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:02

hear hear.

#1.2 iOsiris on 10 Mar 2006 - 16:34

i hope they burn in hell !

#1.3 Audhumla on 11 Mar 2006 - 22:06

Shame.

(2 replies) #2 mikeyj on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:25

Well it appears that the music industry was just trying to protect the artist and their music so they had to do some price fixing. No big deal, they'll just have us pay for it and they'll also make sure that we cannot copy the music to our mp3 players or make duplicate copies for ourselves.

But i'm sure after this charge is over, they'll just find another way to screw us over again. So the industry is against pirating music but not pirating cash from consumers. This is just another reason not to buy music, one might suggest.

#2.1 Hitchhiker427 on 10 Mar 2006 - 18:32

Sorry, but the music industry is screwing artists over, not protecting them. They're simply getting what they deserve now.

#2.2 MrCobra on 11 Mar 2006 - 10:35

You realize that the artists make nearly anything from music sales. RIAA is not there to look after the interests of the artists. They're a legal mafia lining thier own pockets. That's all they have done and will continue to do.

(2 replies) #3 MonkeyClaw on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:25

Isn't that the truth, but the recording industry is a very very very powerful lobbyist group so unless more suits follow, this will probably be swept under the rug.

#3.1 TRC on 10 Mar 2006 - 19:15

Lobbying should be illegal, for profit companies shouldn't be able to pay the government for special favors.

#3.2 Galley on 10 Mar 2006 - 22:14

I agree, all lobbying of any kind should be outlawed!

#4 ahhell on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:32

I think the artists should sue them and the RIAA. They are the ones that get screwed by all this crap.

#5 McG on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:48

Yes. Very nice.

#6 supernova_00 on 10 Mar 2006 - 14:49

Good news for us!

#7 neufuse on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:02

they are going to come out and say they had to because of music piracy *LOL* which would be the lamest excuse

(1 reply) #8 Gergith on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:03

this is awesome news

i cant wait for more suits... and they cant really have copy protection unless its clearly labeled as such... because in canada, its my right to be able to copy music freely from an origional purchased version as long as there ar eno middle men making money

i mean the labels are just rediculous!!

you know how they get there numbers for piracy?

they take there sales from this year, figure out inflation, and then if it doesnt reach that goal, no it isnt cause there not doing there job right, it isnt cause there artists suck... nope no no, its cause we all stole that extra profit that they counted before they got... just rediculous

#8.1 RAINMAN on 10 Mar 2006 - 18:10

You forgot to take that final number and add 30% to find out the cost of piracy.

#9 xxdesmus on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:06

about freaking time.

down with those greedy bastards.

#10 groingo2 on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:21

Payback's a bitch aint it guys?
But knowing the US government, they'll slip them a few bucks and make it suddenly go away, you watch.

#11 Dcrad on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:26

Justice - what a wonderful word

(1 reply) #12 Chicane-UK on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:47

Hopefully this will get some high profile coverage. I wish those persuing this lawsuit every success.

In fact I would actually DONATE to the cause, and help with this because i'm so fed up with the recording industry and its non-stop greed.

#12.1 yert* on 10 Mar 2006 - 23:01

ok, just send me the money and I'll forward it to them for you...PM ME.

(2 replies) #13 kirk26 on 10 Mar 2006 - 15:52

pfft, people still buy music?

#13.1 sam_goffe on 10 Mar 2006 - 17:25

you can buy music ?

#13.2 neufuse on 10 Mar 2006 - 18:02

I thought we licensed mushc

(1 reply) #14 SMeK on 10 Mar 2006 - 17:38

will have to wait a while to see any thing major come out of this

but its a start

#14.1 knightryderrwn on 12 Mar 2006 - 16:36

As the late Pat Morita once told Ralph Macchio,

"First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rule, Daniel-san, not mine."

Good to see the music industry finally learning those old sayings:

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander,"

"What goes around comes around,"

and, my personal favorite, "Payback's a bitch, ain't it??"

Bob

#15 KC on 10 Mar 2006 - 18:55

This made me smile.

#16 Betaz on 10 Mar 2006 - 19:24

Hey! Every so often something USEFUL comes out of the US court system!

#17 DJ Specs on 10 Mar 2006 - 20:30

I hope this leads to bigger and better things! More investigations..

#18 brandon079 on 10 Mar 2006 - 20:56

Good to hear.

http://R.unKill.org

#19 IBlender on 10 Mar 2006 - 21:13

Great!

Hope they lose.

#20 Gary_Player on 10 Mar 2006 - 23:44

Take that bitches !

#21 webeagle12 on 11 Mar 2006 - 04:57

suck all their money and burn then to death!!

#22 Kenta on 11 Mar 2006 - 07:57

I cheered.

But, the Big 4 are nothing short of a mafia family, so I don't see this doing much help, especally with their lobbists.

(3 replies) #23 Clive on 11 Mar 2006 - 15:05

I love all this but yet you all probably own an Apple Ipod AKA the RIAA EVIL TOOL.Please remember not to purchase anything that prohibits you from doing what u want with what you have bought.

Oh Yeh hahahahahahah RIAA and Friends take a suckle from the teets of justice :p .

#23.1 M2Ys4U on 11 Mar 2006 - 18:03

I own an iPod, but, how does an iPod stop you from doing what I want with what I've bought?

None of my music has DRM on it.

#23.2 ambiance on 11 Mar 2006 - 18:34

HAHAHAHAHAHHA! Your misinformed...

#23.3 Fubar on 12 Mar 2006 - 14:47

aahhh but if you buy fro itunes your getting ripped off , 96kbs bite rate is worse than a cd , good luck with wasting money on terrible sound thats not even close to cd quality let alone digital quality may sound fine through the head phones , but you plug that baby into a power full hifi and you'll notice how terrible it is

(1 reply) #24 ambiance on 11 Mar 2006 - 17:28

Haven't you learned from Steven Seagal that nobody is above the law?

#24.1 Kenta on 11 Mar 2006 - 19:48

I remember this old adage that went something like this.
"He who has all the gold makes the rules"

I do hope they finally get what they deserve though, Ғucking music nazis.

#25 Shining Arcanine on 12 Mar 2006 - 00:55

Finally, a lawsuit against someone who deserves to be sued.

#26 powerlifter450 on 16 Mar 2006 - 23:09

Sony again! How much lower can Sony go? Thier own made up movie reviewer. This was exposed in '01 . Then we get xcp rootkits and mediamaxx copy protection disasters. Now they are involved in price fixing. This is a company that shows no morals or ethics. Boycott all Sony products. This company doesn't deserve to survive...

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Major US Music Labels Charged with Price-fixing

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